Vail Pass

So the Viscous Bitches ride again. Oh geez, what a day it was. Michael and I had talked about doing the Copper Triangle ride that is coming up in a few weeks. We haven't biked but a few times between us since we finished our Aids Life Cycle Ride in June. Part of the Copper Triangle ride is Vail Pass and neither of us had attempted this. I suggested that we ride from Breckenridge over to Vail Pass & back. He misunderstood me and thought I meant to the town of Vail and back. I'm convinced he's trying to kill me. So we made it over to Vail Pass and I must admit it was easy going from Breck, to Copper & then Vail Pass. Our starting elevation in Breckenridge was 9600ft & at the summit of Vail Pass it is 10,666. Our layoff in training really didn't bother us & we tackled this with no problem. WE ROCK!!!!! So once reaching Vail Pass he was eager to make it to Vail. Well this was super easy since it is all downhill. I knew we would pay for it dearly once we had to come back. We had a great lunch in Vail & one beer to soothe our palate. It started to drizzle and we considered getting some other means of transportation back out of Vail to Breck. Well, the cheapest thing was $300 and we weren't having any part of that. So we sucked it up and started our journey back to Breckenridge. The elevation of the town of Vail is 8200 ft & we had to climb back up Vail Pass where it is 10,666. I'll let all of you do the math. Jesus!!!!! This was the toughest thing we have ever done. 7 days on a bike in California was nothing compared to this climb. It was brutal & the air was oh so thin. We finished our ride in Frisco & took the shuttle back to Breckenridge. Our total ride was 68 miles. So our goal was completed & we laughed about it later as we had dinner. Thank goodness for beer. Really helps numb the pain :)
This isn't the greatest shot, but it is all I have of the summit at Vail Pass. You can see Copper Mountain back in the distance. 10,666 ftWe made it to the summit and now we are starting to go downhill towards Vail. Here is a lake tucked away on the trial.Michael heading down the trail towards Vail. You can see how the trail comes right up to Interstate 70 at this point. Definitely don't like inhaling all of those car fumes. Notice the patch of pines that are dead. It is really sad here in Colorado because the landscape is being changed dramatically. The pine beetle is devouring much of the forests.Destination achieved. Here we are coming into East Vail. We biked another few miles to the main village to have some lunch. I didn't take anymore photo's after this point since everything was uphill. You need all of your balance when climbing a mountain like this.