Rocky Mountain National Park ride. Epic.
09-04-06, 09:56 PM
#1
staring at the mountains
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Rocky Mountain National Park ride. Epic.
Over the Labor Day weekend I went camping with a couple buddies: Paul and Jason. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP in tha hizzy, yo), with intentions of camping, burning sh*t, hiking, biking, drinking a few beers and burning shi*t.
Jason, being the wise camping vet that he is, was up and in the park early Friday morning to secure a spot, while Paul called in sick and I "worked" from home. He came back down to get us, and we got to the park sometime around 7ish.
Saturday morning we were riding. Trail Ridge Road. None of us had scouted it, other than we knew its highest point was over 12,000ft, and that we were going to spend the Out portion of the ride climbing pretty much the entire time. Paul was a little surprised to hear that we were going for a multi-hour ride; but that's Paul being Paul
One thing to note: Jason has ridden about 250mi for the year, and moved to Denver from Dallas about a month ago.
Before we get to the pics, here are the stats for the first half of the ride; we did it as an out-and-back:
Start elevation: 8219ft
Finish elevation: 11782ft
Highest point: 12189ft
Distance: 21mi
Avg Grade: 6%
My computer's stats for the ride:
Total Distance: 43.52mi
Time: 4:00:01
Max: 43mph
Avg: 10.8mph
And now some pics:
The reason why I don't take pictures while on the bike. That's Jason and then Paul
Looking towards Bear Lake (I think). Keep in mind that we were going to climb through that cloud layer
Some section of curvy road
Two miles above sea level. And we weren't anywhere near done
The view from Rainbow Curve
Jason, me, Paul
(more pics in a second)
And I've attached the elevation profile.
It was the hardest 43miles I've ridden, but easily the most rewarding. I feel like we did something significant, and all three of us had no hesitation calling the ride 'Epic.' ...Maybe we'll do Mt Evans before the end of the season?
Jason, being the wise camping vet that he is, was up and in the park early Friday morning to secure a spot, while Paul called in sick and I "worked" from home. He came back down to get us, and we got to the park sometime around 7ish.
Saturday morning we were riding. Trail Ridge Road. None of us had scouted it, other than we knew its highest point was over 12,000ft, and that we were going to spend the Out portion of the ride climbing pretty much the entire time. Paul was a little surprised to hear that we were going for a multi-hour ride; but that's Paul being Paul
One thing to note: Jason has ridden about 250mi for the year, and moved to Denver from Dallas about a month ago.
Before we get to the pics, here are the stats for the first half of the ride; we did it as an out-and-back:
Start elevation: 8219ft
Finish elevation: 11782ft
Highest point: 12189ft
Distance: 21mi
Avg Grade: 6%
My computer's stats for the ride:
Total Distance: 43.52mi
Time: 4:00:01
Max: 43mph
Avg: 10.8mph
And now some pics:
The reason why I don't take pictures while on the bike. That's Jason and then Paul
Looking towards Bear Lake (I think). Keep in mind that we were going to climb through that cloud layer
Some section of curvy road
Two miles above sea level. And we weren't anywhere near done
The view from Rainbow Curve
Jason, me, Paul
(more pics in a second)
And I've attached the elevation profile.
It was the hardest 43miles I've ridden, but easily the most rewarding. I feel like we did something significant, and all three of us had no hesitation calling the ride 'Epic.' ...Maybe we'll do Mt Evans before the end of the season?
Last edited by superdex; 09-05-06 at 08:35 AM.
09-04-06, 09:57 PM
#2
staring at the mountains
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Second half of the ride pics--
Right after Rainbow Curve, we broke through the clouds, and it was a different world entirely. Very beautiful.
Just gorgeous. At this elevation, the ecosystem is the same as the Arctic, thanks to the weather patterns and temperatures. Yeah, it was cold and windy. 'Nuf said
Jason, still climbing and we're not at the top yet
Just after the high point of the ride is this rest stop and sign (it says, "Elevation 12,090 ft.")
We stopped for lunch at the Visitor's Center, which was about 3mi past the high point. It also meant more climbing there, and climbing after lunch before enjoying ~20 miles of coasting
A couple pics of the view from the Visitor's Center
East
West
Right after Rainbow Curve, we broke through the clouds, and it was a different world entirely. Very beautiful.
