After the Tour

I have officially done a bike tour! It was everything I hoped. I loved the riding. I loved the people. I loved the chance to see some new terrain from the saddle of my bike, not from a car. The experience has only deepened my desire to do more bike touring.

I loved riding in Colorado because the infrastructure there takes the rider off the road and offers fantastic rides on well groomed and maintained bike paths. These are not 6 mile paths that peter out just when you hit your stride. There are miles of paths.

I saw many families on the bike paths, kids pulled in trailers, on their own bikes, old and young, it was all out there. We all have a place on a bike.

It was a coincidence that the USA Pro Cycling Challenge occurred right after the tour. I got caught up in the bikeyness and wound up returning to Steamboat Springs for the Bike Town USA" stage 4 & 5 finish and start. It was great fun, I will be more inclined next time the opportunity presents itself to attend a bike race. I wound up taking a tour of the Moots factory and learned even more about what a cool company it is.

Summit County Colorado

Summit County, Colorado has a lot to offer any bike tourist. Miles of paved bike paths, numerous small towns with bike shops, restaurants, campgrounds, beautiful vistas, and more. The downside is the altitude, so it may be worthwhile to give yourself time to aclimate, or simply plan accordingly.

We did have to make adjustments due to dammage caused by flooding, both on the roads and the bike paths, but flexibility is an important trait for a bike tourist to have. Getting too caught up in an agenda may be detrimental to fun.

Here is a quick recap of day 3 of my tour in the area, we climed Vail Pass from the east, which is the easier way to tackle this mountain. 

Summit County Colorado

Perhaps one of the best things about this tour is that it has exposed me to an area of the country with a rich bicycle infrastructure. It is popular with the locals and tourists alike but may not be widely understood to have so much to offer.

Maybe I've just been in the dark and everyone else already knew about all he great riding here. In any case, I'm happy to now be in the know.

Another bonus of this tour is the diversity of participants. We are approximately 50 people from all over the U.S. Each has a love of cycling and that point of common interest brings us together.

If you are a beginning tourist and are uncomfortable with the prospect of having to ride long distances between towns, starting with a trip using a home base that will allow for good out and back rides may be a good idea.

First Impressions

Our tour is underway! So far it is difficult to pick my favorite part. It started with the people. We are a large group and I haven't met many of the participants, but of those I have met are fun and interesting. This location is a great place to ride. There are quite a few miles of bike paths and many locals are out riding! The scenery is beautiful and the only problem is the altitude (which would be worse if I hadn't spent the last week and a half above 8000 feet.

Sitting down and talking to others who share an interest like bike touring is a special opportunity, I am really glad to have this chance to be around people with my same unusual desire to spend my vacation on a bike.

Colorado Wildflowers & Rivers Tour

Today, the beginning of my first bike tour, has finally arrived. The group is gathering this evening and the riding commences tomorrow. I am going to attempt to create a log of the trip on TrackMyTour and link it to this blog. I hope it works, and I hope the site is interesting to you. I love this app and find it a great way to share my travels with friends and family. Let me know what you think (and leave comments!)

You can follow along here.

Paradox of Perception

Today has finally arrived. Getting here has been slow in terms of anticipation, but very fast in terms of preparation. That paradox of perception makes me feel human: bad things come too quickly, good things too slowly. In this case I'm talking about vacation, my first bike tour, and getting everything ready. I'm as ready as I'm going to be, and happy with my preparations. The actual bike tour portion does not start today (I have to get to the start, which is pretty far away). On the way there I will be an American Tourist, hitting some National Parks, and whatever else seems interesting. I will be going to many places for the first time. If anyone out there has a suggestion for a hike, or ride, a restaurant, great view, etc., I'd love to hear about it. The first stop will be St. George, UT. I hope to be there by late afternoon today. From there I'll be continuing north through Idaho, and turning West to enter Yellowstone from the west entrance. I'll be in and around Yellowstone for several days, then head south to Silverthrorne, CO where the bike tour begins!

I plan to improve the frequency of my posts and hope I will have the internet access necessary to make that happen. One of the things I did to prepare for this trip was to take an introductory digital photography class. I hope to have some good photos to share with you by the end of this trip.