Someone told me that Bike Tour of Colorado is one of the ten best multiday rides in the country. It may also be one of the ten toughest!
BTC 2009 covered 400+ miles in six riding days with over 50,000 feet of climbing. Not surprisingly, the ride attracted a lot of hardcore cyclists, many of whom rode in long pacelines and were up and over the mountains and back in camp in time for lunch on days that would have taken me 8 to 12 hours to complete. After the first day of riding, I knew that I was out of my league.
Every day on BTC included 20 to 40 mile stretches of climbing averaging 3% to 5% grades (as high as 8%), usually with one major downhill stretch at the end. Downhill grades ranged from 6% to 10%. These are not rolling hills like on the Pacific Coast ride, but rather long climbs to the summit with a long steep descent down the other side. The last day was the longest but otherwise pretty typical: 107 miles total, climbing 4000+ feet over Independence Pass at 12,095 feet. 45 miles of climbing with a 60 mile descent at the end.
I do not know how many people dropped out in the first few days, but I know of several who had ridden Ride the Rockies and BTC many times before and decided not to complete this tour because it was too hard. On the first day, over a hundred riders waited hours to sag to the top of McClure Pass. Some cycled down the other side under their own power. Others sagged all the way to camp. A lot of riders had personal sag wagons to pick them up when they were too tired or hot or queasy from the altitude to go on.
I do not know how many injuries there were on the tour. There were lots of rumors, of course. I did meet a man who went down on gravel on day four, fractured a metacarpal, and rode the remaining days up to each summit with his hand in a cast. He had to sag downhill to camp every day because the descents were too dangerous with one hand. That’s what I mean by hardcore!
I realized after the first day that if I wanted this ride to be fun, I would have to give up my long-standing goal of riding EFI (Every Fantastic Inch). By the end of day two – after many powwows – Brian, Paula and I decided to get my car from Glenwood Springs and keep it with us as a personal sag wagon. From then on, we took turns riding and sagging each other and had a terrific time. We all got to ride several incredible, challenging rides, stayed safe, and had a blast!
The scenery was spectacular every day. The highlight for me was the Colorado National Monument. Take a look at the Bike Tour of Colorado slide show on the right for more photos.
The nitty gritty details
There were 1700 registered riders! This made for long waits for meals, showers, and sometimes even for porta-potties. Even so, I felt that the ride was very well organized.
We could shower in shower trucks or school showers. After the first day, I used the school showers. Steamy, but no waiting in long lines in the blazing sun.
Porta-potties were clean and usually close by, although one evening they were so wobbly that I was hesitant to use them. In a wind and rain storm at the summit of Cottonwood Pass, one went flying across the parking lot! I never did find out whether anyone was in it at the time.
We camped at a school every night, where there were four levels of accommodations:
You could camp outside in your own tent in designated areas. This is what my friends Brian and Carol did.
You could pay extra to camp inside the schools with your own sleeping bag. These campers were often lined up side by side in the gyms or hallways. One gym had 300 campers in it! No thanks!
You could pay extra to camp outside in tents provided by Shuttleguy. I was glad that Paula I had decided to share an 8x10 Shuttleguy tent. Our tents were set up when we arrived at camp, and we did not have to take them down the next morning.
Some folks paid to stay in nearby hotels. Their gear was dropped off each day and shuttles were provided to get them back and forth.
Breakfast and dinner were served in the school cafeterias. The meals were adequate, but nothing special. After the second day of waiting 45 minutes in line for breakfast, I stopped going to breakfast and tried, with varied success, to nourish myself with Power Bars and rest-stop fare until dinner.
It was very hot during the day and quite chilly most nights. It rained a couple of nights and the afternoon of our day off in Crested Butte. Not a problem on our day off! But on day six, just as I started climbing the 6% grade, 14-mile unpaved road that would take me to the summit of Cottonwood Pass, it started to drizzle. The higher I climbed the heavier the rain (and eventually sleet) came down until I was drenched through and through and getting cold. Brian was a mile or so ahead of me when Paula finally scooped us up and drove us the last two miles or so to the summit. When we got there, they were loading bikes into U haul trucks to get people off the foggy, windy summit. (Pictures are in the slide show on the right. For some reason I am not able to imbed any more pictures in the text.)
All in all, it was a great tour with spectacular scenery! When the going got rough, being with dear friends from previous rides made all the difference. And, as usual, I learned something new about myself: When it comes to cycling, I’m diehard, but I'm not hardcore.
