Thursday Rides: Hard Core Bike with Mike Schedule

Hard Core Bike with Mike Schedule:

The Thursday Hard Core rides are a great way to get out there and meet fellow roadies from all the Clubs in the Valley. These rides are generally 2-3 hours in length
and are an excellent opportunity to hone your skills, tone your legs,
and meet some great people in the process. If you are looking
to try out a new road bike, you can let Mike know in advance and he
will round up a Giant or Cervelo for you to ride.

Thursday, June 17, 2010. Avon to Eagle roundabout and back. This is a great ride to get in those base miles for the season. 40 miles and 1000
feet of elevation loss going to Eagle and 1000 feet gained coming back.
Leave from Venture Sports at 9:00 am. This is the easiest ride
of the season. A complete view of the ride can be found at: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/6628618.

For the Bike-A-Venture tour, we will be doing Vail Pass to Vail or Avon. This is a very easy ride, with 80% of it being downhill. We will depart from Avon
at 10:00 am.

Thursday, June 24, 2010. Avon to East Vail gate and back. Another base mileage ride with a bit more climbing. 35 miles and 1500 feet of elevation
gain and then loss. Leave from Venture Sports at 9:00 am. Being
week 2, this is another pretty mellow ride. A complete view
of the ride can be found at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/5044343.

For the Bike-A-Venture tour, we will be doing Glenwood Canyon. This ride is quite beautiful, traveling through the 2000 foot deep limestone and granite walls formed
by the Colorado River. We will stop and have lunch from Columbine
Bakery at either Grizzly Creek or Hanging Lake. We will depart
Avon at 10:00 am.

Thursday, July 1, 2010. East Vail to Frisco and back. This ride will start to get the climbing muscles firing. 40 miles and 3500 feet of
elevation gain with some great resting opportunities on the downhills.
Meet at the park and ride lot on the Southeast side of the East Vail
I-70 exit at 9:00 am.

For the Bike-A-Venture, we will be riding the beautiful Mineral Belt loop in Leadville. This is an incredible 13 mile loop that is generally flat with a few rolling
hills to keep things interesting. We stop part way through the
ride and have a great lunch from Columbine Bakery. We will depart
Avon at 10:00.

Thursday, July 8, 2010. Avon to the top of Bellyache Ridge past Red Sky Golf course. About 40 miles with a nice warm-up spin on the way to Wolcott followed
by one of the best climbs in the Valley and then a good spin back to
Avon. This is a great ride to think about the pros in the Tour
de France as it is a pretty steep climb. When you’re getting
tired, think about that in two days the Tour is climbing Tournus > Station des Rousses and then Station
des Rousses > Morzine-Avoriaz
which begins the crazy mountain stages. We will leave Venture
Sports at 9:00 am. A complete view of the ride can be found at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/31603601.

For the Bike-A-Venture we will ride from Avon to Vail and back along the bike path. This is the most difficult of the Bike-A-Venture rides as it is not down hill all
the way. It is still a very moderate tour. We will leave
Avon at 10:00.

Thursday, July 15, 2010. East Vail to Breckenridge followed by dinner in Breckenridge. We will meet at the park and ride lot on the Southeast side of the East
Vail I-70 exit at 2:00 pm. This is one of the only rides of the
season that is entirely on a bike path, so it is a great one for people
who are leery of riding with cars. Have your significant other
meet you at the Rec Center in Breckenridge at 5:00 pm if they are a
non-rider. This ride is 40 miles long and gains about 3300 feet,
90% of that gain being on Vail Pass. We will need to know how
many people are coming on this one as we will be providing transportation
back from Breck.

For the Bike-A-Venture we will do a Vail Pass tour down to Summit County so that the “hard core” riders and the Bike-A-Venturers can ride together for much of the trip.
This is a great way for people who don’t normally ride together to
enjoy a day in the saddle with one another. We will leave Avon
at 1:30 to meet up with the “hard core” group on Vail Pass.

Thursday, July 22, 2010. Today is a steep day in the Tour De France so we will do an easier version with a ride from Avon to Wolcott divide and back. This
is a 40 mile ride with the only real hills being the short climb up
to the Wolcott dump and then the long grind up to the divide.
For those of you who are riding in the Colorado River ride, this is
also a great way to get familiar with the first part of that ride which
is coming up in two short days. We will leave Venture Sports at
9:00 am. A complete view of the ride can be found at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/12527849.

For the Bike-A-Venture tour, we will be doing Vail Pass to Vail or Avon. This is a very easy ride, with 80% of it being downhill. We will depart from Avon
at 10:00 am.

Thursday, July 29, 2010. As most of us will either be recovering from the Eagle River Ride, preparing for the Copper Triangle (August 7), or both, this will
be an easy day of spinning. We will ride from Avon to the Eagle
roundabout again, leaving Venture Sports at 9:00 am for a mellow 40
miles. A complete view of the ride can be found at: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/6628618.

For the Bike-A-Venture tour, we will be doing Glenwood Canyon. This ride is quite beautiful, traveling through the 2000 foot deep limestone and granite walls formed
by the Colorado River. We stop and have lunch from Columbine Bakery
at either Grizzly Creek or Hanging Lake. We will depart Avon at
10:00 am.

Thursday, August 5, 2010. For everyone who either isn’t riding the Copper Triangle or simply can’t get enough of it, we will be riding from Avon to Camp
Hale and back. This ride is just over 40 miles and climbs a total
of more than 3000 feet. We will use the Nova Guides offices as
our turnaround point and will leave Venture Sports at 9:00 am.
A complete view of the ride can be found at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/10933082.

Thursday, August 12, 2010. This one is short but sweet – it’s the hill climb classic of Avon. From Avon we head up to the cul-de-sac past the
Beaver Creek Chapel. After a quick coast down the hill, we will
pound up Mountain Star to the Wildridge cutoff. We will cruise
down the cutoff and then continue up to the top of Wildridge.
After letting those legs recover on the downhill, we will hammer up
the last leg and climb to the top of Bachelor’s Gulch. The total
distance is not a lot but the total elevation gain is – 4000 feet
over 27 miles. We will leave Venture Sports at 9:00 am so you
can conveniently bail to the comfort of your car at any point.
For anyone who completes the entire ride, Mike will buy beverages at
the Buffalo Bar in the Ritz. A complete view of the ride can be
found at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11676906.

Thursday, August 19, 2010. This is our rest ride before the grand finale to Aspen. We will leave from the park and ride in Gypsum located on the Southeast
corner of the I-70 exit at 9:00 am. We will ride down Hwy 6 to
the Colorado River Road and ride to between Sweetwater and Burns.
When we are 20 miles from Gypsum we will head back to the cars for a
40 mile spin. A complete view of the ride can be found at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11676887.

For the Bike-A-Venture tour, we will be doing Vail Pass to Vail or Avon. This is a very easy ride, with 80% of it being downhill. We will depart from Avon
at 10:00 am.

Thursday, August 26, 2010. This is the big one. We will again meet at the Gypsum park and ride at 8:00 am and ride to Aspen. This ride is
all down hill to Glenwood and then flat to slightly uphill to Basalt,
followed by the moderately uphill finish into Aspen. Total ride
is about 80 miles but with very little climbing with the exception of
the steep but short hill right at the end of the ride. Over 90%
of this ride is on bike path, so it is a great tour for anyone who doesn’t
like to ride with cars. We will be arranging a hotel special for
everyone to stay at with the details to come soon.