Sunday, July 6, 2008

An epic ride in Silverthorne

This weekend I went up to Silverthorne with Adam and Alison to stay at friend's mountain house for a few days. The views from the house were stunning.
On Sunday morning Adam and Alison headed out for a run/hike and I went up to Ute Pass to explore a mountain bike/hiking trail that I found on the map. The trail started at 8,500 feet or so and ended on top of a mountain (Ute Mountain?) at about 12,000 feet. The trail immediately started climbing up and aside from occasional dips, pretty much went straight up until I got to the top. Here is a view about a mile into the trail:
The pitch of the trail was better for hiking, but still rideable in the small gears with some effort. The trail was all beautiful single track.
As I approached the top, the trail got steeper and snowier and I eventually had to ditch my bike and start hiking. I probably hiked the last mile or so of the 10 mile trail but was rewarded with some great views on top:
Riding up took about 2.5 hours. The 4,000 or so foot descent took 40 minutes, the majority of which was off-the-saddle, steep descending. From looking at the map, it seems like there are countless trails like this one to explore in the Silverthorne, Frisco, Breckenridge area.

2 comments:

gwadzilla said...

hit the PEAKS trail
a great trail from Breck to Frisco

actually
there are a million great trails there
that is the only one that comes to mind

you could also try to chase some the the Firecracker 50 stuff up Baldy Mountain

so much good stuff out there

what is next?

fruita?
moab?

Loren said...

Maybe I'll hit the Peaks trail on my way out of town. I briefly thought about doing the Firecracker 50 and then thought about just riding the course, but decided it was a littel over my head since I had just arrived at altitude. Next up though is a trip with a DC friend to Gunnison, Durango, Mt. Evans. Then a little hiking and then heading west to Fruita, Moab, then Jackson and probably Sun Valley. I'll try to throw in another race or two if I can swing it with the schedule! How about you, what are your plans for the summer? Are you doing the SM100?