Around Cold Spring

This ride is a bit of an adventure and a serious workout. For a long time I have been looking for a gravel bike loop going from east to west, and north as high as Bearwallow Butte, starting at Skyliner Snow Park. During my many attempts I usually run into deep sand or dead ends. This route successfully completes that loop on roads feasible for a gravel bike.

The scenery is beautiful and the route is a mixture of 15% wide gravel roads, 70% double track, and 15% single track. I have tried to avoid spending much riding time on 4601 and 4602 where cars create unhealthy dust. This ride requires a lot of climbing, 1400 feet in nine miles. There is a three mile section, from mile eight to mile eleven, averaging 9% grade. The riding surface is overall quite good with a few very short sections of soft sand and some rocks on the downhill at mile sixteen for a couple hundred feet. Not being a young man, I had to walk a few times on the long steep upgrades, and on the rocky part of the downhill to prevent a possible crash.

When I previewed this ride I averaged 7.8 miles/hr for a riding time of two and half hours. I am a C rider but I am classifying the ride as a C/D because of its difficulty. D riders can get ahead of the group if they have the course downloaded on their GPS. I would welcome any D rider who would be willing to lead a D group on this ride. I highly recommend that everybody have the route on their GPS or phone since the ride is a bit complicated.

E-bikes are welcome.

I am using 700cx50mm tires but 40mm will work as well. I would not advise narrower tires. Join me on this adventure and share the joy of riding on this interesting course with beautiful scenery.

This is a Fully Vaccinated ride only.

Questions? Call Michel @ 541.977.2433