crossorigin="anonymous"> Credible Cyclist Blog Post 2 - Credible Cyclist

Credible Cyclist Blog Post 2

Spread the Word

The snow is falling outside, and winter seems to want to hang on here in the high country. Monday the temps were near the ’60s, and I had a chance to take the mountain bike out on our rec paths. If you are new to Credible Cyclist or new to Summit County, we have an extensive range of rec paths that stretch between Breckenridge, Keystone, Dillon, Silverthorne, Copper, and over Vail Pass and into Vail. It is not uncommon to go out for 25-to-50-mile rides, including the Reservoir Loop up to Keystone and back or Vail Pass and back. This early in the season, the Ten Mile Rec path up to Copper and Vail Pass is closed, and the underpasses under highway 9 have ice and should be treated with care.  If you are interested you can see my write up for the route around the Dillon Reservoir here.

If you are local and looking for current conditions, we will get to that, I promise!  For now, I want to welcome you all to some of the best high elevation rec paths I have ever experienced as you gain some insight behind the scenes of Credible Cyclist. Thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy what I have to share with you.

I spent the weekend with my brother down in Colorado Springs, and the Wednesday before that, I returned from working nights for 2 weeks straight.  I have a crazy schedule!  I am a heavy equipment electronics tech working out of state on a two-week ON and two-week OFF schedule.  I also switch between days and nights every two weeks when I work.  The time off is an excellent benefit, and I am excited about the time I can make Credible Cyclist an authority in this space.  If you like this content and want to see where it goes, subscribe to my newsletter; if you are already subscribed, thank you for tuning in. You Are Awesome!  I am also working on providing you all with notifications on new routes and trail stories when they publish.  It will always get better from here!

My brother and I spent Sunday hiking the Columbine Trail to Helen Hunt Falls from the Strasmore Visitor Center in North Cheyenne Canyon with his son, my nephew.  It was an interesting trail in which the reviews we read lead us to believe it would be different from what it was.  The waterfall was just a trickle when we arrived, so we weren’t so excited about that.  It’s the trail that was the defining piece of the hike.  At 10 miles out and back with 2000 feet of climbing recorded on 2 GPS’s, it was a long way away from the 7.6 mile-1600 foot climb the interweb told us it would be.  I would also consider it to be on the difficult side of the scale.  This was our first hike of the season, and we managed it well enough.  The steep grades, the up and down switchbacks through the canyon, and the 80-degree temp made for a strenuous workout. Epsecially early season!

When I arrived in Breckenridge Monday afternoon, I was excited to see the rec-paths clear of snow and even more excited to see the sun out.  Although it was windy, I had to get out and ride the rec path.  I pulled my mountain bike out and headed down towards Frisco.  There was a good amount of wind, so the trip down to Frisco was fast, well over 20mph, until I passed the high school and turned into the underpass under highway 9.  I ended up grabbing a hand full of brakes to slow my speed before the underpass and worked my way through a 3-foot-long patch of ice spanning the width of the path.  Since I had my mountain bike, there were no issues.  While climbing the peninsula climb to head over to the Frisco Bike Park, I looked over to where the 10 Mile Rec Path crosses under Highway 9 and saw it full of ice from beginning to end.  The entire section of the underpass is snowy and icy.  If you are riding down from the hospital, please be wary of that underpass.  I did see some people crossing it on foot, but I would hate to be the guy that rides into the underpass going down the hill; let me know if it clears out.
 
There were no other icy spots on the rec path.  The section of rec path between the roundabout and the other end of Dillon Dam has not been swept, so plan some extra time there.  (Note: I drove over the Dillon Dam today, April 28th and noticed they have swept the path! You can now hunt for that strava segment!)  The views were well worth the trip around the reservoir, as you can see. 

If you would like to fuel your stoke for the coming season with a few YouTube videos of mine, click on the links below:

I have signed up for the Triple Bypass this year and am looking forward to that massive ride in August. You can follow my progress here. Enjoy the great outdoors wherever you are, or head on over to my map and plan on something in Breckenridge. I have not even begun to scratch the surface of possibilities in and around Breckenridge, but there are some excellent routes you can read about.  I have also begun to add hiking routes in my Cross Training menu too.  I often find that hiking allows for some really great endurance training especially when you get up high! If you have any questions or comments, let me know, I am always ready to talk about bikes and bike routes, either road or dirt.

I take all my own photos, write my own reviews and edit  my own videos.  It is almost always fun and I am always learning more!

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Brian Koehn

Breckenridge, Colorado

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