For years, I’ve been trying to get people to come ride with me in the Roaring Fork Valley. Since 2005, I’ve training twice a year before my Ironman races in this high mountain valley flowing out from the ski town of Aspen. My parents, in 1967, bought land for a retirement home in Snowmass, a ski area/village about 6 miles from Aspen, built their house in ’68, and I’ve been coming here ever since, to ski, hike, mountain bike, and, for the past six years, train for triathlon.
Suddenly, this year, EIGHT people have signed on for the First Annual Endurance Nation Aspen Fall Training Week, or some such title. So I’ve decided to get serious about route descriptions, to save myself a bunch of course talks as I herd people out the door for their glorious epic training rides.
An introductory post can be found here, giving the general lay of the land for road biking in the Roaring Fork valley.
First up is my traditional first ride, Snowmass and Capitol Creeks. What follows will be a basic route description, with times/distances included and reference to maps online.
As a preface, though, I’ll give the “Snowmass-Woody Creek” route description, as this is the standard route from my house to any down-valley rides. In future cue sheets, I’ll just reference, “Ride from Snowmass to Woody Creek”, with no further information.
Our house sits at 8330’ elevation, on a ridge overlooking the Brush Creek Valley. Looming over us on the other side of the valley is Burnt Mountain, rising to over 13,000’ and home of Snowmass ski area (in the winter). It’s huge, awesome, and enough fun to have kept me coming back into my fifth decade now.
But we start out turning right from the drive way, then left at the first intersection, downhill on Sinclair. In a couple hundred meters, go left again on Meadow, continuing rapidly downhill (watch out for the two speed bumps) to Brush Creek Road.
While it is possible to ride down Brush Creek, I advise against it, as there are no shoulders, and all traffic into and out of Snowmass traverses this winding two-lane, with poor sight lines and persistent dips and uphills.
SNOWMASS-WOODY CREEK
Instead, go across Brush Creek Road, immediately turning left onto an ancient asphalt bike trail, “Brush Creek Trail”. Follow this for 3 miles, noting the following: about 0.5 miles down, just past the golf course, go left across Brush Creek at the bright yellow “Walking Man” sign with a down-pointing left arrow (7950’). On the other side, the rail picks up to the right. Be very careful going across the gravel road and the rocks leading back into the trail, followed by an equally treacherous bridge over the Creek. SLOW DOWN here. The trail follows the roundabout on the right. Just past that, the trail again crosses the road (STOP, and look before crossing). A much easier bridge appears, and then it’s about 2.5 miles down to the main valley (7650’).
Follow the trail left through the cottonwoods, merging with a concrete trail going down and to the right through a tunnel under Highway 82. Out on the other side, look right for “Bike Route” signs, and follow them to the left along the edge of the Intercept Lot. At the end of the lot, look left and see a trail signed “Aspen Mass”. This trail starts off with a gentle down grade, but after about 0.7 mi, it suddenly turns quite steep and twisty. Be careful here, there is no value in going fast downhill.
At the bottom, look right for a bike bridge (parallel to the highway) over the Roaring Fork River. At the end of the bridge, the road goes in three directions – right to Aspen (McLain Flats Road – up a VERY steep and long hill), sharp left (behind you back over the bridge) to the highway, and left under the cliff to Woody Creek – Upper River Road. We’ll be on this road for the next 8+ miles, going downhill with the river. After less than a mile, slow down – you have no choice – going through the hamlet of Woody Creek, traversing speed bumps and, at the Tavern, the main point of congestion – grooves you can avoid by going to the middle of the road.
Woody Creek is about 7 miles from the start. It has been home to a number of wannabe tough guys, trying to emulate actual tough guy Hunter Thompson, who moved here around 1970. Johnny Depp, Don Johnson, Don Henley, and a host of others have all set up camp in this area at various times, but the Woody Creek Tavern has remained the rock solid center of attraction in the community. In addition to going back up McLain Flats to Aspen, routes also head up the Woody Creek Valley (five miles to the end of the pavement), and up and down valley on the Rio Grande Trail – paved below here, and gravel above.
