Flew over to a conference outside of Denver recently, near our Colorado Springs office, and through careful planning I managed to squeeze in a morning’s MTB before returning home.
The ride – organized by my mate – ex-colleague - Phil – was to head up, “The Chutes” Trail and then round Gold Camp Road and down “Captain Jacks” Trail. Just a 2-hour jaunt, this meant we could fit in lunch before I jetted my way home.
The Saturday morning was overcast and a chilly 8 degrees Celsius. Didn’t stop me from doing an early morning run along the “Pikes Peak Bike trail” that parallels Colorado Spring’s main creek. Actually, this was my second weekend creek run; I’d spent a night in Denver the week before and ran the “Cherry Creek Trail” which has a bike path on one side and walker-only trail along the other: a beautifully paved run & bike trail in the heart of the city. If you’re in Denver, don’t miss it.
But this Saturday we were up for a solid ride. It was still overcast and damp weather at 8am when Trev (also Colorado-based for a couple of weeks engineering) & I drove to Bicycle Village – where Phil had rented bikes - and after drooling over the latest $US bike prices, we headed to the trailhead.
Parking was on Ridgeway Ave in Cheyenne on the south side of town, and there in front of us next to the trailhead: a Pivot demo caravan with about 20 shiny loaner bikes..! Turned out we could have borrowed instead of rented, but who was to know… Hell, did they look good, though.
Denver & Colorado Springs are both “mile high” (2000 metres) cities, so riding up seems a tad more exhausting than on Sydney’s 500-metre-high Blue Mountains. The rarified atmosphere can cause altitude sickness* so we were puffing a little after riding just 2 miles up to Gold Camp Road, still managing to pass a couple of guys test riding the aforementioned Pivots (did I already say the bikes looked sweet?).
The views from the Gold Camp Road are spectacular but it was still overcast as we ascended, with just a little sun breaking through. Also great were the rental bikes; 3 near-new Trek Fuel EX machines. Beautifully tuned, with weight & height set before we left by the guys at Bicycle Village (www.bicyclevillage.com). I’ve had a Trek and wasn’t that impressed while I owned it but it may have been the setup (more likely the fool rider!) …because these were superb machines.
Gold Camp Road winds around “May’s Peak”, through Pike National Forest, going from tar seal to gravel, through a single lane tunnel
and then up to High Drive, about 8,000 feet. This last 1000 feet was accompanied by great views into the valley and by the time we hit the “High Drive ALT 7867” sign, our hill climbing was all but done.
Opposite this sign is a carpark, and ahead, parallel to High Drive you can see the trail: a narrow single-track cut into the side of a steep hill.
There’s not much room for error in places unless you like tumbling down hillsides in which case, hell, you can go ahead and make all the mistakes you want! As such, this is not a trail for your acrophics (fear of heights) but most will find it a balance of thrilling XC, a little technical and twisty but ultrafast downhill sections. This being my first go on the trail I approached it carefully, but next time….
The trail has a couple of perfect pitstop areas where you can stop for a drink (or a pee. The higher up you go, the more you want to urinate, apparently). The guys went ahead while I stopped a few times for photos and then they slowed down to check where I was.
This was inspiring riding, reminding me of the best of Stromlo; outstanding views while riding a magnificent trail: All in all, an unbeatable excursion. What’s more, the cloud cover had slid aside and we had full sun for most of the way back. Felt like a mild summer’s day, though they’d had snow in town just the week before. Colorado is like that; the weather can change in a few minutes so if you’re going far, take enough sunscreen AND winter gear…just in case.
On one of our pitstops, Phil told us this was only a taste of what’s available in this part of the Rockies, right next to Colorado Springs. Phil & his wife live outside of Denver just an hour north, but he reckons the Springs has the better riding, mainly because it’s is accessible, close to the city. Next time I’m there he said we’ll make a day of it and ride out on the 30 mile firetrail and come back on the 30 mile (48 Km) of mostly singletrack. Hearing that, I was tempted to put in for a US transfer!
Towards the end of Captain Jacks Trail are some steeper drops but nothing unrideable for your average Joe (eg. me). But if this (or just the altitude) doesn’t get your heart going, then there are plenty of steeper trails in the area.
Finishing off the trail at a superfast pace, we were back on Gold Camp Road for a couple of Kms before heading back down the Chutes, slowing down some as this ones a two-way singletrack i.e. you meet people (like we had earlier) riding up. It’s wide enough in places for two bikes and the berms are stunningly formed, so you are tempted to just push it …but then you come across some dude taking a wide corner and you appreciate the need to take it easier. Phil said he’d done a night ride race where the trail was set up as only downhill and reckoned it was even better, especially in near-darkness on your second loop.
The boys from Pivot were still there in the carpark but we were running out of time so no chance to sample the shiny hardware. Instead it was off to town for Pizza before doing the 1-hour drive to Denver Airport. In the end I needn’t have rushed. I missed my flight & had to catch a later one back to overnight in LA, missing my flight back to Oz… (and who’d’ve thought spending the next day inside a crummy LAX hotel doing email while waiting for your next flight would be so much fun?)
If you’re heading to Colorado Springs, the bike shop is worth checking out and if you want someone to show you the trails, they have organized rides or drop me a line and I’ll pass your details on Phil.
I brought back a couple of maps of Colorado Springs trails – $5 each at the bike shop, but free to a good home, so if you’re heading over and wanting to scout out some riding before you go, drop me a line and I’ll send you out a copy.
The Bike Shop:
Bicycle Village
2450 Montebello Square Drive
Colorado Springs
CO 80918
*Altitude Sickness: The causes of altitude sickness are not fully understood. The term ‘rarified atmosphere is ambiguous because percentage of oxygen in air, at 21%, remains almost unchanged up to 70,000 feet (21,000 m). The RMS velocities of diatomic nitrogen and oxygen are very similar and thus no change occurs in the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen. However, it is the air pressure itself, the number of molecules (of both oxygen and nitrogen) per given volume, which drops as altitude increases. Consequently, the available amount of oxygen to sustain mental and physical alertness decreases above 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Although the cabin altitude in modern passenger aircraft is kept to 8,000 feet (2,400 m) or lower, a large proportion of passengers on long-haul flights may experience some symptoms of altitude sickness.
Dehydration due to the higher rate of water vapor lost from the lungs at higher altitudes may contribute to the symptoms of altitude sickness.
The rate of ascent, altitude attained, amount of physical activity at high altitude, as well as individual susceptibility, are contributing factors to the onset and severity of high-altitude illness.
