Ride Report: My First Adventure Cycling Tour – Colorado

19 Oct Ride Report: My First Adventure Cycling Tour – Colorado

Before I begin my story about my first Adventure Cycling Association tour as a staff member on a tour team, I feel I need to get a few things off my chest first. I’ve been self-guilting myself for the past few months into writing, but have been putting it off for some reason. I’ve spent many hours reasoning with myself as to why I stopped writing consistently, but couldn’t come up with a reason to start again. Perhaps my life’s priorities overwhelmed me. I felt I needed to catch up with friends and family before I set off on another adventure. In any case, I’m finally in a place where I can attempt to write a bit more consistently.  It’s been a whirlwind of adventures from my last overnight bike tour in San Diego until now. Before I jump ahead, let’s talk about my first Adventure Cycling tour as staff!

I had the privilege and pleasure to be invited to join my first Adventure Cycling Association tour as a member of a 6-7 support staff team. Our tour director, Bob, had asked me to join his crew earlier in the year before I left to Europe, and I immediately agreed. The tour was called Family Fun Colorado. This tour is a family specific tour that invites parents to bring their kids with them to explore local destinations. Our trip was about 1 week-long starting on August 1st to August 6th. We began and ended our tour at Silverthorne, Colorado. Our campsites migrated from one location to the next until we reached Glenwood Springs, Colorado before we hopped on a charter bus back to Silverthorne on August 6th.

Lake near Keystone

Day 0 – Silverthorne / Dillon / Frisco (July 31, 2015)

My flight arrived in Denver around noon and my first task was to pick-up a pick-up truck. This truck was going to be used by the team to provide support and gear (SAG) for the riders, set up lunch stops, pick up bicycle rentals, etc. After some billing confusion and discussion, I was finally on the road to Silverthorne from the Denver airport. That drive took about 2 hours. There were a lot of cars on the highway, making their way up towards the mountain on that Friday afternoon. Dark clouds loomed above as I made my way up to 9000 feet of elevation. Eventually, the skies opened up and started to rain. When I arrived at Silverthorne, I drove to our meeting point at the Silverthorne Recreation Center, where I called Bob to let him know that  I had made it. He showed up with Bronwyn and Margie in the familiar Adventure Cycling van. Another vehicle driven by our caterer, Cathy, showed up as well. Bob introduced me to the team and we quickly hopped in the truck with everybody’s gear towards the town of Frisco. Bob had secured us a place to stay for the night (as well as the last night of our tour). When we got to Frisco, Bob asked me to build my bike up, so that we can go on a bike ride. I obliged, but it took way longer than normal (stupid bike chain) so instead we had our meeting to discuss the tour details and then went into the town of Dillon to grab dinner. Our night ended with full bellies and high anticipation for the tour. I was really excited and grateful to be there! The famous switchbacks up to Dillon Dam

Day 1 – Silverthorne / Keystone (August 1, 2015)

The next morning, we got up and drove back to Silverthorne to set up registration and get the van ready. We were waiting on our mechanic, Patrick, as well as Sue Ann and Rich to show up. Sue Ann & Rich were coming by way of a rental UHaul truck for the luggage and gear. When Patrick arrived, we both set out to go pick up the rental bikes from the bike shop in Frisco. Unfortunately, due to liability issues, we were denied since the participants hadn’t come to sign their liability sheets. So I drove us back to Silverthorne just in time to meet the first set of families who arrived. I took the ones that needed the rental bikes back to the shop, so that they can process their paperwork and I can load the bikes back. This took about 2 round trips to get everyone and their bikes back to the start of the tour. By that time, the ride to Keystone for pizza had already left a few hours earlier. I left with the families who had just acquired their rental bikes and was riding sweeping (which means I was the last rider in the group who can support folks who needed it).

We didn’t make it pass the 2 mile mark before we had our first victim of elevation sickness. The child had headaches and eventually vomited on the side of the road. I gave her some of my Gatorade and they moved to an area where I finally called Bob who was driving SAG truck for assistance. I left them near the Dillon amphitheatre before I proceeded toward Keystone. Keystone was about 14+ miles away, so it took some time for me to make my way to the town. Unfortunately, I turned on the trail crossing the river instead of staying left of the river. I ended up in another small ski resort town. Coincidentally, that town also had a pizza place and ran into one of the families who had been stragglers from our bike rental fiasco. I sat with them for lunch before they made their way back to Silverthorne. When I got back on the trail about 5 miles away from Silverthorne, I ran into Bronwyn and Margie relaxing on a bench by the side of the trail. The three of us ended up riding back to the Silverthorne Recreation Center, where everybody had their tent pitched on the park grass on the opposite side of the parking lot.

