Dave Evans’ bicycle trips seem to have become annual events. Last year we gathered in southern France and rode the Pyrenees. This year had to be a bit less taxing on the wallet so we planned to meet at Dave and Pattie Evans’ house and attempt another trip through the Rockies.Dave, Dick, Nate (husband of Pattie’s cousin), and I spent a week riding through the Rockies in 1999. This year we had also planned on a multi-day trip through the Rockies, but somewhat less demanding. However, in the end, we settled on three days of riding using Dave and Pattie’s house as a hub. The first couple of days would be consist of shorter rides to allow us flat-landers to acclimate to the altitude; and the final day would be an attempt on Mt. Evans. Bicycling up Mt. Evans is always a crap shoot — the weather can turn in a moment or altitude sickness can cause good intentions to force other plans.

First, the players. Again, I didn’t get current individual photographs of everyone, just the various group shots during the trip:

• Dave Evans — Directeur Sportif
• Terry Dahl — long time friend of Dave
• Russ Loucks (me) — long time friend of Dave

Terry and I both arrived on Friday and assembled our bikes. No surprises from the Transportation Security Authority! Both bikes and other contents of the bike cases arrived unscathed and unaltered and undamaged. For me, that was a first in about eight years of bicycle tours….Since I’m sure everyone has seen enough pix of our group assembling bicycles from previous trips, I decided not to take any pictures of this task this trip nor provide any more details. Dave and I did take a short trip on Friday afternoon and about the most exciting event that occurred was that I had a flat tire. We decided that my flat tire was the first flat we had experienced in at least three trips.

The first day was an altitude acclimation day so we kept the ride short with very little climbing. The weather was predicted to be sunny with the temperatures in the low 70s. Well, it was misty and the temperatures were in the 50s.

We rode from Dave and Pattie’s house on a paved path along C-470 (Denver ring road) to Red Rocks Park. I have to admit that I’ve never seen so many miles of paved trail. Everywhere I looked paved trails could be found winding through open spaces, beside roads, and through residential and commercial properties. As it turns out Dave is very active in bicycle and trail advocacy in the Denver area. He and his merry band of cyclists can count a number of successful lobbying efforts. These include a paved shoulder to be added to Deer Creek Road (a road used by more cyclists than automobiles) and a pedestrian/cycling bridge over C-470, among other things.

The weather for the day turned out not as predicted and sloshed through puddles and some muddy road surfaces. We first rode through Bear Creek Lake Park, again rife with paved trails. Personally, I would have preferred to not have so many paved trails through parks, unpaved and single track trails would be good, as well. But I’m mostly a roadie so I can’t complain tooooo much.

Next up was Red Rocks Park. I’m sure in the bright sunlight this outcropping of rocks would be rather beautiful; unfortunately, the low clouds and mist dulled the scenery.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built an amphitheatre among the red rocks back in the 1930s. With some modern additions and improvements, this venue, shall we say, “rocks.”

Here we are starting out for the day:

And Red Rocks. The amphitheatre is nestled amoungst the rocks in the center. The next picture is just to the south of Red Rocks.

Here are some pics of Red Rocks amphitheatre. That’s Terry on the left and me on the right in the bottom picture.

After Red Rocks Park we rolled through some tony neighborhoods and back to the Evans’ household.
End of day 1. Statistics:

• Start: Dave and Pattie’s house
• End: Dave and Pattie’s house
• Distance: 30ish miles
• Climbs: Dinosaur Ridge, Red Rocks Amphitheater Top Entrance
• Total gain: 1000 ft

Sunday we arose to bright sunny skies and 40 degree temperatures. Since we had planned on riding about 35 miles we decided to wait a couple of hours before taking off.Deer Creek Canyon Road starts about two hundred meters from Dave and Pattie’s house so we did not have to pack the bikes, we could just start from the house. The climb starts quite quickly and with the newly paved shoulder, we didn’t have to worry about vehicles.

We also noticed a significant number of bicycles both climbing and descending Deer Creek Canyon. In fact, we figured there were about ten times the bicyclists vs other vehicles. We did, however, have to keep a keen ear and eye out for motorcyclists zooming up and down the canyon road. As we have found on all other of our trips, any good paved road favored by bicyclists is also favored by motorcyclists. But that logic could be reversed, as well…..

Here we are at the start:

On the way up Deer Creek Canyon. Dave is on the left and Terry is on the right.

Our route took us on South Deer Creek Canyon Road off Deer Creek Canyon Road from Philipsburg and then High Grade Road to the school house. We rested a few minutes at the top talking with some interesting folks (er, cyclists, what would you expect). They were sitting next to a few coolers of food and drink. Apparently, they’re part of a group (a trust?) that provides support to cyclists in a number of ways — trip sagging, bike maintenance, etc. Nice.

Here we are at the top looking northwest. Is that Mount Evans in the far distance?

And looking east to Denver. No, that’s not Buck Hill in the distance with the snow capped peaks, that’s the Denver International Airport main terminal.

We had a great descent down Deer Creek Canyon Road. Terry, of course, beat Dave and I down by about a minute. We had no problem with other vehicles or cyclists. I had forgotten how much fun descending is.

Pattie, off course, had set out a great spread as a late lunch for our efforts when we returned. The temperature was rather warm so we sat outside and yacked and drank and ate and yacked and drank and ate.

That evening the four of us had dinner at Maggiano’s in Denver in celebration of Dave’s and Terry’s birthdays.

