Colorado trail near Breckenridge, Colorado, September 10, 2006

The Slightly Slower Bikers of Boulder gang does a ride in the mountains along the Colorado Trail near Breckenridge.

Driving up route 70 west from Denver, conditions don't look too promising with fresh snow on the summits.

More snow

Looking south along route 9 from the trailhead, that is fresh snow on the peaks of Breckenridge Ski Area.

Breckenridge Ski Area from along the trail (East of route 9).

As we got further east we rode thru beautiful mountain meadows. The weather turned out to be perfect, just a little cool - probably in the 60's, dry and just a light breeze. That is Terry cruising thru the field. The trail was really narrow, and deep in some places, so it was a bit tricky, but we all got thru ok.

More trail.

The view from one of the overlooks, looking back where we came. You can just make out the trail in the far meadow.

Terry and Karla climbing one of several tough climbs. After the first one, each one of the climbs wasn't too bad in itself, but we climbed over 2400' that day, so it definitely wore you down as the day went on.

This one was a grunt!

From left to right that is: Steve, Dale, Terry, Karla and Scott in the back.

The sun just catching snow on the peaks of the 12 mile range.

This section of the trail was just below the ridge line which forms the continental divide in this area - fantastic riding!

The group on the way back down.

Scott heading back along Tiger Run road to the trailhead, Breckenridge Ski Area in the background

What an amazing day! We really got lucky with the weather, we rode about 20 miles, climbed a total of 2400', started at around 9,000' and topped out around 10,200'. All in 4 hours, what a fantastic ride.