I was given grief for being lost on my first day. Luckily, it was done in jest, so Bob wasn’t upset about it. In fact, he is a pretty funny guy who took every opportunity to lighten the situation up, as well as bring serious focus whenever necessary…a very admirable and effective leader in my opinion. The rest of the day was spent setting up camp, eating dinner, and having our first introduction and map meeting with our families. I was in charge of explaining what to wear. Bob wanted to make sure everyone had a voice so that people would recognize us during the trip. Having led so many of these trips, he navigated the logistics with impeccable precision and forethought to every potential issue. It was impressive for me to watch this as he danced his way around issues and non-issues.

Day 2 – Silverthorne / Frisco / Breckenridge (August 2, 2015)

Much like the previous day’s ride, it was an out and back ride from Silverthorne to Breckenridge. I was assigned to ride in the middle of the group, but ended up leaving later than planned as I was helping with the luggage and clean-up after our breakfast. Just like the day before we had a set of switchbacks to ride up to the Dillon reservoir. I was in between 2 families when I got to the top. Our mechanic, Patrick, was riding sweep this day. We decided to swap our places at the top of the dam and he rode out ahead while I waited for the last family to ride past me.

The ride into Frisco was fantastic as the bike path meandered through forested areas and through a campsite before it took us through wetlands and scenic views of the lake. Even though I had stayed in Frisco before the tour started, I didn’t have a good sense of the entire town, but I had a better idea riding through it that day. Frisco consisted of a strip mall area where Walmart dominated the parking center, and then there is an old town area where the main street running north to south is lined up with charming wooden buildings. You can almost smell the fresh coat of paint that seemed to have been meticulously painted recently to keep an updated appearance. The main street commanded a lot of attention as the continuous flow of cars and trucks filled every crevice of the road and side streets.

Then there was our little group of bicyclists who navigated between the hustle and bustle. We carefully made our way out into the surrounding suburban neighborhood onto the Blue River Bikeway. This beautiful bike path was the start of a 700 feet climb into Breckenridge. I caught up with Patrick (or he was actually waiting for me) and we swapped our position once again so that he was sweeping again. I took the time to do some self-reflection to make sure that I wasn’t pushing myself too hard. I watched as the elevation on my GPS continued to creep higher and higher until it reached close to 9,700 feet before I reached our lunch stop at Kingdom Park.

Margie provided the much-needed nutrition for all the riders at the lunch stop. We topped off our water bottles and ate our sandwiches from Cathy before most riders headed back to camp. I sat there and watched the dark storm clouds threaten our location. The wind picked up and attempted to blow everything off the tables. Margie repositioned the table to make sure that never happened. I watched lightning illuminate the sky from a distance and waited for the storm to arrive. Many people were nervously watching the storm cell from their smart phones. It was inevitable that we’d get rained on.

While the rest of the families made their way back to Silverthorne, Patrick and I decided to head into Breckenridge to make sure we didn’t miss any families on our sweep (honestly, I just wanted to see more of Breckenridge and he just wanted to ride more miles). For a place that thrives as one of the leading ski resorts during the winter, it was packed with summer visitors. There were families roaming throughout the town as Patrick and I strolled through the back alley bike route. We finally turned ourselves around after being there for a mere 10 minutes and headed back into camp. We didn’t get rained on until we were a few miles away from camp. By that time, Patrick and I were the last ones out. We visited the local bike shop in Dillon to check out some of their inventory before we made it back into camp. The rain came down hard and I felt fully redempted that I brought my rain gear with me.

Day 3 – Edwards (August 3, 2015)

When I agreed to go on this trip, I knew that it would overlap my birthday, but I did not want to draw attention on me. All I wanted to do was just do my job and enjoy the longest day (in terms of mileage on my bicycle) for this trip. I almost got away with this until Bronwyn found out it was my birthday from Facebook as friends flooded my feed with birthday wishes. She announced it in front of the staff, and I sheepishly confirmed.

This morning was the first time we all had to break-down our camp and pack it all in the moving truck that Rich and Sue Ann drove. Again, I was asked to sweep the ride, so I stayed back to help with loading the van and cleaning up before I left Silverthorne for the last time through the town of Frisco once again. This time when I reached the Blue River Bikeway, I went the opposite direction towards Edwards, Colorado. I was surprised to see so many people out riding on a Monday. I suppose that’s Colorado for you, anytime is a good time to ride a bike.

The first rest stop was right outside of Copper Mountain, another resort town for skiing. Patrick was manning the stop with the Adventure Cycling Van. I was the last to arrive at the stop, so we just chilled out for a few minutes while I put on sunblock and ate snacks. I helped him put away supplies and tables before I continued my journey.

