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Aspen CO


Jessica
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So, I accepted a verbal offer for my next job and since my start date is in two weeks,  Barry suggested I take a solo bike trip.  Can't believe it didn't occur to me.

After doing a bit of research, I think the Aspen area is a place that I could keep busy riding all the blue trails and camp at trail heads.  The weather isn't Austin hot there and promises to be comfortable riding and camping.  

Anyone have any car camping hacks that you learned from the school of skinned knees that you care to share? 

 

Camping Options 

Found this nifty website that allows the user to view National Forests with biking trails and campsites together.  https://www.fs.fed.us/ivm/

While some campsites can be reserved, quite a few are first come first served.  These campsites are ideal due to price and bathroom/shower  situation

There are regular camping sites in the "city"- but I think finding an open FCFS by the trails is better - bringing the telescope.  

 

Food

When Barry and I travel we eat a mix of fast food and restaurants.  Since I want to keep this relatively cheap, I am bringing a small burner I got at Hana Market (thanks Hanjing).  

Breakfast:

Egg-cheese sammies, french press, maybe instant grits/oatmeal 

Lunch

Since I will be riding through lunch (at a higher altitude these rides will take me the better part of the day with photo taking and daydreaming) it seems like Perpetuum is the way to go with some gels.  

Dinner

Canned chicken creations- Pad Thai, Knorr Pasta Sides, Stovetop, and some Ramen. Easy to make after a long day of riding and doesn't take up room in cooler

Maybe beanie weenie, whatever I can get in a individual serving that is shelf stable. 

Biking

I was originally going to do a hiking and biking trip- but soon realized I would not feel comfortable with my bike locked to my car while I went to check out pre Columbian Architecture.  I also wanted to minimize the time I spend driving and get the max benefit from the altitude training.    Since I am riding alone- nothing more challenging than a blue trail with a black feature. 

The Goal is to ride as many of these trails in no particular order:

Aspen

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7005156/sky-mountain-park-loop

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/3633466/lincoln-creek-road-to-ruby-ghost-town (not single track but cool ride-good views recovery day) 

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7054374/crown-tour

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7018198/the-up-n-over-aka-rock-bottom-ranch-aka-crown-cruise

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/951198/rim-trail-loop with this one https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7020270/seven-star-trail

Buena Vista- way back home stop possibly 

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/3733565/buena-vista-singletrack-loop

 

Bike Tools/Spares 

This is where things get internet dependent.  I will need to video chat with Barry if I need to do a serious repair or YouTube.

Barry's list for me

Extra tires and tubes. Lube. Multitool. Extra bacon. Extra quick links.
Shop rag or 2

Silver floor pump.

Derailleur and Derailleur Hanger   

 

Now to finish that new hire paperwork.  

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20 minutes ago, Jessica said:

So, I accepted a verbal offer for my next job and since my start date is in two weeks,  Barry suggested I take a solo bike trip. 

Anyone have any car camping hacks that you learned from the school of skinned knees that you care to share? 

 

https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/951198/rim-trail-loop with this one https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7020270/seven-star-trail

  

Congrats on the new gig!  I'm hoping to be doing the same here before too long.

Me and my boys rode Rim to 7star last summer.  It was very good.  We did not loop it back to the beginning (because we road back to the hotel).  Seven Star was an amazing decent.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3951413139

When are you leaving?

Cheers,
CJB

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5 minutes ago, CBaron said:

Congrats on the new gig!  I'm hoping to be doing the same here before too long.

Me and my boys rode Rim to 7star last summer.  It was very good.  We did not loop it back to the beginning (because we road back to the hotel).  Seven Star was an amazing decent.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3951413139

When are you leaving?

Cheers,
CJB

That is quite the ride for those boys!!  

Best of luck with landing- manufacturing hiring went from 0 to 100mph in a week.  

I figure that I will have all of the pre work paperwork done by Tuesday or Wednesday.  I hope to leave by Thursday the latest.  

 

Cheers to you!

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They did very well all during our trip.  It helped that this ride profile was generally downhill.  But make no mistake there was real climbing.  The initial climb up was legit.

I'll try to drop in a few nuggets of info here before you leave.  I've got a project I'm working on right now

-CJB

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In the food department, put a cajun spin on the beanie weenie by substituting Hoppin' John Black-eyed Peas mixed up with a health serving of diced andouille sausage. Very cheap and easy complete meal to make at the campsite with only a small pot and something to cut the sausage up on. Any leftovers are easily kept in a tupperware container.  

image.thumb.png.91a36c2d2e018b5796b283d59b5a7b11.png

 

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I just got back from there yesterday, rented a stumpy from aspen bikes downtown and with no way to tow bike we just rode the two mountains by rental...smugglers mountain and sky mountain.

I know you like to climb since your with Barry and smugglers is a climbers dream..
You can park at the base of smugglers and begin the 3mile accent to top, it was brutal for me and took an hour, I don't like climbing or cardio ha. Once at the top which is around 9k feet there is some sweet trails with nice techy flow and big aspen trees ..I liked tootsie roll and lollipop trails the best.
Around the lake at top of smugglers its more open and grassy I didn't explore much on that side. There is a cool river crossing and an old mining house to check out.
We took hunter creek trail on the way down, lots of hikers, and hit the only rock garden on whole trip. It was a fun downhill.

