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markmay · 05-24-2010, 01:49 AM

Hi Everybody;

While I was out in Colorado I got to thinking about great coasting tours. Concept involves a support vehicle to take you up hills and set you up for those 50 mile downhills. Does anyone know if there's a guide to America's backroutes to get around the country without getting smashed into road kill?

Thanks,

Mark May

**LarryM** · 05-24-2010, 06:02 PM

These aren't back country routes, but are on some fairly nice bike paths.

You can load your bike on a bus in Glenwood Springs, CO, take it up to Aspen, then coast most of the 41 miles down valley to Glenwood Springs. About 6 miles are gravel IIRC. The rest is paved.

Also from Glenwood Springs, The bike shop in the lower level of The Hotel Colorado will truck you and your bike out to the east end of the Glenwood Canyon bike trail near Dotsero and you can coast most of the 16 miles back to GS.

In Frisco, there is a bike shop in the shopping mall on Summit Blvd just across from the Dam Road that will give you a lift up to the top of Vail Pass. You can coast 6 mi down to Copper Mountain, take a nice break, then coast 8 more miles to Frisco.

Also, call some of the ski areas to see if they let you take a lift up, then bike down the their runs. I know Copper and Keystone do ... not sure about Breckenridge.

**Xela** · 05-24-2010, 07:45 PM

I've done the lift up/ride down at Keystone. Had a blast. Never thought I could get so worn out going down a hill!

smgordo13 · 05-25-2010, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xela

I've done the lift up/ride down at Keystone. Had a blast. Never thought I could get so worn out going down a hill!

How did you get wore out going downhill? Was it Mt. type terrain where you still had to work to go around obstacles?
Not being a smart a** genuine question.

**LarryM** · 05-25-2010, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smgordo13

How did you get wore out going downhill? Was it Mt. type terrain where you still had to work to go around obstacles?
Not being a smart a** genuine question.

You take your bike (or a rented bike) to the top of the mountain on a ski lift, then bike down the ski run on any of several paths. The paths traverse back and forth across the normal ski runs and sometimes go thru small forested areas where people typically don't ski. Some paths are easy enough for a kick bike. Others are the equivalent of black diamond runs and the riders wear body armor.

**Xela** · 05-25-2010, 04:21 PM

Man, my forearm was hurting from hitting the brakes so much, I did have to do some pedaling on the flats and a guy that lives at 1200' was having it rough at 8 to 10k', and I did get on a section called Wild Thing towards the bottom. It was by accident, as it was a black diamond and I was on a FS rig more geared to cross-country than downhilling. I had to work pretty hard to stay up and alive through that section.

I made three runs down the hill that day.

Don't get me wrong, it was a blast! I just didn't think I would get so tired from going downhill.

**LarryM** · 05-25-2010, 04:36 PM

My wife and I were coasting down from Vail Pass to Frisco last year and stopped at Copper Mountain for a latte and to take in the sights. We took the lift up for a short hike at the top, but did not bike down the run. Here are some shots from the ski lift at Copper Mountain.

First is the blue or green bike run near the bottom.

The second is of some kick bikers on the green run.

That guy in red wandering around under the lift is me looking for the water bottle I dropped on the way up. Note how the hill drops off into the valley.

Last is a shot from the lift looking at I70 climb towards Vail Pass. This is from about 1/4 the way up from the bottom of the ski run.