The Colorado Trail - Breckenridge - 14 miles - 3 hours
The Peak Trail - Breckenridge - 9 miles - 2 hours
Riders A B S M C E
So today we are up @ 6:30 am. My cousin Curt is supposed to ride with us today, he is from the Castle Rock area just south of Denver. We met him and Eric at the "Dredge boat" carcase in the parking lot that you see below. It was used in the late 1800's for mining for gold in the rivers and streams near Breck. It would tear up the river beds and deposit the rock and debris along the banks. So today all you see are the piles of rock. This is the boat that did the damage.
We pick up Eric and Curt and leave 2 vehicles behind for a shuttle trip and take them back to our camp as hostages. This part of the Colorado Trail starts about 1/2 mile from our campsite but winds it's way all over the state and this is our leg. The trail is nice single track that starts out rather tame but turns into quite the climb. There has been a lot of rain this spring and the trails are nice and packed with some mud here and there. The weather was nice and cool with a chance of showers looming.
Starting the climb we quickly make our way up above 10,000 ft. The air is thin and a lot of us are finding it hard to catch our breathe. This being our 2nd day of riding, I felt really good and was able to keep a relatively good pace behind Steve, but as always, he is "the machine" and loses me. Micki is close behind me and then Brooke, Curt and Eric bringing up the rear. Brooke is really impressing everyone, of course she is a good rider, but we were setting a really good pace and she was right there. Awesome job. We finish this long climb only to find Steve near the top taking a break, this must be the 1st rest point. We took advantage and fueled up to get ready for the next ascent. With some thunder in the area, we gotta move on. This one wasn't as bad though, it meandered through the woods and wound around to the north side of the mountain so we could reap our rewards. One last quick stop to make sure we still had everyone......time for some fun downhill action!
Steve asked me to go ahead so he could get me on his Go-Pro camera. So I tear down the trail, carving it like it was Thanksgiving. I know Steve is behind me and is on my ass. He tells me to watch out for some sharp switchbacks that come out of nowhere, yeah he was right, I missed one, but just barely. Time for a switch. Brooke is up next. Brooke's downhill is the where she is most cautious. Steve is behind Brooke and she is all over the place, I think it made her nervous that she was being filmed. As soon as Steve passes her, she starts lightin' it up. What the fo shizzle! Everyone lets it all hang out on the downhill, long smooth stretches of fast trail. Here is Curt in action with his angry face on. Grrrrrr! And Brooke!
Later on as we clear the trees, regroup and looked back at what we just rode. All agreeing it was a very good ride. We head to the cars waiting for us and back to camp we go. We had some lunch and talked about the good ole days in Fort Collins and other rides that we have done and plan to do in the next couple of days. We also talked about bacon. yes, bacon. Curt is quite the connoisseur of bacon. He talked of sausage stuffed bacon-wrapped in bacon. That had Micki making faces. She prefers all natural stuff, or wholesome foods if you will. Not her cup of bacon grease. After catching up and having a good time, it was time for Curt to make his way back home to his family. It's a 2 hour trip and was going on 3pm. Thanks for making your way to Breckenridge and spending time with us.
Later that day we found the need to do some more biking. We hit the Peak Trail. It can be a loop/out and back or shuttle. Since time and weather were of the essence, we did the shuttle. We parked our Forrester at the end and took Sticki's car and went to the beginning in "Breck." This was a bit of a technical trail due to the rain earlier and the amount of roots and mud along the route. It also had a lot of wooden bridges out and about to cross some streams. It flowed really nice, ups and downs, nothing too hard since we rode earlier in the day. Near the end, there was a wooden bridge about 300 ft long to cross a marsh, very cool. See Videos. Once back to the car, it started to sprinkle. Lucked out again. Brooke and I went to the new "Rec Center" so we could take a shower and clean up a bit since we were muddy. Came back to camp, had dinner and reflected on the days events. Another great day of riding with friends and family.
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