Ride the Rockies

[spazzdog]

Ride reports grrls... we want to hear all the excruciating details
spazzdog

[Adventure Girl]

Loved every single minute of it! Even that Day 2 monster. It was a great challenge for someone like me, with limited climbing skills. I just found my cadence and just worked away at it, and made it to the top...

Climbing that monster tells me that your "limited climbing skills" are stronger than you admit! Great job!

[eofelis]

I kinda-sorta-but-not-really rode in RTR. Living in Grand Junction, I was excited that RTR was starting here. I did ride with everyone on the first day over the Colorado National Monument. It was so much fun to ride with 2000 other people! I visited the visited the camp area at the school and went to the Geology talk and the Bicycling Physics talk. Lots of fun!

I didn't ride on day 2, but some folks here did. I have not yet ridden the Grand Mesa, but I want to soon.

Next year we are definitely going to do Bicycle Tour of Colorado.

[Pedal Wench]

We've decided to wait and see who's route is better. I had thought that the Bicycle Tour was much smaller, but I think they're up to about 1500 riders. The difference between the rides seems to be getting narrower - Ride The Rockies was 2000. We'll probably sign up for Bike Tour, and then see where Ride The Rockies goes. They're probably very similar - and very fun! We had a blast - I still can't stop talking about it!

You should try to do the Grand Mesa ride (Day 2 - from Grand Junction to Delta)! It was beautiful. Three distinct different areas - the orchards in Paradise (or Palisades - I get confused...) were gorgeous, and then the stretch through the canyons off of I70, and then, of course, the climb. If you do it, don't try to go all the way down to Delta. Those last 20 miles seemed endless!

Surly - any reason you're going with BIke Tour over Ride the Rockies? Obviously, we're undecided!

[eofelis]

We've decided to wait and see who's route is better. I had thought that the Bicycle Tour was much smaller, but I think they're up to about 1500 riders. The difference between the rides seems to be getting narrower - Ride The Rockies was 2000. We'll probably sign up for Bike Tour, and then see where Ride The Rockies goes. They're probably very similar - and very fun! We had a blast - I still can't stop talking about it!

You should try to do the Grand Mesa ride (Day 2 - from Grand Junction to Delta)! It was beautiful. Three distinct different areas - the orchards in Paradise (or Palisades - I get confused...) were gorgeous, and then the stretch through the canyons off of I70, and then, of course, the climb. If you do it, don't try to go all the way down to Delta. Those last 20 miles seemed endless!

Surly - any reason you're going with BIke Tour over Ride the Rockies? Obviously, we're undecided!

Some friends of ours have done both RTR and BTC. So I have been told: BTC is smaller, has better aid stations and is usually a loop ride (no shuttling cars). Several of our friends are talking about doing BTC next year.


I certainly want to ride the Grand Mesa. For some reason we just haven't gotten around to it. My road bike, with super low gears, is up for it; and my bf John is going to set one of his road bikes up with a triple so he can climb more with happy knees. I ride through the orchards of Palisade regulary. One fruit stand gives out free peaches to cyclists who stop by in the summer, YUM!

[Pedal Wench]

When we went through, the orchards were bursting with ripe cherries. The trees looked more red than green. It was wonderful!

When does BTC release their route? I had heard some complaints about the rest stops on BTC, but before this year, had heard that they were better than RTR. RTR only officially has bananas or oranges and Gatorade at the rest stops - everything else had to be purchased, and sometimes the vendors ran out (we were late starters...) I'm kind of a picky eater anyway, so I'll continue to carry my own powerbars, whichever ride we do next year. All I know for now is that we WILL do one of them next year!

[cindysue]

I'm debating between RTR and BTC.

How good are the lottery odds with RTR? If I wait until the end of March to hear about the lottery, how likely am I to still get into BTC if I have not signed up yet?