Ouray, CO

[Veronica]

We may be heading out that way in a couple of weeks.

Any ride suggestions?


Thanks,

Veronica

[eofelis]

Road or mountain??

For road rides you can ride right out of town south on 550, up Red Mountain Pass. It's a narrow road with big drop offs, but I rode it on a loaded touring bike and didn't have any traffic problems. People are driving pretty slow anyways.

The other way out of Ouray towards Ridgway, not much of a shoulder, fast traffic.

A nice ride out of Ridgway is out to Dallas Divide, and back to Ridgway. I've done that ride a few times.

For mountain biking there are a lot of jeep trails out of Ouray, but I have not mtn bikes them.

Are you coming through Grand Junction? There is a lot of awesome riding around here.

[Veronica]

We're going out to Ouray at the same time that the FJ Summit will be there, so I think we'll avoid the jeep roads.

Probably road bikes, maybe we'll bring both.

We will be driving through Grand Junction to get there. Right now my inclination is stay in Montrose. The hotels in Ouray are pretty booked.

Thanks!

Veronica

[badgercat]

Too funny... my boyfriend drives an FJ Cruiser and may be spending some time at the Summit. He's also bringing both road and mountain bikes along for the trip... he likes all sorts of wheeled recreation. I'll have to keep an eye on this thread and pass along any ride ideas to him.

[aka_kim]

Stay in Ouray if you can, Montrose is just another city with strip malls, while Ouray has a lot of character.

I'd vote for the ride up Red Mountain Pass too.

[solobiker]

Stay in Ouray if you can, Montrose is just another city with strip malls, while Ouray has a lot of character.

I'd vote for the ride up Red Mountain Pass too.

+1 I agree!! Ouray is a cool little town. I have spent time there in the summer and a litttle time up there in the winter during the ice climbing season. Enjoy your time here in CO!!

[Veronica]

Thanks, Red Mountain Pass is on the to do list now. Dallas Divide looks interesting too.

Unless something goes awry, we'll be camping at Ridgway July 19 - 24. It's a bummer that's the last week of the Tour.

What's the Grand Mesa Byway like? I'm also thinking about an out and back along 92 or 50 through the rec area.

How much riding we do will depend on how well I acclimate to the elevation. Mountain biking at the North Rim left me gasping at the top of every climb.

Veronica

[sarahspins]

Stay in Ouray if you can, Montrose is just another city with strip malls, while Ouray has a lot of character.

I'd vote for the ride up Red Mountain Pass too.

I agree.. Montrose is really nothing special compared to Ouray, and if you're not opposed to camping there are quite a few campgrounds in the immediate area.

My family has a cute little cabin on the North end of town, and we've been vacationing there since before I can remember - Ouray is one of my favorite places I want to get back out there this summer, but since I'm going to Hawaii in 2 months I'm saving up for that, and I think CO is out

[Pedal Wench]

We just did the ride up Red Mountain to Durango - spectacular! Be careful of crosswinds on the descents though - it was quite hairy when we were there.
The ride up out of Ridgeway to Telluride (Dallas Divide and Lizardhead Pass) is also gorgeous. And, the ride up Grand Mesa out of Grand Junction is also amazing - but it can be brutally hot. We lucked out with fog, sleet and rain a few weeks ago.

Try the KOA campground outside of Ouray - halfway between Ouray and Ridgeway. Cute little cabin, clean showers, and a nice stream running through the campground.

[Veronica]

How much shoulder is there on these roads? Thom read somewhere, in some post, who knows where... that there's the white line and then a 500 foot drop off and no real shoulder. If there's traffic, that sounds just a little too gnarly.

Veronica

[Pedal Wench]

How much shoulder is there on these roads?

On the way out of Ouray up Red Mountain Pass. It's exactly what Thom said - no shoulder, 500-foot drop off. But, it's only for short sections :

[Veronica]

...mmmm... maybe we'll take the mountain bikes.

Maybe we'll just cruise around in our SUV.

I've never really been to CO - driven from Denver to Moab. But didn't stop and soak it in, so in my book it doesn't count.

Veronica

[Pedal Wench]

V,

Honestly, there wasn't that much traffic, and it's just as twisty and turny for the cars - they're going slow too. Really, there's usually plenty of shoulder, or at least, a stretch of dirt before the edge. Checkout the Ride the Rockies page on Facebook for lots of photos of the ride out of Ouray. Supposedly, a local brewer painter the Bike Lane on that section - most of the road is great, just watch for crosswinds - that was pretty harrowing for me.

How was the North Rim? We had to cancel that part of our trip. Next year, for sure.

[Veronica]

Try the KOA campground outside of Ouray - halfway between Ouray and Ridgeway. Cute little cabin, clean showers, and a nice stream running through the campground.

It's FJ Cruiser week - pretty much everything is booked.

No, we don't have an FJ Cruiser. We're actually going to look at this. Someone is bringing the demo, which we're thinking about buying. We had such a great time camping at the Grand Canyon out in the middle of nowhere and really want to do more. But the truck was packed to the gills and that was a hassle. Packing and unpacking was like playing tetris. We've been thinking about something like this for well over a year. The Grand Canyon trip just kinda really solidified for us what exactly we want.

Veronica

[Veronica]

Not going after all.

Veronica