Lee's Cyclery Blog

With the latest snow and cool weather, it seems winter is here to stay. That’s ok with me, with the right riding gear winter riding can make for some adventurous and memorable rides.

A few posts ago, you may remember me talking about the Colorado Trail MTB race.  After following the race, reading some CTR blogs and talking to a competitor, I had to see what the Colorado Trail was like first hand.

The entire Colorado Trail is made up of 28 sections; a friend and I were only planning to ride the first three starting in Waterton Canyon and ending 50 miles later in Bailey.  Saturday’s forecast was supposed for a great day, so the plan was set to meet on the way to the trail head and be in the saddle by 8:00AM; followed by a shuttle ride back to the truck 5 – 6 hours later.  While heading down I25, the truck suddenly switched lanes without any input from me……”good thing mountain bikers don’t care about the wind!” I commented and hoped I packed my wind jacket. As we pulled into the trail head, the hills looked a bit pale; “a bit frosty eh”?  “At least the parking lot is empty”, we chuckled to each other.

Layers?  Check.   Gloves? check…….Oh my, one more layer? Check.  Food, water, camera, phone, keys?  Double check.  A glance at the watch showed us to be five minutes ahead of schedule.  Good sign so far, I thought to myself and we were off.

The first part of the trail follows an old rail bed for 6.8 miles paralleling the Platte river and we welcomed the chance for an easy warm up.  That changed in a hurry once we turned left onto what was supposed to be single track; however, the 2” of snow showed two distinct tire tracks as we started to climb.  If it was not for the snow, the climb would have been very manageable, but the first of several switchbacks quickly had our tires spinning and we questioned our ride plans.  We decided to press on for lack of anything else better to do that day.  With each foot of elevation gained so too did the depth of the snow, and we were soon hiking more than riding.  If either one of us had been out there alone, we would have surely turned back at the first switchback but we planned for a full day on the trail and we still had plenty to talk about.  Despite the snow, some of the hike a bike sections would still be classified as hike a bike sections and there were plenty of stretches we can’t wait to get back to, minus the snow, and test our technical abilities.

We weren’t the only ones enjoying the snow on the trail however, and Dorothy’s famous line “Lions and tires and bears oh my” took on a whole new meaning.  We never saw who beat us to the trail and were glad they had a different agenda to us.

Eventually, the snow began to dissipate and we reached the high point of the climb.  From here, 12.6 miles in, the trail becomes an ocean of swells before dropping steadily into Gudy Bridge. We welcomed the first opportunity to let loose.  Patches of snow still kept us on our toes but added to the fun.  Gudy Bridge is the end of section 1 and a good place to refuel and plan our next move.

Although we were way behind schedule, we decided to continue on up the trail in search of browner pastures and we were not disappointed.  Here the trail climbs sharply and the decomposed granite composition of the trail tread made us glad we spent so much time practicing our weight distribution earlier in the snow.  If you’ve ever spent any time at Curt Gowdy State Park you know how this part of the trail feels.  Not completely rid of the snow, it was now more of a challenge than a hindrance to complete the steeper sections without any dabs.  The earlier snow had taken its toll on our chains however and stripped them of all lubrication, the effects of which could be heard and felt for the remaining miles.  Again, after paying our dues on the steady climb, or “grind” as described by my partner, we were treated to rolling single track through groves of aspen and pine.  This eventually lead us to wide open fields of high speed flowing single track all the way to the end of section 2 just off county road 126 where we decided to call it a day and head to Pine Junction to catch our shuttle.

The time spent in the snow kept us from reaching our original destination of section three but when is mountain biking about the destination anyway?  As soon as the snow clears we will surely be back to complete our ride and continue on the following sections of the Colorado Trail.

I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did.  If you’re prepared, winter riding can be just as fun and memorable as a summer’s day, minus the “normal” crowds.

Steve Lacey