Jamie's Adventure on Ride the Rockies 2014: Day 5: Avon to Breckenridge

74 Miles
5,580’ Elevation Gain

Today’s ride was very familiar to me but was done in the opposite direction of how I have done it in the past. The weather was clear but chilly when I rolled out of Avon around 7am. The toughest thing about the day was a strong, persistent headwind that lasted most of the way into Breckenridge. Wind is sort my cycling kryptonite. Not only does it make the work much harder but is very psychologically taxing. I’d much rather have one tough climb after another than a headwind and today I had both.

The first climb of the day was the beautiful climb from Minturn up to the top of Battle Mountain. At the bottom of the valley winds the Eagle River and to the west rise the snow-capped summits of the northern Sawatch Range. Hey, St. Petersburg Cycling Club, you are on notice- do not ride in the center of the lane the entire way up the climb. It just takes a few yahoos like you to give all cyclists a bad reputation for holding up traffic. The descent from Battle Mountain is short and quick and then begins the climb up to Tennessee Pass. I’d never really thought much of Tennessee Pass, as the climb from the Leadville side of the pass is only like 500 ft. While not terribly tough, the climb from the north side of the pass is quite respectable. I also got my first ever view that I can recall of Ski Cooper which lies at the top of Tennessee Pass but can only really be seen when traveling north to south. Owen may have a ski race there next season and was neat to see.

The DPF aid station was set up at the top and was my only aid stop of the day. As always, I grabbed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and filled up my water bottles. The view coming down from Tennessee Pass toward Leadville is one of my favorites as the real behemoths of the Rockies Mountains line up to the west- Massive, Elbert and Harvard. The ride only skirted the eastern edge of Leadville and turned east toward Fremont Pass. Due to my many years of riding the Courage Classic, the pass is second only to Vail in familiarity. The best part of riding Fremont is the wide, clean descent on the eastern side of the pass into Copper Mountain Resort. This is a great spot to try and push 60 mph on a descent.

After passing by Copper, we moved off the road and on to the bike path that parallels I-70 through Tenmile Canyon. There was a 40-50 foot section at the top that was under about four inches of water. Further down the path were remnants of several avalanches that had come through taking out whole sections of trees and covering the path in deep snow and debris. The path had been plowed but there was still a wall of snow several feet high on either side of the path in these sections.

After reaching Frisco, I sort of felt like I’d made it to the end of the ride even though there was still about 6-8 miles of gentle climbing south toward Breckenridge. I reached the ride finish about five hours and fifteen minutes after beginning it. The site is nice but sort of oddly laid out. I know that there are logistical limitations and that the ride organizers do the best they can, but you really do appreciate a convenient lay out like we had in Avon. I set up my tent for the last time on the ride and once again got a prime spot. Breck is a fun place to hang out and look forward to enjoying the rest of my day before I gear up for tomorrow, the last day of Ride the Rockies 2014.

My Data- http://connect.garmin.com/activity/519379467