Category Archive

Done. Dusted. The 2019 Ride the Rockies is in the books. And what a ride it was. Great job to all 1750 who participated in the 34th running of this one-of-a-kind tour. Just like the rest of the week, Saturday’s weather was all but perfect, making the mostly flat 31-mile pedal from Gunnison to Mount Crested Butte a breeze. Well…except ... Read More

Friday at Ride the Rockies was about as good as a day of road cycling gets. Great weather. Quiet country roads. Stunning scenery. Challenging climbs. Swoopy fast descents. And a Mach 6 tailwind for the final third that helped push even the weariest riders to the finish at Gunnison’s Jorgensen Park where cold Eddyline beer awaited. You really couldn’t ask ... Read More

It was another day of perfect weather and superb scenery, as the 2019 Ride the Rockies headed south from Carbondale to Hotchkiss along the West Elk Loop, one of Colorado’s 26 scenic and historic byways. On paper, stage 5’s 65-mile trek wasn’t overly difficult, with just one significant ascent, only 3300 feet of total climbing, and lots of high speed ... Read More

More than any single stage, arguably the hardest part of completing an event such as Ride the Rockies is recovering from one day to the next. Sure it’s tough pedaling over Monarch or Independence Pass. But stack those types of efforts on top of each other and the challenge gets exponentially harder. The human body (especially older ones) simply don’t ... Read More

Apparently Aeolus is angry. Greek mythology’s Keeper of the Winds unleashed his full fury on the Ride the Rockies peloton Tuesday, making the already testing 73-mile trek from Buena Vista to Snowmass significantly more difficult. Indeed, a stiff headwind greeted the event’s 1750 riders as soon as they turned out of downtown Buena Vista and onto U.S. Highway 24 northbound. ... Read More

Monday morning, Ride the Rockies’ 1750 participants awoke on the Pacific side of the Continental Divide. Tonight, they sleep near water destined for the Atlantic. In between was the longest stage of the 2019 tour, an 83-mile northeasterly haul from Gunnison to Buena Vista that featured the grueling ascent of Monarch Pass, elevation 11,312 feet. Total climbing for the day ... Read More

The 34th Ride the Rockies powered by Flexential kicked off under sunny skies on Sunday in Crested Butte. On tap for the event’s 1750 participants was a supremely scenic 65-mile spin that featured the punchy Jack’s Cabin Cutoff climb (most of it on gravel), and then the long grind up to Taylor Reservoir, elevation 9575 feet. Next came a rapid ... Read More