Biking a Peak

Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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cedica
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by cedica »

justiner wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:33 am Fun Fact: Bicycle Day is my Birthday!
Belated Happy Birthday Mr. Kowalski, you are an inspiration!

Like a butterfly on a pin, soul on ice, vanishing point, vanishing point...
Last edited by cedica on Fri Apr 23, 2021 11:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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aholle88
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by aholle88 »

bdloftin77 wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 11:48 am Which routes on Pikes and Elbert did you take, and how were they? I’ve biked Pikes Peak before, but the via the highway. I’m planning on biking it via Barr trail this summer.. Much hike-a-bike on the way up? How was Elbert? Did you take the south ridge?
I’ve done Pikes via Cheyenne canyon->missing link->Barr to summit. Straight up Barr. And via highway to elk park. I would say the highway bottom to top, Barr->elk->highway, or Cheyenne canyon->elk->highway would be the best ways to summit. Barr isn’t too rideable uphill once you get to the bottomless pit turn off. It’s a fun technical uphill up to that point though. Downhill you can take your pick, lots of options depending on what type of riding you want to get yourself into. All with 7k+ of downhill so you can’t really go wrong!

Elbert I’ve only done via the east ridge. Pretty much all rideable up to about 12.5k, then hiking. May be more rideable with the new trail above that now but I haven’t been on that yet so can’t say for sure. Elbert is a great, great ride. The hard part is paying attention to the trail when you got those views looking over twin lakes!
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gb
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by gb »

aholle88 wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:58 pm

Elbert I’ve only done via the east ridge. Pretty much all rideable up to about 12.5k, then hiking. May be more rideable with the new trail above that now but I haven’t been on that yet so can’t say for sure. Elbert is a great, great ride. The hard part is paying attention to the trail when you got those views looking over twin lakes!
Elbert is now significantly harder and less fun to ride after the work that CFI did, unfortunately. The switchbacks are too tight and there are stairsteps all over the place.

Antero is amazing. I like to start at the CO trail, go up the standard road, down little Brown's, then loop back via the CT. Our friend Jessicahttps://14erskiers.com/blog/2015/10/tr- ... -oct-2015/, who may have been the first woman to bike the 14, got married up on Antero and then rode down it.

Rode Shavano last summer and it's also great, minus the top 500' or so. Below that it's probably 97% rideable for me.

pike's/barr is high on my list to check out.

There are lots of great 12ers and 13ers, too- check out fairview, 13078, whitepine.
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by justiner »

Pikes via Barr is by far the most rideable 14er there is. Up to Barr Camp it's pretty buffed out; afterwards, there's actually some personality to the trail, and you may have to pick a line up through treeline. The last bit - the 16 golden stairs would be a real challenge of bike handling to do it without too many dabs.

But also do remember that Pikes is home to an entire trail system, including the still unfinished Ring the Peak trail system, and Jones Park/Lake Morraine Trail, which you can use as a more difficult alternative to the start of the Barr Trail (or cross that trail and take it all the way to Glen Cove).
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aholle88
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by aholle88 »

gb wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:55 am
aholle88 wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:58 pm

Elbert I’ve only done via the east ridge. Pretty much all rideable up to about 12.5k, then hiking. May be more rideable with the new trail above that now but I haven’t been on that yet so can’t say for sure. Elbert is a great, great ride. The hard part is paying attention to the trail when you got those views looking over twin lakes!
Elbert is now significantly harder and less fun to ride after the work that CFI did, unfortunately. The switchbacks are too tight and there are stairsteps all over the place.

Antero is amazing. I like to start at the CO trail, go up the standard road, down little Brown's, then loop back via the CT. Our friend Jessicahttps://14erskiers.com/blog/2015/10/tr- ... -oct-2015/, who may have been the first woman to bike the 14, got married up on Antero and then rode down it.

Rode Shavano last summer and it's also great, minus the top 500' or so. Below that it's probably 97% rideable for me.

pike's/barr is high on my list to check out.

There are lots of great 12ers and 13ers, too- check out fairview, 13078, whitepine.
That’s a shame to hear about Elbert, the steep and chunky old trail was amazing from summit down to 12k before. Very cool story about Jessica on Antero!

For Shavano, you mean 97% rideable uphill up to the last 500’? That would be pretty great! I’ve never really been on the trail, only time up Shav was a long time ago on skis/snow so I don’t have a clue what the trail actually looks like. I’ll have to check out those other peaks too, always fun riding peaks, much like skiing, far better than hiking!

Anytime you wanna check out Pikes, gimme a shout. I live in Manitou so it’s my backyard. Just gotta put some gears back on my bike since I ain’t riding up any of those routes on the SS 😂
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by gb »

aholle88 wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:10 am

That’s a shame to hear about Elbert, the steep and chunky old trail was amazing from summit down to 12k before. Very cool story about Jessica on Antero!

For Shavano, you mean 97% rideable uphill up to the last 500’? That would be pretty great! I’ve never really been on the trail, only time up Shav was a long time ago on skis/snow so I don’t have a clue what the trail actually looks like. I’ll have to check out those other peaks too, always fun riding peaks, much like skiing, far better than hiking!