End of day 1. Statistics:

• Start: Dave and Pattie’s house
• End: Dave and Pattie’s house
• Distance: 38 miles
• Climbs: Deer Creek Canyon
• Total gain: 3200 ft

Monday we arose again to bright sunny skies and 40 degree temperatures. We packed up and drove to Bergen Park to start our assault on Mount Evans. While the weather was wonderful and not a cloud in the sky at eight in the morning, the weather and temperature atop Mount Evans is, er, changable in the afternoon. It is possible to have great conditions in the valleys but snow and sleet on top of Mount Evans. Consequently, we wanted to get an early start so that we would reach the summit by early afternoon.
We started in Bergen Park vs. Idaho Springs as we did on our last few times up Mount Evans. The road to Mount Evans from Bergen Park is 32 miles (vs. 28 from Idaho Springs) but the route to Echo Lake is muuuuuch better than from Idaho Springs. There is much less traffic, better surface (for the most part), and loooong, sweeping curves.Here we are at the start (me and then Terry and Dave):

We were unsupported so we had to carry everything we needed for the day. The temperature was about fifty degrees (F) when we started at Bergen Park and it seemed to stay that way as we rode to the top. The peak, however, was advertised to be 36 degrees and somewhat windy. Descending a mountain in 36 degree weather is a bit chilly so we carried jackets, hats, long pants, etc. needed for the descent.

I took note of the road conditions as we rode to Echo Lake. The road seemed well suited for a nice safe (and fast) descent. Here are some picts of the terrain and us as we neared the top of Squaw Pass – about 11,000 ft., I believe. The peak in the distance in the middle photo is the top of Mount Evans.

The weather continued to be just perfect. From the top of Squaw Pass, we descended a couple of miles to Echo Lake (ele. 10,600 ft.). We took a short break and filled our bottles with water and Gaterade from the lodge at the lake. After we paid our $3 to the wonderful park ranger we started the final fourteen miles to the top of Mount Evans.

Here’s a photo of Echo Lake from some thousand feet above it. We had just rode above the tree line and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees pretty quickly. I donned my jacket and knickers.

Even more pix of the terrain and wildlife.

We finally make it to Summit Lake (13,001 ft). Yes, that’s snow in the crook of the two ledges in the middle of the picture. We also begin to see other riders who passed us starting their descent. A quick nod of the head is all they can muster in the cold as they descend the mountain.

A few pix of Dave and Terry as we all near the top. Note the lack of guardrails on the road. Don’t tell my wife about that……

And we made it to the top! We eat whatever food we had left, chat a bit with the other cyclists who are also resting at the top before they descend and prepare our way for the wild ride down.

Dave quips that ‘It doesn’t get any better than this’. I think he was right. Of the three attempts I’ve make on Mount Evans, I’ve succeeded on two of them. This was the best — weather, conditions, conditioning, etc.

After a bit more reminiscing and back-slapping, we start our descent. The top portion (above Summit Lake) is the most treacherous. The road is quite bumpy, narrow, and contains many low-speed switchbacks. Remember the lack of guardrails, eh?

We stop at Summit Lake for about thirty seconds and take off for Echo Lake. The route from Summit lake to Echo Lake is better, but still a bit hazardous and still no guardrails so we take it easy. I had forgotten, but the road gradient is very gradual and rather easy to descend. This is in sharp contrast to the Pyrenean roads we traveled last year.

Another quick break at Echo Lake and we start off on the final section. The temperature is quite warm at Echo Lake (70ish), but we retain our jackets and leggings. We have to climb for a couple of miles to the top of Squaw Pass and then start our descent to Bergen Park.

It takes me a couple of miles, but I finally get the hang of riding that section of road. The gradient is very consistent and easy to ride, 5% I would say. And the looooong, sweeping curves are a blast.

We descend, descend, descend for sixteen miles all without stopping. What a blast! A couple of sections were filled with potholes; Dave reminded us that he dumped his bike last year on one of those holes as we he was flying down the hill. Ouch.

I (roughly) remember where the nasty section of road existed and rode the yellow line down the hill. I made it with no problems. Both Dave and Terry, however, mention they had to maneuver around a few of the potholes as autos were trying to pass them in those bad sections. I, however, have learned to not worry about riding the yellow line. We, as cyclists, were not going that much slower than autos and so if they wanted to pass, they had to use the left lane rather than trying to sneak by using only a portion of the left lane.

Maybe I’m just a bit preachy today as I just found out last night that a good friend was forced off the road a few months ago by a commercial vehicle as she was cycling in St. Paul and she suffered three broken ribs and spent a month out of work. Grrrr.

Anyway, we all made it to the bottom and the temperature was about eighty degrees in Bergen Park. The before picture was at the top of this page; here’s the after picture:

Dave was also waxing a bit poetic and mentioning that he might not attempt Mount Evans again because this ride was just about perfect. Well, we’ll see how he feels about that next year…..

Well, that’s about it for this trip. We sat around yacking, drinking beer, and chowing food the rest of the day at Dave and Pattie’s house. Terry took an early flight out the next day. My flight was later in the day so I took a short recovery ride in the morning before Dave took me to the airport.
Soooo, where’s our next trip? We’re all thinking of somewhere in the Dolomites in Italy. Hmmm. Stay tooned…..

End of day 3. Statistics:

• Start: Bergen Park
• End: Bergen Park
• Distance: 64 miles
• Climbs: Mount Evans
• Total gain: 7200 ft