I wanted to post a few details from my big mountain bike ride last week in Colorado.  I had read a lot about this trail, and was unsure how/if I was going to handle it.  As you can see from the Garmin details, the first bit was a rather steep climb.  At the top of the first climb (2.5 miles), and not knowing exactly what was ahead of me, I was seriously considering turning back.  Living at sea level makes riding at 9,000 ft challenging, but my recent riding regiment had proved to be enough to let me continue.  The next couple miles were a blast, lots of technical stuff, and a break from the climbing.  However, the impending climb in the middle of the trail was the crux of the whole trail.  Easily one of the most technical climbs I have had to negotiate, and long enough to test my endurance.  Sadly, I wasn’t able to clean the whole climb, but I did stop within sight of the top, and the final few rocks.  After that, it was all gravy.  Beautiful cruising through aspen forests, and finally a wicked fast decent traversing down the Buttermilk ski slopes and back into the town of Aspen.  Really a gorgeous trail, and now I have a mark to beat when I get back.

Looking back over the crux climb:

Cruising through high altitude Aspen Forests…

And the view before the scorching downhill…