Weekly Hard-Core Bike Rides with Venture Sports on Thursdays

May 18, 2010 By

The Thursday Hard Core rides with Venture Sports are a great way to get out there and meet fellow roadies from all the Clubs in the Valley.  These rides are generally 2-3 hours in length and are an excellent opportunity to hone your skills, tone your legs, and meet some great people in the process.  If you are looking to try out a new road bike, you can let Mike know in advance and he will round up a Giant or Cervelo for you to ride.

Venture Sports Bikes to rent or buy

  1. Thursday, June 17, 2010.  Avon to Eagle roundabout and back.  This is a great ride to get in those base miles for the season. 40 miles and 1000 feet of elevation loss going to Eagle and 1000 feet gained coming back. Leave from Venture Sports at 9:00 am.
  2. Thursday, June 24, 2010.  Avon to East Vail gate and back.  Another base mileage ride with a bit more climbing.  35 miles and 1500 feet of elevation gain and then loss.  Leave from Venture Sports at 9:00 am.  Being week 2, this is another pretty mellow ride.
  3. Thursday, July 1, 2010.  East Vail to Frisco and back.  This ride will start to get the climbing muscles firing.  40 miles and 3500 feet of elevation gain with some great resting opportunities on the downhills.  Meet at the park and ride lot on the Southeast side of the East Vail I-70 exit at 9:00 am.
  4. Thursday, July 8, 2010.  Avon to the top of Bellyache Ridge past Red Sky Golf course.  About 40 miles with a nice warm-up spin on the way to Wolcott followed by one of the best climbs in the Valley and then a good spin back to Avon.  This is a great ride to think about the pros in the Tour de France as it is a pretty steep climb.  When you’re getting tired, think about that in two days the Tour is climbing Tournus > Station des Rousses and then Station des Rousses > Morzine-Avoriaz which begins the crazy mountain stages.  We will leave Venture Sports at 9:00 am.
  5. Thursday, July 15, 2010.  East Vail to Breckenridge followed by dinner in Breckenridge.  We will meet at the park and ride lot on the Southeast side of the East Vail I-70 exit at 2:00 pm.  This is one of the only rides of the season that is entirely on a bike path, so it is a great one for people who are leery of riding with cars.  Have your significant other meet you at the Rec Center in Breckenridge at 5:00 pm if they are a non-rider.  This ride is 40 miles long and gains about 3300 feet, 90% of that gain being on Vail Pass.  We will need to know how many people are coming on this one as we will be providing transportation back from Breck.
  6. Thursday, July 22, 2010. Today is a steep day in the Tour De France so we will do an easier version with a ride from Avon to Wolcott divide and back.  This is a 40 mile ride with the only real hills being the short climb up to the Wolcott dump and then the long grind up to the divide.  For those of you who are riding in the Colorado River ride, this is also a great way to get familiar with the first part of that ride which is coming up in two short days.  We will leave Venture Sports at 9:00 am.
  7. Thursday, July 29, 2010.  As most of us will either be recovering from the Eagle River Ride, preparing for the Copper Triangle (August 7), or both, this will be an easy day of spinning.  We will ride from Avon to the Eagle roundabout again, leaving Venture Sports at 9:00 am.
  8. Thursday, August 5, 2010.  For everyone who either isn’t riding the Copper Triangle or simply can’t get enough of it, we will be riding from Avon to Camp Hale and back.  This ride is just over 40 miles and climbs a total of more than 3000 feet.  We will use the Nova Guides offices as our turnaround point and will leave Venture Sports at 9:00 am.
  9. Thursday, August 12, 2010.  This one is short but sweet – it’s the hill climb classic of Avon.  From Avon we head up to the cul-de-sac past the Beaver Creek Chapel.  After a quick coast down the hill, we will pound up Mountain Star to the Wildridge cutoff.  We will cruise down the cutoff and then continue up to the top of Wildridge.  After letting those legs recover on the downhill, we will hammer up the last leg and climb to the top of Bachelor’s Gulch.  The total distance is not a lot but the total elevation gain is – 4000 feet over 27 miles.  We will leave Venture Sports at 9:00 am so you can conveniently bail to the comfort of your car at any point.  For anyone who completes the entire ride, Mike will buy beverages at the Buffalo Bar in the Ritz.
  10. Thursday, August 19, 2010.  This is our rest ride before the grand finale to Aspen.  We will leave from the park and ride in Gypsum located on the Southeast corner of the I-70 exit at 9:00 am.  We will ride down Hwy 6 to the Colorado River Road and ride to between Sweetwater and Burns.  When we are 20 miles from Gypsum we will head back to the cars for a 40-mile spin.
  11. Thursday, August 26, 2010.  This is the big one.  We will again meet at the Gypsum Park and Ride at 8:00 am and ride to Aspen.  This ride is all downhill to Glenwood and then flat to slightly uphill to Basalt, followed by the moderately uphill finish into Aspen.  Total ride is about 80 miles but with very little climbing with the exception of the steep but short hill right at the end of the ride.  Over 90% of this ride is on bike path, so it is a great tour for anyone who doesn’t like to ride with cars.  We will be arranging a hotel special for everyone to stay with details to come.

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