One of my tasks for the day was to collect waypoints that Sue Ann had marked throughout our route. This all started in the town of Copper Mountain. I actually had to backtrack to where Patrick was to make sure I didn’t miss anything. From Copper Mountain, the route directed us onto the Ten Mile National Recreation Trail which was a bike path that routed in between the interstate 70 highway. The riding got tougher as the elevation climbed up past 10,000 feet at Vail Pass. I was the last to show up at our lunch stop at a rest area where Bob was manning the stop. There were 2 families already getting ready to leave when I pulled in. I had my lunch while Bob quickly started cleaning up and putting things away. The weather started to look terrible as it started to drizzle and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. I had to pull out my rain gear to stay warm. That wasn’t enough, so Bob offered me newspapers to line up in my jacket. That actually helped tremendously as I left the rest stop when it started to rain.

I was prepared for the worst downpour, but it was nothing close to that. The rest of the way was downhill, so there wasn’t enough spinning on the pedals to stay warm. I stayed on the Ten Mile National Recreation Trail past both Black Lakes before the rain stopped. I continued my downward descent as I practically rolled downhill into the posh town of Vail. From there, I took the Gore Valley Trail which is a bike path that takes you through one of the most wealthy neighborhoods in the world. The weather got warmer here, so I had to shed all my rain gear and threw away the newspapers to cool down. This was probably the biggest variation in weather temperature that I have ever experienced in my life.

There was another stop right outside of Vail as you continue west on Frontage Road. Knowing that most families were probably going to take some side trips in Vail, I opted to just go straight to the stop to meet Patrick, Bronwyn, and Margie, who were just killing time while waiting for the first family to show up. I stuck around at the stop for another hour when all families checked in and left before I continued my way into camp. It was a lonely ride into Edwards as I stayed primarily on the bike paths which snaked in and around Eagle River and highway 70. I finally reached our home for the night, at the local high school in Edwards. My bike and I were loaded up with all the flags and reflective triangles that I collected throughout the day. I came into camp with a whopping 54 miles ridden and thoroughly exhausted. Everybody had their tent erected and dinner was just about to be served. I quickly set-up my tent just in time to grab dinner.

My birthday cake. Too bad all the decoration was removed and they started cutting the cake.

We said goodbye to Bronwyn as she left our group to go back to school. While dinner wrapped up, Bob made some announcements and finally told everybody that it was my birthday today. Kathy surprised me with a huge birthday cake. I was flabbergasted by their thoughtful gesture, while everyone sang “Happy Birthday.” Such a sweet surprise!

Day 4 – Gypsum (August 4, 2015)

We endured a noisy evening with 18-wheelers rolling through highway 70 throughout the night. I was completely wiped out from the ride the day before, so the noise was not much of an issue. My assignment today was to man a snack stop for the first time, right before the town of Eagle. I got to drive the pick-up truck while Bob got to ride his bike. Bob actually made it out to my stop to help me setup. It wasn’t very difficult as I got everything ready for people to snack on. Probably the most difficult part of everything was getting everything organized. If you have back problems or can’t lift heavy objects, this would be a very difficult job. I am grateful that I am healthy and have the capability to do this without any problems.

Bob left the rest stop after the initial setup to ride into Eagle. Eagle is another interesting little community in Colorado. It is smaller than Frisco and like Edwards, the residents who live there could not afford to live in resort towns like Vail or Copper Mountain. Most of them work in these resort towns. There is one main thoroughfare, which runs down the street of Broadway Street,  where you’ll find a cool variety store appropriately named “The Nearly Everything Store” and a coffee shop called “Yeti’s Grind”. We all rendezvous at the latter location, so I packed up everything after the last rider checked in and drove towards Eagle. Patric’s Salsa Fargo

It was a good change of pace to be able to leapfrog over to the front of the ride and enjoy some time out to just relax and indulge in some local pastries and beverages. I hung out at the stop with Bob and everyone for about an hour to make sure nobody needed a ride into camp. The rest of the drive to Gypsum was uneventful as I rolled through the sleepy mining town named after the local mineral deposit being mined there. I found the Gypsum Recreation Center and located the rest of our crew at the baseball field. Margie had lunch duties, Cathy was preparing dinner (as usual), and Rich was unloading luggage when I arrived.

One side benefit of not riding and driving instead was I got to pick and set up my tent location. I know that doesn’t sound big, but it is a big deal as you make sure you find a flat area that is away from flood lights. This is probably an appropriate time to mention a logistical point for this trip and that is figuring out when to go take a shower. We were told that if a child is ever taking a shower in facilities where there isn’t any clear partition, we were to turn around and leave. With that in mind, I treated this like a game. I tried to gauge the timing when the majority of our guests were showering and during off times, I would go take my shower. Since I was in camp so early that day, I decided to get that shower in ahead of the families who showed up later. Thankfully, the recreation center at Gypsum was much better than Silverthorne, as the shower stalls were partitioned with curtains, so we were not exposed to passersby.

