We are still mountain biking in Vail. In the background of the picture you can see Vail ski mountain where there is a light dusting of snow on some of the ski slopes. We have been having cold evenings in Vail, but the hiking and biking has been great from 10am – 4pm. Beautiful Colorado sunshine. This photos was taken from the Son of Middle Creek single track. It joins into the Vail North Trail and is about an hour ride. If you need trail ideas on where to ride your mountain bike in Vail, ask Chris or Rob at the Frontdesk.
Archive for the ‘Vail Biking’ Category
Vail mountain biking
Sunday, October 19th, 20082008 Colorado River Ride
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
Every year for the past four years, some variation of Team Antlers has ridden in the late-July Colorado River Ride … one of the best and most fun bicycle centuries there is. In addition to the 100 mile route being spectacular (much of it paralleling the Colorado River from Burns to Dotsero) the aid stations are more like big parties then most other rides. That’s because a significant number of the 1,000+ riders are locals that all know each other.
This year was Team Antlers’ finest hour (so far) with 15 people riding in Antlers jerseys. It was an all-star lineup, including:
Randi Davis (our controller) and her architect husband Danny on their tandem (hanging out about six inches off of their back wheel is truly one of my most happy places in the whole world).
Bert Farin … the most fun-loving employee in the history of the Antlers. Period.
Kent Rose … past mayor of Vail, a stalwart of our regular Wednesday night mountain biking group, and the only guy I know to once ride to Steamboat and back (200 miles) in one day
Ray Tuomey … Bert’s friend (and ours) from Chautauqua in Boulder and now solar panel guru (pictured here using his “portable changing room” aka a Mexican poncho)
Erin Kelly … son in law of Ebby and Lex Pinson (of Vail Symposium fame and Wednesday nights respectively)
Lee Rimel & Charlie Dolan … Both Wednesday night vets. Charlie’s a builder extraordinaire and Lee built and owns the 10th Mountain Division Hut System’s newest hut at the top of Tennesee Pass … the Continental Divide Hut
Cathy Craig … Durango’s finest product ever and one of my very best buds from Colorado College
Nate Free … past Antlers employee (last millenium), who now runs club sales for the Sonnenalp golf club and frequent biking pal of Randi & Danny.
and yours trulySadly, Ratz, Sarah and Marco Pierotti decided to start from Beaver Creek, whereas the rest of us started and finished in Eagle … so we missed them. Deputy Sherriff Jeff Layman, caught us midway as well. So too bad … no photos, but they all proudly wore the Antlers Burgundy and Cream as well.
Coming out of Eagle we were full of piss and vinegar … constantly challenging each other for the head of the paceline. Well, maybe not … but you get the idea..
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However by the end of the ride, it was a slightly different story.
Thanks to Kent and Rayma Rose who threw an AWESOME post ride cookout and picnic at their magnificent Eagle Ranch home, the wear and tear of all those road (rode?) miles wore off pretty quickly. On the other hand, I suspect everyone slept pretty darn well that night … I know I did.
By the way, we’ve got some open slots for next year’s ride …
Vail road biking
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
It is time for Colorado “touring”, both with the car and with the bike. Independence Pass and Trail Ridge road are now open after the record snows this past winter. It sure is a fun time to ride to the top of some of the Colorado passes and then throw some snowballs around or do a little sledding. The pic above is from Loveland Pass near the Eisenhower tunnel. I and a few friends did a training ride from Idaho Springs up to the top on Wednesday. 30 miles up in about 3 hours. All the way down in about 1 hour 10 minutes. It was work. Chris R.
It is time for mountain biking
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
O.k., the trails around Vail still need a few weeks of drying out before they’ll be good. However, the trails in Eagle (30 minutes from Vail) are in top notch condition. Very smooth, lots of green, views and new flowers. C. Ratz
Winter is finally exiting Vail
Monday, May 26th, 2008
Wow, it is taking awhile, but winter is starting to leave Vail. The picture above is from the Antlers looking up towards the ski slopes. It was taken around May 18th. Don’t worry, it has been melting a lot the last few days. None-the-less, we received some snow showers this Memorial Day weekend. The bike path is open up to the top of Vail pass (although it is 5 feet of snow tunnel at the top). Golf course is OPEN! Rafting it EXCELLENT! The Aspen trees are budding big time and within a week it will be green, green, green.
Vail ski area reported 11 inches of new snow this morning at 5:30am and we probably received another 3-4 inches on Vail mountain throughout the day. Vail's ski conditions are fantastic. It has been a bit of a wait. Most of the Back Bowls op...
Finally, we are getting a bit of a turn on the snow. 9+inches today and it snowed pretty good throughout the day so maybe another 3 inches or so will be reported on tomorrow's Vail snow report. I did a few runs with Antlers at Vail condomin...
