As a "warm up ride", went up Castle Creek Road right after meetings finished at 6:30 p.m. Drizzly.
The source of Castle Creek way up a valley ending in a ski area.
Castle Creek again
After the meetings of the Fermilab PAC were over, ride starting June 27, 2009. Starting point for ride over Independence Pass: bike shop where I rented bike; shot of Aspen ski area.
Aspen Velo - good deals on bike rentals.
_Very_ nice carbon bike that I was able to rent (aside from that geeky chain guard on the back cluster!). Has two-ring compact front, but with a huge back cluster has quite a low gear (and I bet that carbon is shuddering at the sight of that big cluster).
Hit this sign only about 3 miles out of Aspen. The pass generally opens ~end May. Part of State Highway 82, it is the highest paved state highway over the Continental Divide in Colorado.
Believe it or not, the climbing really starts just past "Difficult Campground". It is about 18 miles from here to the summit.
Road notched into side of mountain. The center line sometimes disappears when the road is only about 1.5 car widths wide.
About 4-5 miles from the summit, the ghost town of Independence that sprouted up when there was a gold strike in the White River.
Close to Independence.
Looking back on the road making its way up the valley. The ride is not so steep, about steady 6-7% grades, but it is a loooong climb. Was fairly acclimatized to the altitude in Aspen, but that is at ~8000 ft. The ride goes past 12,000 ft., and over the last miles the lack of oxygen is _kind of_ offset by cooler temperatures so one does not sweat so much.
There is a last 1.5 mile long switchback that one can see for about 4 miles away that is psychologically daunting.
Ta dah! Nice weather - despite the snow, about 50 degrees, but storms apparently hit very quickly and the temps can still plummet to the 30's during this time of year.
Looking back down the pass.
Shots from the top.
...and heading back down. A nice, fast, winding descent.