Just gorgeous. At this elevation, the ecosystem is the same as the Arctic, thanks to the weather patterns and temperatures. Yeah, it was cold and windy. 'Nuf said
Jason, still climbing and we're not at the top yet
Just after the high point of the ride is this rest stop and sign (it says, "Elevation 12,090 ft.")
We stopped for lunch at the Visitor's Center, which was about 3mi past the high point. It also meant more climbing there, and climbing after lunch before enjoying ~20 miles of coasting
A couple pics of the view from the Visitor's Center
East
West
Last edited by superdex; 09-05-06 at 08:47 AM.
09-04-06, 09:58 PM
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riding once again
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Awesome. 
I've always wanted to visit Rocky Mountain NP.
I've always wanted to visit Rocky Mountain NP.
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09-05-06, 12:21 AM
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Your buddy must be quite the athlete to accomplish that climb with minimal time on the bike and at that altitude. I've driven that road a million times and wondered what it would be like to ride it. You hit any bad weather? The thunderstorms can be harry a specially if your above tree line. What was the decent like with the traffic? There are a lot of tourists on that road. Congrats.
09-05-06, 01:23 AM
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On my TARDIScycle!
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09-05-06, 01:31 AM
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Originally Posted by KingTermite
Sounds like a great ride 'dex....but pics? I see descriptions as if pics were there, but I'm not seeing any pics.
09-05-06, 01:53 AM
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Xies...
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09-05-06, 02:13 AM
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Out fishing with Annie on his lap, a cigar in one hand and a ginger ale in the other, watching the sunset.
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No pics, but it sounds like a great ride, dex!
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09-05-06, 06:10 AM
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pics are screwed. check out tinypic.com for some easy image hosting. RMNP is awsome, we've gone climbing their the last three years, cyclists have to have screws loose for that kind of absuse!
i'd hate to hit an elk at 36mph on the way back down....
i'd hate to hit an elk at 36mph on the way back down....
09-05-06, 06:12 AM
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Whew for a min there I thought I was the only one with the X
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09-05-06, 08:23 AM
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staring at the mountains
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well crizzap. The pics are on Kodak's site; I'll get them over to tinypic this morning. DOH!
Here's the link to the slideshow if you're antsy:
https://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...fromshare&Ux=0
Here's the link to the slideshow if you're antsy:
https://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...fromshare&Ux=0
09-05-06, 08:31 AM
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Ok that killed me...can I quit my job now and come out there and ride? Hmm I wonder if my wife would go for that. LOL I am going to have to make a point of it to get out there and ride one of these days.
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09-05-06, 08:44 AM
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That's a great ride and a great (though often crowded as all hell) park.
09-05-06, 08:48 AM
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staring at the mountains
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ok, pics are up. I may have to buy some bandwidth from flickr, but you're worth it
09-05-06, 08:50 AM
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grilled cheesus
Nice ride and cool pics. Later.
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09-05-06, 09:14 AM
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Amazing!
09-05-06, 09:25 AM
#18
hello
I like RMNP and the elevations from what I read and hear. I've never been there though..... Great photos! Looks like you guys had a great time up there!
Last edited by roadfix; 09-05-06 at 10:04 AM.
09-05-06, 09:26 AM
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Nice pics, but 20 miles of climbing?!? Looks beautiful though.
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09-05-06, 09:30 AM
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Dex, how's the ride up? Trail Ridge Road is a pretty busy road, being the main drag up from Estes Park, and I'm guessing even more so on a holiday weekend. Traffic concerns on the climb or descent?
Having driven through there a few times, I can only imagine how much effort that took!
Great pics! God, I miss Colorado.
Having driven through there a few times, I can only imagine how much effort that took!
Great pics! God, I miss Colorado.
09-05-06, 09:44 AM
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OMG! i'm a DURT gurl!!!!
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WOW! how pretty! awesome ride!!!!
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09-05-06, 09:54 AM
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staring at the mountains
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Originally Posted by CyLowe97
Dex, how's the ride up? Trail Ridge Road is a pretty busy road, being the main drag up from Estes Park, and I'm guessing even more so on a holiday weekend. Traffic concerns on the climb or descent?
We drove it on Sunday and freaked out at how little shoulder there is in spots
09-05-06, 10:01 AM
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Originally Posted by superdex
On the way down we took the lane and didn't worry about it --especially since we were going faster than the cars anyway.
09-05-06, 10:55 AM
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Man, I got tired just driving that road (seriously, I have problems with altitude). That's a lot of work with very little little oxygen! Thanks for sharing the pics.