A Century Weekend!

This was a century weekend for us, as we took our road bikes out and rode over 100 miles in a little over two days - something we never dreamed of doing even a year ago!  Maybe it had something to do with the excitement of the 2011 Pro Cycling Challenge (Hopefully the USA's answer to Tour de France) hitting Colorado this past week, but it was fun for us nonetheless.  Nearly 150 professional cyclists were in Colorado this past week racing over 500 miles in 6 stages.  The fifth stage ran from Steamboat Springs to Breckenridge, while skirting Keystone and Swan Mountain Pass, a ride that Dianna and I ride routinely almost every weekend.  On Friday, we did our ride from Keystone over Swan Mountain to Copper then over Vail Pass and back to Keystone via Frisco and Dillon.  A short ride for the professionals, but nearly 50 miles for us old timers.  Saturday was race day through Summit County, so we just did a short mountain bike ride/hike then went over to Swan Mountain to watch the race.  We finished the weekend by riding enough on Sunday to give us 105 miles for the weekend!

Here's some of the festivities from the race over Swan Mountain.  The first rider to reach the summit is awarded the KOM (King of the Mountain) title.  The summit is clearly marked by the red arches at the top (and LOTS of fans cheering them on).

Lots of folks just having fun awaiting the racers to hit the summit.

This guy had to be hot!  (University of Northern Colorado Rams, although I think he could have represented ZZ Top in an earlier life)

After about an hour wait, the riders finally got there.  This was a breakaway of 4 riders that had leaded the peloton (main group of riders) for most of the day.  On this pass alone, their lead on the peloton was cut down from 2 minutes to only about 30 seconds.  These guys looked beat, they had already covered nearly 100 miles this day.

Right behind the four leaders was the main peloton, including Levi Leipheimer, the overall winner of the race for the week.  We were cheering for him since he's originally from Butte:)

Here's Levi in the yellow jersey, one that he wore all week except for only one day.  The leader with the best overall time for the race gets to wear the special yellow jersey each day while riding.

After about two or three minutes, the entire peloton has pretty much passed where we were and the race went on the Breckenridge for the finish that day.  The support vehicles with extra bikes and equipment follow all of the riders.  Pretty amazing that these guys are all so evenly matched and can finish a 100+ mile race as close together as they did!

Another fun wekend in Keystone!

In A Quandary

Well, it's mid-August and about time for us to do our annual fourteener (peaks in Colorado with summits at least 14,000') hike!  The weather forecast was in our favor,so we decided to tackle Quandary Peak just south of Breckenridge.  Hey, it's only 14,265' and a 3-1/2 mile hike each way.....  Just because the Summit County trail map indicates that the Quandary Peak hike is a 'most difficult' hike, it can't be that bad, and besides, we've had a whole week to rest since conquering 12,500' Ptarmigan Peak last weekend!  Here's the peak as seen from the trailhead.  We started out about 6:30 am, just at sunrise (this shot was taken after we got back).

At about 8:30, we're half-way there - still the toughest part yet to come.  If you look closely, you can see the other hikers going up the ridge on the left.  We've already passed up about 6 or 8 folks (coming down) that started at 2 am and hiked up under a full moon to the summit to watch a meteor shower and the sunrise!  Those folks are crazy (and we're not).



We had plenty of company along the way up.  These guys were much quicker and more agile than us, though.......

A few pika as well.....

We're almost there - the summit is in sight!

We made it'!!!!!

View from the summit - that's why they are called the Rocky Mountains!

Way down there is where we started this morning at the base of Hoosier Pass.

Hey look, it's mid-August and there are lakes below us that are still partly frozen!

Fletcher Mountain sitting at 13,950' and Mount of the Holy Cross (also a 14'er) in the middle background.

 

That's a long ways down!

Looking eastward, we've had our quick lunch and it's time to start our decent back down the mountain.

Still lots of hikers coming up the mountain, our trail goes straight down the spine.

Looks like these guys are just losing their heavy winter fur.

Awesome shots!

We encountered a whole herd of mountain goats with their babies.

Twin kids!

Finally made it back down, time to plan tomorrow's activities!  We felt pretty ambitious, so decided to tackle Vail Pass (from Vail) on our road bikes the following day.  Only a 20 mile trip, but another 'most difficult' route on our map.  Needless to say, we were both pretty tired after this weekend!  I think we'll attempt a couple of less difficult activities next weekend.....

