Lyons to Winter Park or Bust

We’ve been talking about this – the recent fervor from the Colorado Trail Race calls out to go big.
We debated the starting point- should we attempt to ride all dirt from Lyons, should we take Hwy 7 up to Peaceful Valley or Bunce School Rd?
Man’s got to know his limitations..so in the end we chose Hwy 7 to Peaceful Valley.

We left Lyons about 6:30 AM and went up thru canyon.

I was ready- I packed heavy on this one. Rain jacket, long sleeve jersey, leg warmers, first aid kit, emergency bivy, steripen, maps, bike repair stuff. Nourishment check -5 L of water/electrolyte, sharkies, nut butter, clif shots, lara bars (the ones without estrogen), nuts, and an Ophelia’s Steak and Salsa Jalapeno burrito I was going to need this in order to keep up with the company. Hallin’ Ass Lee (mastermind of the trip) and local riding legend Bernie made up our crew. Lee got it set-up – dinner reservations at Gasthaus Eichler for 8PM and the shuttle ride home from WP by his lovely girlfriend. Knowing this awaited on the other side of Rollins Pass were huge comforts as we journeyed.



Blew a seal on my fork while descending Caribou Rd. into Eldora. Bummer! Four fingered front brake here on out with only 25% of the power. It was my bad I got probably a little overzealous with progressiveness and put 42mL of 7.5w oil in air chamber night before.

Photos were sparse on this ride- I did manage to get a few of Bernie and Lee . Notice camera position—yep never got in front of them on this ride. Oh yeah and Bernie cleaned it.

From Rollins Pass took Ranch Creek trail down. The first 1000 ft of elevation loss its a great trail. The trail disappeared though.

Did the wet summer cause the trail to fade? Do we go back up or descend? Lure of singletrack or the chance for less pain in the form of climbing. We’ve got to make dinner at the gasthaus. These were some of the thoughts that went that went through our head this late in the stage.
Downward we went, finding a few segments of the trail that were ridable. Finally made it out to the CR 128 and descended into WP.

Got to the Gasthaus ,changed in the parking lot, got some heat for being late for our reservation, but damn it was good eating.

Here's the stats 69 miles, 14,000 ft of climbing, 14 hours. Would we do it again, not sure we'd do this exact route, but I wouldn't mind trying to do it faster or shoot for something bigger in terms of mileage and climbing in a day. Summer is running out- get out there.