Today is Monday July 7 2025 and last week i was in Colorado and i did some bike rides.
The biggest ride, which was actually more of a hike, and maybe even more of a crucible, was a 21 mile loop from Frisco Colorado to Copper Mountain Colorado and back to Frisco Colorado... via a high mountain pass.
That last part... "via a high mountain pass" is key. This odyssey started at an elevation of 9,026 feet and topped out around 12,200 feet.
Boy howdy was it hard, and amazing, and stupid, and wonderful, and hard.
What follows is a relatively accurate and chronological stream of consciousness expression of the experience that i've pieced together from the pictures i took and the real time iPhone notes log that i kept. Spoiler alert, when you have to push your bicycle instead of pedaling it it's pretty easy to keep a running real time iPhone notes log.
6:00 am - Drink lots of coffee and one Gatorade. Eat three Walmart croissants, peanut butter, and one banana.
6:15 am - Here we go. Man this is going to be awesome. Never before in history have the stars aligned to make such a perfect undertaking possible. i'm in good shape, i've been in Colorado 4 nights so i'm somewhat acclimated to the elevation. The weather for today is primo. i have 4 bottles, 2 with water and 2 with a carb / electrolyte mix, some cliff blocks, some energy waffles, some electrolyte tabs, lots of Swedish fish, and a rain jacket. Lets do this. Also, it's pretty sweet that i can pedal my bicycle from our rental house in Frisco and in about 10 minutes be on nice single-track.
7:40 am - Here it is, the turn off for the Colorado Trail. i've just pedaled from Frisco, up the Peaks Trail and here is the turn to go from the Peaks Trail to the Colorado Trail. We're about to venture into uncharted territory. i'll stop and stretch a bit. Oh look, here comes a very fit and serious looking mountain biker, and he's headed my direction. This will be fun, i'll see how long i can keep up with him.
7:44 am - That didn't last long, the very fit and serious looking mountain biker has turned around and passed me going the opposite direction. Does he know something i don't? Like maybe this trail i'm on is stupid if you're on a bicycle? Well we're about to find out!
8:30 am - oh look a nice little camp ground, this must be for all the thru hikers. Boy i sure am having to push my bike a lot on this steep and bumpy trail. i'm sure there will be ample pedaling opportunities ahead, assuming the trail ever stops going up. i feel like Bill Murray in Ghostbusters "Where do these stairs go? They go up".
8:32 am - Oh geez the battery on my phone is going quick. It's already down to 61%. Better keep an eye on that.
8:44 am - Snack time. i'm 2.5 hours in, still going up, still in the trees, still having to push a lot. The pushing is due to the bumpiness of the trail, which is made more for hikers than bicycles, the steepness of the trail, and of course the elevation. Which is killer. This waffle is tasty. My ears are popping.
8:54 am - did i miss a turn. No, stop doubting yourself. Be confident like Michael Bien's character in Aliens "We didn't miss anything." Spoiler alert, they did miss something. But i didn't. No wrong turns for me today.
9:11 am - Roads, where were going we don't need roads. Trees, where were going we don't need trees. After 3 hours i emerge into an open area and can see that trees are about to become a thing of the past, this change in scenery is giving me a second wind. I feel like i'm in the movie "The Bear". That movie has amazing mountain scenery. Still lots of pushing and very little pedaling.
9:17 am - Trees may be a thing of the past but snow is a thing of the future. Awesome! i can say i rode thru snow in July!
9:20 am - Phone battery at 44%
9:25 am - Snack break. Catch your breath break. Apply more sunscreen chap stick. Pop a few electrolyte tablets. Keep this break short, long way to go, no sleep till Brooklyn. Pedaling opportunities have become so rare that when i do get one its like i forgot how to ride my bike. Remember that random and brutal scene in the movie Vertical Limit where the Sherpa falls and breaks his leg while simply walking on a mountain? Let's avoid that scenario.
9:30 am - Another human! His trail name is Gnarley and he's on day 11 of hiking the entire Colorado trail from Denver to Durango. Nice guy. Said he'd finish in about 5 weeks.
9:35 am - The phone battery may be low but i have service! i've been spammed twice.
9:38 am - Two more humans! Both doing the CDT (Continental Divide Trail) from Mexico to Canada. Nice guys, both foreigners. One gave me tips for crossing the snow patches.
9:40 am - Make a quick phone call to the family whose back at the Frisco house. X is understandably worried about my undertaking and i don't blame her because i'm doing this solo, but i feel like replying as Han Solo in the Return of the Jedi... "hey, its me".
9:42 am - Oh good a section i can pedal. Oh its getting steeper so out of the saddle and give it some gas. Oh now i need to stop completely because that short out of the saddle effort has me breathing out my eyeballs. i feel like Arnold Schwarzenegger when he hits the Predator with the large stick and says... "Bad idea". i can see the Dillon Reservoir down below. It's tiny. i've come a long way.