Back at the condo,  the hummers are really enjoying our feeder!

Ptarmigan Peak or Bust!

Another picture perfect day for a hike!  This hike today will be a primer for a fourteener hike next weekend:)  Ptarmigan Peak is above timberline at about 12,500'.  We started right in Silverthorne at about 9000' with an awesome view of Lake Dillon.  The Tenmile Range is on the right with Breckenridge on the far left end of the range (center of the picture), while the other two taller peaks are Mt Baldy near the center of the picture and Guyot on the left.

A little higher up, we could now see Lake Dillon in its entirety.

Once we started getting away from I-70, we started going through the thick patches of aspens - this will be georgeous in the fall!

Getting higher still- Lake Dillon again with Quandary Peak on the far right (a fourteener that we'll tackle next week) and the ski runs at Breckenridge immediately in front of it.

Another shot of Tenmile Range with Frisco at the base of Peak One on the right side of the picture.

All of the wildflowers are still beautiful, here's an indian paintbrush in full bloom.



Just getting to timberline, we finally get to see Torrey's and Gray's Peaks, which are southwest of Keystone.

There's Mt Holy Cross in the center, well beyond Buffalo Mtn (the rounded peak on the left) and Red Peak (extreme right).  We're almost to the top!

We made it!  We were the first ones to reach the summit, so we got dibs on the down-wind side of the rock pile at the crest to take our snack break and enjoy the scenery.  A spectacular 360 degree unobstructed view with the Continental Divide immediately east of us, Keystone to the south, Tenmile and Gore Ranges to the west, and Long's Peak to the north.

For some reason, the song 'Sound of Music' kept going through my head! 

There's Keystone to the south and Glacier Mountain that we were driving along with the Jeep yesterday.

Jeeping around Keystone

After finishing our morning road bike trip, we decided to hop in the Jeep and drive from Keystone up to Montezuma and take the Jeep trail on up past Wild Irishman mine to the top of Glacier Mountain.  Here's the remnants of an old mining camp at the top of Glacier.

After exploring the old mining camp for a few minutes, I turned around only to see that we had some company....

A beautiful mountain goat was checking us out..

He was really more interested in eating dirt than bothering us.

We weren't the only ones out for a Saturday ride, lots of other Jeeps and Land Rovers were out too.  In the distance, you can see what I think was Radical Hill Trail which ended up going over to Webster Pass.

More mountain Jeep trails

On the way back down, we got out and explored old Wild Irishman mining camp right at timberline (that's the mine that our condo was named after).  Not much left other than a couple of houses and and an outhouse, but still pretty cool.

It's a Triathlon Weekend!

Ah, the start of another fun-filled weekend at Keystone!  This weekend, we're going for a triathlon - a long road bike trip from Keystone to the top of Vail Pass on Friday, a mountain bike trip along the Colorado Trail on Saturday, then a hike up to the Gore Range Trail from Copper Mountain to Wheeler Lakes on Sunday.  Sometimes the views on the drive up the hill make the weekend even more spectacular!  Sunset while going over Loveland Pass just outside of Keystone.



Along Loveland Pass, a herd of bighorn sheep coming down for the evening.

Day one and the first leg of our triathlon - a 50 mile road bike trip from Keystone to the top of Vail Pass and back.  Here's the view while approaching Copper Mountain. 

We made it to the top of Vail Pass!  Dianna didn't even stop for a break while going up the pass!

On the way back to Keystone, some of the beautuful wildflowers along the trail near Lake Dillon.  

Day two - an 18 mile mountain bike trip up Keystone Valley to the Colorado Trail again then back to Keystone.  This time, we made it with no flat tiires!  (See my posting from two weeks ago....)



Day three - a short hike up to Wheeler Lakes and the Gore Range Trail.  Here's Copper Mountain at the beginning of the hike.



About half way along the hike, looking back at Copper Mountain and the Tenmile Range.  Those peaks in the background are the backside of Breckenridge Ski Area, Peaks 8, 9, and 10. 

Wheeler Lake #1, a beautiful calm morning with the undistorted reflection.

Wheeler Lake #2 (Copper Mountain in the background)

Lots of beautiful wildflowers this year (red indian paintbrush in the foreground)

The Gore Range Trail goes along those peaks in the background

A couple of happy hikers!

Hopefully one of our next hikes this summer will be along the Gore Range across the ridge between those two peaks!  To be continued........