Day 5 – Gypsum / Glenwood Springs (August 5, 2015)

The plan for today was to ride down to Glenwood Springs, our final destination, while the families went whitewater rafting. Luckily, all families participated in this activity so many of the staff was able to go. Sue Ann actually ended up staying back at camp as a security precaution while Bob, Margie, Patrick, and I enjoyed a breathtaking ride through the Glenwood Canyon bike path which paralleled the Eagle and Colorado River. This was probably one of the most scenic bike paths in America that I’ve been on. You’re surrounded by towering cliffs and vegetation growing on the side of the mountains. You eventually get to see people brave the river currents on rafts or kayaks while you cruised downhill alongside the river. It is 12 miles from the start of the path near the Dotsero parking lot to Glenwood Springs. We also took this opportunity to scope out my rest stop spot at Bair Ranch for the next day.

When we got to Glenwood Springs, Rich was ready to load our bikes on the back of the pickup truck. We drove into town to have lunch together. After lunch, we sped back to camp in time to grab a quick shower before our families arrived. It was a hot and humid day as we witnessed a beautiful sunset during dinner. We had our award ceremony and talent show that night. Everybody was assigned to present something for one of the guests. I awkwardly did mine before we watched the kids show us their talents. We were entertained by kids performing magic tricks and singing. This was a great way to top off one of the most memorable day of this trip so far.

Day 6 – Glenwood Springs (August 6, 2015)

Today’s agenda was to have the families ride the same beautiful Glenwood Canyon path into Glenwood Springs. There, they got to enjoy the hot springs for a few hours before a charter bus arrived to pick us all up and drive us back to Silverthorne.

I was manning the first Bair Ranch rest stop. This time around, I felt more comfortable with the exception of setting up a canopy all by myself. Took me awhile to get it erected, but it was finally done after a bit of struggling. All the riders passing by commented on how beautiful and pleasant the riding has been. I couldn’t agree with them more.

I left my spot after the last family departed and headed straight to Glenwood Springs to meet with the rest of the crew at the parking lot near the hot springs. We passed out lunch and collected bikes that needed to be returned to the bike shop. Some of us cleaned and disinfected water towers and coolers. I was asked to stay behind with Bob to wait for the families to finish their stay at the hot springs while Rich and Sue Ann drove the luggage truck to drop off bikes and equipment and Margie drove the pickup back to Silverthorne.

While waiting we got to enjoy probably the best tasting frozen yogurt I’ve ever had in my life at the cafeteria. There were a variety of flavors to choose from so I picked root beer which was absolutely delicious. The charter bus arrived 15 minutes earlier than expected, so Bob and I got ourselves acquainted with the driver before we went into the hot springs to gather our families for the trip home. All families made it out to the bus on time so we weren’t delayed. I found my seat at the back of the bus while Bob sat in the front giving directions to the driver.

The trip took about an hour and half as we retraced our route back to Silverthorne by highway 70. I took the opportunity to nap on the bus until we got to Silverthorne. All families dispersed on arrival and bid us farewell as they left the parking lot. Our staff decided to grab dinner at the local hotel restaurant a few miles away.

We eventually made it back to the Frisco home, where we stayed at on day 0. It was good to be indoors for the night. Rich and Sue Ann decided to drive back home that same night. Bob, Margie, Patrick, and I stayed the night. Patrick left early in the morning so that he can make it to work. Margie and I grabbed a delicious breakfast at Mountain Lyon Cafe in Silverthorne after we dropped Bob off to pick up the Adventure Cycling van at the parking lot. Margie also picked up her car as well. Both of us went back to the house so that I can disassemble and pack up my bike and she could finish laundry. After about 2 hours, we left the house and went our separate ways. I drove the truck back into Denver and returned it with a full-tank of gas. I had to wait a good 6 hours before my flight departed.

Final Thoughts

As with any new job or experience, I was anxious coming into this trip. I didn’t want to mess this up and ruin any future opportunities. I was fortunate to be able to work with such a mellow team. Even though Margie and I were the odd people out, everybody was so welcoming and even walked us through any questions we may have had. If I get to do this again with Bob and the team, I’m not going to hesitate and agree. This certainly did not feel like a job as I had so much fun. I almost felt guilty that I was being paid to do this. I hope I get to do this job more!

More photos of the trip can be found here!