There was an American Planning Association (APA) Colorado conference in Breckenridge about 3 weeks ago that I attended. A short time before, someone asked me if I (or anyone else) would be interested in biking from Denver to Breckenridge for the conference to be an example of sustainable transportation. I have done some long rides (this one was 93 miles) before, but never in high altitude mountains like this, but I always like a challenge so I decided to do it.
So, around 5:30am the day before the conference started I got on the right rail station near my house and took it down to the Denver University station near where James (the one coordinating the ride) lives, and the two of us took off. It took longer than planned because it really was slow going up some of the hills. Most of the ride along I-70 was on frontage roads and bike trails, but there was a 5 mile stretch we had to bike on the shoulder of the interstate — not as bad as I thought it would be but there were trucks flying by at 70 mph.
One of the intersections before getting to the I-70 cooridor.
I had my Garmin Forerunner along the whole way, and here is the route taken. If you double click on the map you can zoom in to get more detail on the route.
A couple of times along the way we took some pictures with the camera on the road
We topped out on loveland pass at almost 12,000 ft. Was a good time coming down!
Finally, after some rain on the last 10 miles, we made it to Breckenridge in a very tired state.
Hey Nick:
Looks like a great ride…if you’re ever looking for company give me a shout. I live around DU (First CRC).
Joel
awesome ride — those mountains would scare me, even on an unloaded bike!
your hair is getting long again, dude!
Wow, you guys are amazing. I bet you could eat some great food after that and not fell guilty!!!
I am attempting to map a ride to Breck from south central Nebraska. First thoughts were to bypass Denver, but first map attempt resulted in 100 miles more than the ordinary driving route. I found and studied your route. Now I am contemplating going through Denver. I will continue to research for the safest way into and through Denver, but any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.