RIVER ROAD
The next 6+ miles is one of my very favorite rides in the whole valley. River Road follows the Roaring Fork to the town of Old Snowmass, with a downhill gradient of about 1-2 %, with several slightly steeper sections. It is very lightly traveled, and has a good surface (the worst parts were patched over summer 2011). You can cruise, zoom, or window shop the real estate along the way. The one route point to note comes at a stop sign about 2 miles from Woody Creek. Don’t go left, down hill, but stay up to the right (more straight, actually) as the road changes from Upper to Lower River Rd.
Another 4.5 miles brings you to a sharp right onto the (poorly paved) bridge over the river to Old Snowmass. Staying straight takes you up to a parking lot for access to the Rio Grande Trail, and other down valley rides.
Once at the highway, hit the crossing signal on the right and wait for the green light. DO NOT try to cross the highway, even if it looks clear. Cars are going 60 + mph, and it’s a long way across.
SNOWMASS/CAPITOL CREEKS
On the other side, past the park and ride lot on the right and the Conoco/Post Office on the left, go uphill for two miles next to the joyous banks of Snowmass Creek. At the “T”, go right, on Capitol Creek Road (or left, you like, to stay with Snowmass Creek). The first few miles of Capitol Creek are through a broad open valley, with views of Mt Sopris (the huge grey pile of rock in front of you) and the Elk Mountains (to the left of Sopris.)
This climb, and Snowmass Creek as well, are both just about perfect for a good sustained sub-threshold set of intervals. Each is five miles long and rises from 7200’ to a little over 8000’, where the pavement ends. There are a few short steeper rises, but for the most part, a steady pace in the aerobars is the order of the day. About 3 miles into the climb, the Snowmass Monastery features monks and cookies, but I’ve never been there to check. Two more miles, turn around. Be careful the first mile or so, as the pavement reveals a number of potholes you probably didn’t notice on your way up.
Back at the “T”, keep going straight (angle right) to a similar climb up Snowmass Creek. 3 miles in is the Deaf Camp. It’s funny – the monks don’t don’t and the camper’s can’t hear? Anyway, the road is even nicer on this side, with a more steady rise and drop, and fewer potholes. The views off the left are of the Snowmass ski area, and straight ahead at the gravel road takes you eventually to the awesome Snowmass Creek hike into the wilderness.
Once again, turn around, and ride five miles down the stop sign for a sharp right back down another two miles to the highway. Cross back over and re-trace your route to Woody Creek. But save something for that climb back up Aspen Mass, eh?
WOODY CREEK-SNOWMASS
Just a reminder on the return trip to Snowmass. At the end of Upper River Road, there is a stop sign, and to the right are the highway and bike bridges over the river. Cross the road go right onto the bike bridge, then left up onto the Aspen Mass Trail Remember, the first part os the steepest. I’ve found that it takes me just about 100 pedal revolutions to get up past the lung-searing part of the climb. Remember the route back thru the parking lot to find the concrete trail on the left to the tunnel.
Then, through the tunnel, find the asphalt trail on the left going thru the cottonwoods, back to home. It’s “only” 4.5 miles from here. But all that fun downhill at the start of the day? It’s a slog back up. Don’t forget to cross Brush Creek Road after the roundabout, bumpy bridge, and gravel pile by the rodeo. Then, across the road, to the right by the golf course and start the real uphill work. Across Brush Creek again to Meadow, meandering uphill to a sharp right on Sinclair. Finally, turn right/down onto Lemond, and another 200 meters down and up to 281 Lemond.
Today, total trip was 52.5 miles, 3 hours, 17 minutes, NP of 152. Depending on how much allowance I give for the effect of altitude, my TSS was 150, or higher, with an IF of 0.67, or 0.76 (altitude adjusted). My climbs were all 0.8-0.85 (alt adj) IF.