It was our fifth anniversary (already!) weekend so we loaded up the pop-up and left Boulder in our rear view mirror. We headed south to Buena Vista, CO where we would camp.
The view from our Camp Site included some standard CO mountains. Gorgeous...we'd spend the weekend peddling our way up those mountains!
We drove out on Thursday and set up camp. Dave prepared a terrific anniversary weekend meal.Yum!
The next morning we got up and prepped to head up Cottonwood Pass. I'd not done this one before and Dave had only ridden it once - last year. We road from out camp at Buena Vista to the top - this is the east side of the pass.
Here is some info from a biking website (http://www.mybicycleroutes.com/xcottonwoodpassinfopage.html):
The pass tops out over 12,000 feet, has the third highest paved road in
the state, has an incredible tree lined climb on the east side with a
10% grades section.
The east side of the pass in breathtaking in a number or ways. First,
it’s steep. If you like the challenge of a good leg burning climb,
you’ve found it. Roughly halfway up, you’ll come across a wall. The
grade is 10% and it’s about half to three quarters of a mile long.
This is a great point for speed on the downhill, but on the climb, it
will take your breath away. The east side also has tight switchbacks,
eight, to contend with.
Overall, the east side is steeper and has a lot more climbing than the
west, hence the reason for the difficult rating.
We headed up although it was a bit windy. But jeeze, when is Colorado not windy?
I wore what Dave calls my snow leopard riding jersey. I say it's the milk cow jersey. Either way, it provides a great deal of camouflage...I mean, you can barely see me in this photo.
Got to get some nice scenery shots heading out of Buena Vista.
A very cool old-fashioned outdoor movie theater was part of the initial scenery. Lots of Mountain Bluebirds and even some Lewis' Woodpeckers made it a fun ride. I almost forgot about the wind. :)
Part way up, we stopped for a little snack and contemplated why this place is so dang windy. Seriously? Does it end and why is it always a headwind? Or a crosswind?
Some fun signage on the way up.
Getting near tree line...
Another little snack break...
Fun view for our little rest.
Dave ready to ride!
Big snow banks as we neared the top. The ride was cool temperature wise. I was happy I'd decided to bring lots of warm weather clothes for the descent.
Pretty near the top! The pass is just over the crevasses you can see in this photo.
There goes Dave!
At the top. The views at this pass are quite gorgeous.
A view looking to the west. Almont is somewhere down there!
Summit photo!
Obligatory summit photo with summit sign. I'm dressed up for the descent. You'll notice I've forgotten to put on my thermal legs. That happened moments later. Brrrrr.
Moments after we started our descent we stop for a few more photos. Really beautiful summit here. If you've not ridden it, put it on your list!
You can see the summit just over my shoulder.
The ride down could have been really fast. Instead it was scary! The wind gusts were ridiculous forcing us to keep it a pretty slow speed (about 30-35mph). They were unpredictable and coming at all directions. I thought the higher grades were squirrely until I hit the flats! Holy moley - can't believe I wasn't blown over. In total the ride was about 42 miles with about 4,222 feet in elevation gain. Fun time!
On the way back to camp. we stopped at a liquor store so Dave could grab a celebratory beverage.
Love the signage! We headed back to camp and had a great meal and a terrific night of sleep. I needed it! Nice to be away from some pressures at work and out having fun! Tomorrow....Independence Pass!
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