After lunch we hit up sky mountain...you can park near base there too across from airport.
It was about a 2mile climb up airline trail but smoother dirt and less crowded with tighter switchbacks on the way up. Easier climb than smugglers but still tough.
At this point I was pretty smoked so just turned back and bombed down Airline..that was the best downhill..so damn fun.
It was more brushy with sage and dusty on sky mountain and seemed like would be more flow trail from what I could see at the top. The two mountains had totally different scenery.

Pics all from smugglers..










ec0f184927f62e7fc96c2d72d8ba5ab6.jpg064efd966d0a52627fc87c5ec9ba5a59.jpg855ba1d6333be7527cafbaf774d5465e.jpg

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Heres a pic of near the top of sky mountain ...you can tell the difference in dirt and plants...its wild how that area can have mountains of red, green and brown all next to each other. Carbondale looked to have some nice trails on a red mountain i didn't check those out though.

19330f7938f58f8906a86c74442c8900.jpg

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12 hours ago, skinned elbows said:

I just got back from there yesterday, rented a stumpy from aspen bikes downtown and with no way to tow bike we just rode the two mountains by rental...smugglers mountain and sky mountain.

I know you like to climb since your with Barry and smugglers is a climbers dream..
You can park at the base of smugglers and begin the 3mile accent to top, it was brutal for me and took an hour, I don't like climbing or cardio ha. Once at the top which is around 9k feet there is some sweet trails with nice techy flow and big aspen trees ..I liked tootsie roll and lollipop trails the best.
Around the lake at top of smugglers its more open and grassy I didn't explore much on that side. There is a cool river crossing and an old mining house to check out.
We took hunter creek trail on the way down, lots of hikers, and hit the only rock garden on whole trip. It was a fun downhill.

After lunch we hit up sky mountain...you can park near base there too across from airport.
It was about a 2mile climb up airline trail but smoother dirt and less crowded with tighter switchbacks on the way up. Easier climb than smugglers but still tough.
At this point I was pretty smoked so just turned back and bombed down Airline..that was the best downhill..so damn fun.
It was more brushy with sage and dusty on sky mountain and seemed like would be more flow trail from what I could see at the top. The two mountains had totally different scenery.

Pics all from smugglers..










ec0f184927f62e7fc96c2d72d8ba5ab6.jpg064efd966d0a52627fc87c5ec9ba5a59.jpg855ba1d6333be7527cafbaf774d5465e.jpg

Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk
 

Thanks for the ride report!  The climbing at altitude is no joke.  While it is true, I do enjoy a good climb- the higher altitude I get out of breath and my legs are fine.  Thanks for the time benchmarking for the climb- I don't expect to get much better timing.  Those photos are awesome!  Seriously thought about starting out in Telluride with the gondola assisted downhilling until I got adjusted a little, and then I recalled the million dollar highway.  Hard pass on driving that road.  Were there any sketchy drives?  

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21 hours ago, throet said:

In the food department, put a cajun spin on the beanie weenie by substituting Hoppin' John Black-eyed Peas mixed up with a health serving of diced andouille sausage. Very cheap and easy complete meal to make at the campsite with only a small pot and something to cut the sausage up on. Any leftovers are easily kept in a tupperware container.  

image.thumb.png.91a36c2d2e018b5796b283d59b5a7b11.png

 

Where can I find these?  Did my first pass at HEB and didn't see this.  I'm delighted that I found a chef boyardee cheeseburger mac in the can.  I didn't find any Pad Thai that was simple to make.  Found some interesting instant mash, ramen and stovetop.  

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3 hours ago, Jessica said:

Where can I find these?  Did my first pass at HEB and didn't see this.  I'm delighted that I found a chef boyardee cheeseburger mac in the can.  I didn't find any Pad Thai that was simple to make.  Found some interesting instant mash, ramen and stovetop.  

I used to get them at Walmart but unfortunately it looks like they are no longer available in-store - darn! I do see that they can be ordered online for delivery.

I love doing the Zatarain's Dirty Rice Mix as well for camping, but instead of using hamburger, I use a combination of ground breakfast sausage (like Owen's Hot) and diced link sausage. Gives it a a much better flavor and texture than hamburger. I'll use more meat than it calls for too, just to make it more of a complete meal. I'll make that at home, and then store it in tupperware or quart baggies for the cooler.

For breakfast I always pack whole-grain or multi-grain english muffins with either peanut butter or almond butter to spread on top along with some sliced bananas. Nice for those days you don't want to full with cooking breakfast. I'll bring a pack of flour tortillas too, and roll up some of that same spread / banana mix to pack out on the trail for a mid-ride snack. 

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Thanks for the ride report!  The climbing at altitude is no joke.  While it is true, I do enjoy a good climb- the higher altitude I get out of breath and my legs are fine.  Thanks for the time benchmarking for the climb- I don't expect to get much better timing.  Those photos are awesome!  Seriously thought about starting out in Telluride with the gondola assisted downhilling until I got adjusted a little, and then I recalled the million dollar highway.  Hard pass on driving that road.  Were there any sketchy drives?  


No sketchy drives on our route but we flew in to Denver and just hit 70 over to Glenwood springs and stayed in Carbondale...both cool little towns by the way

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So it seems that the new hire process may be a little longer than I thought- looks like I will make use of the Santa Fe thread and wait to do this trip when it makes sense.  I would also lose my precious little heat acclimation.  

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