Colorado Trail MTB Bike Tour

Day 11 - Day off the bikes

July 31, 2006. Today we're having a day off, at least Steve, Hans and Ed, the through-riders who are doing all of the Colorado Trail. We slept in and sat around camp... Steve updating the web site, Hans re-planning the last week of riding. We feel like we're going to need to change our plans, as the official guidebook has consistently underestimated the elevation gain for each section.So those last few 40+ mile days with 7,000+ feet of climbing are probably going to be much more. We're looking for ways to split one or two of the last big days into two days, and it looks like we've found a solution, that includes another section of downhill that isn't part of the Colorado Trail.

Bill left this morning to go and hike Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado. It's only 3.8 miles from the trailhead, and (according to the book) is a 4,500' climb from the trailhead. It's 14,433' in elevation and trailhead is at 10,000' so there isn't much room for anything but climbing (and we know how accurate the book has been!).

Phil and Rooney went back to ride the Tennessee Pass section that we rode a few days ago. Phil had driven shuttle and got new tires put on Ed's truck that day, and Rooney wasn't here yet. They were going back to Copper Mountain to climb up and do an out and back ride to the pass.

Shawn arrived about noon today, and will be spending the rest of the week with us. He's just come from a race in Arizona.

We'll be doing another big day tomorrow and will post more then.

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