Anytime you wanna check out Pikes, gimme a shout. I live in Manitou so it’s my backyard. Just gotta put some gears back on my bike since I ain’t riding up any of those routes on the SS 😂
Correct, the top 500' is all talus, not really rideable for me. Everything else is hard, but surprisingly doable. Antero is that same way after the end of the road, not really all that rideable. Sounds good on Pikes!
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by bdloftin77 »

justiner wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:05 am Pikes via Barr is by far the most rideable 14er there is. Up to Barr Camp it's pretty buffed out; afterwards, there's actually some personality to the trail, and you may have to pick a line up through treeline. The last bit - the 16 golden stairs would be a real challenge of bike handling to do it without too many dabs.
I think I’ve seen your up the highway- down Barr Trail strava tracks. Have you biked up Barr Trail? If so, where did you start having to hike-a-bike a lot? If it’s almost completely unrideable for the average mountain biker past the turnoff to Elk Park (7 miles in, 5 mi to go), ~1 mi past Barr camp, I’m less enthusiastic about pushing my bike up the last 5 miles. But if there’s still quite a few rideable areas before the 16 golden steps I might still give it a go.
aholle88 wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:58 pm I’ve done Pikes via Cheyenne canyon->missing link->Barr to summit. Straight up Barr. And via highway to elk park. I would say the highway bottom to top, Barr->elk->highway, or Cheyenne canyon->elk->highway would be the best ways to summit. Barr isn’t too rideable uphill once you get to the bottomless pit turn off. It’s a fun technical uphill up to that point though. Downhill you can take your pick, lots of options depending on what type of riding you want to get yourself into. All with 7k+ of downhill so you can’t really go wrong!
It seems easier to take the turnoff to Elk Park and go up the highway to the top, but it’s been a goal of mine to go up all along trails now that I’ve done the highway route a few years ago. Did you end up pushing your bike most of the last 5 miles, or were you still able to get a bit of riding in before the golden steps? It's been a while since I've hiked the Barr trail.. memory isn't the greatest of the trail conditions from Barr to summit. Not sure which route I'll want to take going down.. If I'm super exhausted, maybe the highway. Otherwise I might try the Elk Park > Barr Camp > Missing link route. Haven't done those sections yet (and they seem really cool!), though I have ridden up from N Cheyenne Canyon to Lake Moraine.

Has anyone biked the South Ridge of Elbert? I’ve heard quite a few good things about that route. And since the standard route seems more ledgy now, that might be the more preferable way to go.
gb wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:55 am Antero is amazing. I like to start at the CO trail, go up the standard road, down little Brown's, then loop back via the CT. Our friend Jessicahttps://14erskiers.com/blog/2015/10/tr- ... -oct-2015/, who may have been the first woman to bike the 14, got married up on Antero and then rode down it.

Seems like a cool loop with Antero! I’ve hiked the road, but haven’t been in the Browns Creek area. Might be a fun way to descend.
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by aholle88 »

@bdloft -> it was pretty much entirely hike a bike after about a mile past Barr Camp on the up. I knew that going into it so I just put the bike up on the shoulders and walked. Lots of weighted pack training that year to prepare so I didn’t suffer and it actually worked well, wasn’t too bad carrying the bike really. if I had to do it again, I’d take the front wheel off and strap the bike to the pack much like Justin did for Loveland->guanella. Elisa sampey (sp?) also posted a way to do so on her Instagram page which seems pretty efficient.

As for the lower Barr, the first 3 miles below the incline turn off are not for the faint of heart. It is technical and steep, and my first year trying it was a lot of on/off the bike. Last year was finally able to cleanly ride most of it but it took everything I had, and then there’s still 9 miles left. It’s definitely “easier” going from Cheyenne to lake moraine to BC, just quite a bit longer.

I’ve hiked the S ridge of Elbert and I wouldn’t think much of it would be bikeable IIRC, at least til you get to the turn off for the BC trail. It would be fun going downhill from the ridge down black cloud though! No way you are biking up that though, it’s all 20%+ grade. Maybe loop it by going up east ridge and down that way?
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by gb »

bdloftin77 wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:27 pm

Has anyone biked the South Ridge of Elbert? I’ve heard quite a few good things about that route. And since the standard route seems more ledgy now, that might be the more preferable way to go.


Seems like a cool loop with Antero! I’ve hiked the road, but haven’t been in the Browns Creek area. Might be a fun way to descend.
I tried the NE ridge on Elbert- it's really hard, would not recommend compared to the E ridge (even the new one). No idea on S.

Antero is exceptional. Not me, but here's Nate Hills on little brown.

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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by Oman »

gb wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 5:49 pm
Antero is exceptional. Not me, but here's Nate Hills on little brown.

I think I broke my wrist just watching that video. Hard to believe humans can do that. Chunky and fast -- wow.
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by blazintoes »

Way back in September of 2010 a new addiction manifested after biking up to Clohesy Lake for Missouri with my bike racing buddies. My next duathalon attempt was Quandary in summer 2011 but I chose to stash my bike because an entire trail maintenance crew was out and I knew how non bikers felt about bikers. A no go. My first successful 14er summit was Elbert in summer 2011 on a weekday so I didn’t disturb any hikers followed by Pikes which was a lot of hike a bike. My last summit was Bierstadt with my Ritchey Breakaway strapped to my backpack in an attempt to scramble across the Sawtooth to Evans. This is not legal BTW and I didn’t make it because of weather. This ended my desire to summit with a bike and instead fueled my desire to get as far as possible legally and many times bike to the wilderness boundary and TH’s. When winter came I used my fat bike to do the same. I log all my biking miles on greenlightride.com so it was easy to look back at my diary and reminisce so thank you for posting this subject. I’ve logged 18,651 miles since keeping records and saved 14,932 in CO2 (debatable). Here are my 14er logs. I have 13er logs too.
My favorite summit was Elbert in winter and Pikes in summer with my niece and her 1hp attached bike I named Leach. I love bikes!
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Re: Biking a Peak

Post by aholle88 »

@Amy - that Rumdoodle Dual was a great trip last year! We need to do that again once the snow clears! Or maybe take the NE ridge this time, I hear it’s a fun little jaunt with a bit o spice and one of the last routes for me on Pikes besides the W slopes and S ridge.
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