Wechsler Colorado Trail
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WECHSLER COLORADO TRAIL Is a Mountain Bike Trip Acro ss Colorado Worth the Risk? WECHSLER COLORADO TRAIL Is a Mountain Bike Trip Acro ss Colorado Worth the Risk? Hail, Yeah! We’re at the top of French “No. What am I?” Pass, a 12,000-foot saddle “You,” says Sean, the of tundra and snow in the actuary, “are risk averse.” Colorado Rockies. And a I think about that as warm morning has sud- we hop on our mountain denly been invaded by bikes and return the way black, merciless-looking we had come. clouds. Risk averse? Me? A hasty descent, which I mean, I’m in the midst means cutting short our of an off-road mountain- planned loop, seems like a bike ride from Denver good idea. Sean, more of to Durango along the an optimist, is opposed to Colorado Trail (CT). I’m my demand for a retreat. carrying only 15 pounds “You know what you of gear and traveling solo. are?” says Sean, eyeing That’s prudent behavior? the black clouds rolling in But maybe Sean has a from the west. point. A day earlier, I had Story and photos by Alan Wechsler WECHSLER COLORADO TRAIL called Sean from a service station. It had been pouring rain for hours, and I was still a long bike ride from his place. I asked him Nuts & Bolts: Colorado Trail to pick me up, and he complied. It had hurt, that surrender to the weath- Before you go: Get in shape. This might Where to stay: There are hostels in er. But the forecast was bleak, and I didn’t be the hardest tour of your life. Before my Denver, Frisco, Leadville, Salida, Lake City, want to face thunderstorms high up on the trip, I climbed office-building stairs (180 Silverton, and Durango. Otherwise plan to treeless plateau (because I was risk averse?) stories in one morning) and cycled centuries camp or spend more on a hotel. “Maybe I am,” I think as I chase Sean and 4,000-foot ascents — and I still got my down the hill. Maybe I’m an adventurer butt kicked. Getting there: If flying into Denver, you with limits who likes the idea of a gutsy can take a bus to downtown for only $10. journey, but only one in which safety is Equipment: A mountain bike with front sus- From downtown you and your bike can take only a phone call away. Maybe I need to re- pension, at least, is essential as are racks for the light rail and an early-morning commuter evaluate my adventure-cycling ethos. modern mountain bikes like those from Old bus to very close to the trailhead. One- Then the hail starts again, and I think, Man Mountain (oldmanmountain.com) and way flights from Durango back to Denver Tubus (tubus.com/en). are $120 or so. Ship your bike home via first, let me get out of this Colorado weath- FedEx’s Durango office for about $75 — you er. Once I’ve saved my butt, I can worry Gear: Pack light — around 10-15 pounds. can get a box from a Durango bike store. about saving my pansy cyclist soul. I used an 11-ounce silicon tarp for a tent, The Colorado Trail is a 470-mile path a one-pound sleeping bag, and fuel tablets Highlights: You don’t have to ride the that runs from Denver to Durango, mean- instead of a stove. Most bikepackers use entire trail to enjoy it. The Buffalo Creek area dering across the Rocky Mountains in such custom-made bags from Carousel Desing is not far from Denver and is a great day’s a way as to hit seemingly every mountain Works (carouseldesign works.com) or destination. More epic day trips can be had that’s in between. It was built by a com- Revelate Designs (revelat edesigns.com). between Kenosha Pass and Breckenridge, bination of grassroots fortitude and Forest Carry about a gallon of water and enough or from Copper Mountain to Camp Hale. Service expertise in the 1980s and has food for two to three days. Mail packages And the wildflower-filled sections south of become one of the nation’s most popular to yourself along the way for resupplying. Silverton must rank as some of the world’s most amazing mountain biking. long-distance hiking trails. Guides: The Colorado Trail, 8th edition lists It has also, more quietly, developed bike detours in detail. The Colorado Trail Bike Shops: Hassle Free Sports, hassle quite the reputation as a world-class moun- Databook is a “Cliff Note version.” A road freesports.com. Mountain Bike Specialists, tain-biking route — so much so that more map of Colorado is also useful, and National http://mountainbikespecialists.com. Second than a dozen cyclists compete in an end-to- Geographic makes detailed maps of all areas Gear Bike Shop, (970) 247-4511. end race each August. you will