9:47 am - ok i need to address the blister sensation i'm getting on each heel from all this walking. i think there are a few Band-Aids in my backpack... yes there are. Sweet relief! Walking by myself up into the high mountains has me feeling like Golumn in the Fellowship of the Rings "it would be cool and shady under those mountains, the sun could not watch me there, the roots of those mountains must be roots indeed, there must be great secrets buried there which have not been discovered since the beginning."
9:49 am - Phone battery at 35%
9:51 am - i'm glad i forgot my heart rate monitor back at the house. It would just pshcye me out. Tom Petty lyrics are all i need to successfully complete this journey. Also if my breathing is louder then either the music i'm playing from the blue tooth speaker or the sound or my rear wheel freehub then i need to dial it back. Baby steps, just like in the movie What About Bob. That's the key, baby steps to keep the heart rate in the green.
9:54 am - another snow patch to negotiate. phone batter at 31%
10:01 am - i just crossed over a ridge of the mountain, its windier on this side but in a refreshing way. The weather has been perfect. The sun is out and i'm in shorts and short sleeves, no gloves. feels great. Now that i've crossed over a ridge i can see Breckenridge. On another note i've been pushing my bike so much i've come up with names for the two main ways i push. One is the donky push. This is when you have one hand on the handlebar but the other on the back of the saddle and you're pushing the bike like you would a stubborn donkey that doesn't want to move. The other is the lady, when you only need one hand on the saddle and you gently lead the bike where it wants to go. These two styles have further variations,
10:05 am - Another human. This one a very nice swiss gentleman. I told him i'm from Kansas and he said something about coming from the flat to the mountains and how that must be hard. i responded with an emphatic 'yes'. i asked how far to the top and he guestimated 40 - 60 minutes.
10:12 am - i feel like John Hurt in the movie Alien. "we must go on, we have to go on". Of course he ends up dying in that movie when (spoiler alert) an alien bursts out of his chest... but i'm sure i'll be fine in that regard.
10:15 am - phone battery at 24%
10:30 am - More humans! 3 separate groups. One of the guys has already done the PCH trail, the Appalachian trail, the Colorado trail, and now he's also doing the CDT. Several of these other humans mention that there is another bicyclist a bit ahead of me. The last guy tells me its only 15 minutes to the top!
10:29 am - another snow patch i need to negotiate. these things are a b*tch and a little dangerous. The move seems to be keeping the bike on the downward side of the mountain during these awkward snow sections. Also i like one hand to have an underhand grip on the bars, the outside hand, that way i've got a solid handle on the bike should it start to get away from me and slide down the snow / mountain.
10:30 am - Where the hell is the trail. i don't see where it emerges from this snow patch. i'll ask this guy up ahead of me who is the other cyclist i've been hearing about. He's about 50 yards away so i have to yell but after a quick chat he points me in the right direction. He sounds very tired.
10:38 am - The version of the donkey push where you are leaning practically your entire upper body on the seat because your exhausted and its so steep you don't want to fall backwards is in full effect. The summit must be close.
10:40 am - i caught the dude on the mountain bike. He's hurting. He's also weighed down with saddle bags and other gear. he's also on day 4. We're both low on water. i wish him luck and press on.
10:42 am - Yes this is very hard and yes i'm having to take tons of 1-2 minute breaks to catch my breath... but i always do catch my breath. i'm prepared for this adventure. Physically and mentally. For the past several months i've been unknowingly preparing for this. At work i go out and walk laps around our warehouse, including two flights of stairs, at home i'm not engaging the self propel when i mow the yard, i'm looking for daily things that help make me fit. And its working. This is a great feeling! i'm 45 and im dragging my mountain bike up a mountain with a smile on my face... i nevar wanna die!
10:47 am - i HAVE REACHED THE SUMMIT! Yeah baby! Take a quick rest, take a video, take some pictures, make a snowball, eat some food, start going down. But first chat with the woman also enjoying the view from the summit. She started her day at her house in Dillon. This is her loop and she does it regularly. Quite the loop. i'd guess she's in her 60's.
10:49 am - Phone battery at 11%
11:11 am - Going down isn't as fun as i thought it would be. The trail is bumpy, and steep, and im tired so my bike handling skills suck. i feel like Robert DeNiro at the very end of Midnight Run... "well, looks like i'm walking".
11:20 am - Going down turns into an even mix of walking and riding. Riding down a mountain is serious. I feel like Wedge Antilles in The Return of the Jedi. "Pay attention, we could run out of space real fast".
12:08 pm - Made it all the way down and onto the paved bike trail that leads from Copper Mountain to Frisco. i can finally pedal so that's what i do. i hammer. i've got a bike bell and it comes in very handy as i pass multiple people on the path. This is great. i'm out of water and have been for the last 45 minutes but its all downhill pavement from here baby!
12:27 pm - Arrive back at the house. Done in so many ways. Average speed of 3.7 miles per hour.
12:28 pm - Phone battery at 4%
Final thoughts - This is one of the best things i've ever done. i'll never do it again. The section of the Colorado Trail that i did (which was section 7, and i only did half of section 7) was not good for bicycles. Or at least i was not fit enough to make it good for bicycles. So dragging a bicycle up there was kind of ridiculous. But i did it. i did it. Those three words hold a lot of meaning.
i did it.
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