Day 2: Snowmass to Ashcroft
Today, we headed straight out of the condo straight up. To get from Snowmass Village to anywhere else, you must climb a mile at a grade of 9-10% (about 375 feet of climbing). The good news was once we got to the top, we had a long fast decent.
After that we worked our way to the base of the Ashcroft run. Very pretty. There was a river going along side of us which eventually was many feet below although still next to us.
Today had about 3400 ft of climbing over the course of 40 miles. It took us about an hour and 32 minutes to get from Snowmass to the top at the city of Ashcroft and 30 minutes to get down. The highest we got was 9,720 ft (we started at about 8,000)--the road basically ends at the base of Ashcroft mountain. We have acclimated somewhat to the altitude and did OK. Still some huffing and puffing, but we didn't stop nearly as much as yesterday. If yesterday was a 10 on a difficulty scale, today was a 7 (with tired legs).
Going down was more fun than yesterday as there were some great straightways where Jamie got up to 40 mph. I think I was a bit slower and Don averaged somewhere in between--maybe 30. Below is a video of Jamie and I screaming down the very beginning of the decent. Expert videography by Don Video and Associates.
Click on the little triangle on the video below to see Jamie and I scream down the mountain.
After we got to the bottom, we headed straight for Aspen for lunch. Lots and lots of bikes everywhere. We had a great Italian lunch (what else would you expect). Someway, somehow we managed to bike our way back to the condo. There was a "short cut" to avoid the way we came down from Snowmass. However, it included some short little switchbacks up a bike trail that maxed out at 12% grade. That was tough since you were barely pedaling when you had to switch to the right or left.
Needless to say, we were ready for the pool when we got back. Then grilled some salmon and beef kabobs and baked potatoes. Carbing up again as we'll be heading for Maroon Bells tomorrow.
The weather was funny today being on the dark side of the Continental Divide. It was 45 degrees at 7 AM, but 70 by 11 AM. We'll see what the weather brings tomorrow.