ride through. See coloradotrail.org. To be sure, it’s not a perfect cycling * Some cycling sections have changed route. Bikes aren’t allowed on the trail’s Time: Unless you’re superhuman and have since this article was written. The 8th edition half-dozen wilderness areas (sadly, the a masochist streak, plan on at least two of the guidebook covers these changes as most scenic portions of the trail), requiring weeks. Throw in a couple of extra days for does coloradotrail.org/bike.html. detours on paved or jeep roads. Other sec- resting and enjoying the scenery — and the small towns along the way. tions are so rocky and unpleasant that only a masochist would ride them. Still, that leaves a good portion of the route that is perfect for cycling. And if an intrepid mountain biker doesn’t mind tasting the singletrack in pieces, between swaths of highway, the CT can bridge the gap between cycle tourist and backpacker. But as one CT cycling veteran warned me, “This isn’t a rail-trail.” Besides the weather, the CT requires periods when you climb more than 4,000 feet, sometimes on trails so steep and rocky that even the fittest cyclist must dismount and pursue the dreaded hike-a-bike. You must do this while carrying food for several days, plus camping gear, and keep the bike nimble enough to handle rocks, drop-offs, and other technical diversions. I had dreamed about it for years. And last summer, unemployed and aimless, I realized it was time. After planning my route and getting my 20 ADVENTURE CYCLIST JULY 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST JULY 2011 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 21 WECHSLER COLORADO TRAIL gear together, the next step was to ship the some of the best cycling in Colorado. After bike to Denver (cheaper than taking it on a thousand-foot ascent up a huge burn an airplane these days). After some inves- zone, I find myself cycling through Buffalo tigation, I FedExed it to a Kinko’s store in Creek, a popular mountain-bike destina- Denver, where employees said they could tion. Here the rolling trail brings me past hold it for me. giant boulders and granite formations. If Except when I got there, a sales clerk the whole trail is like this, I think, I will be blandly told me she hadn’t seen any bike. in heaven. After some prodding and a bit of computer An hour later, the hail begins. work, she informed me my bike was at the It hits when I reach a dirt road — the FedEx warehouse about an hour’s drive out first required detour around a wilderness of town. And, no, they wouldn’t bring it area. It’s barely noon. Five minutes later, back. I’m huddling under an overhanging rock, Fortunately, the parents of a friend lived as marble-sized hail pounds the ground. nearby. Though they hadn’t seen me in a During a lull in the storm, I ride two decade and barely remembered me, Ken hours to Bailey, the next town on the route. and Faith Alevy drove down to Denver At that point, the skies turn dark and let at a moment’s notice, put me up for the loose again. night, collected my bike the next day, and It’s not supposed to be this way. Colorado brought me to the trailhead. is the land of sun, isn’t it? 300 days of it a It was an auspicious start. Colorado resi- year, they say. Thunderstorms are sup- dents are almost hospitable enough to make posed to hit around 3:00 PM, and last for an up for those incessant hailstorms — but hour or so, not all day. more on those later. Shivering and wet, I surrender and call The trail begins in Waterton Canyon, a for help. park on the outskirts of the Denver sub- Sean Brady lives in Summit County urb of Littleton, just down the road from and is studying for the last of nine actu- Lockheed-Martin’s corporate headquarters arial tests that will allow him to get a high- and factory. The first seven miles follow a paying job in the insurance business. He’s dirt road, and on that sunny track I pass a unique soul — a former Summit County my first backpacker. “I’ll get there before bum who doesn’t actually ski (he used to be you!” I jokingly yell back. Over the course a bus driver at Keystone Resort). He is an of this trip, I run into thru-hikers every avid lover of titanium bicycles and seems day, on the trail and in towns, but never to live entirely on vegetable goulash, wheat see another long-distance cyclist on the germ, peas, fruit-flavored PowerBars, and trail (although several had passed through unshelled macadamia nuts, which he buys a few weeks before, hostel owners later in bulk and breaks apart with a giant nut- inform me).