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Bruce
& Betsy Blais |
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Mountain Biking - Special Trails - SOURDOUGH, COLORADO On August 9th, 2014, Bruce rode the Sourdough Trail north of Nederland, Colorado with the Not-Over-The-Hill-Yet Group. This ride was selected because it was at 10,000' and provided relief from the August heat. The temperature was 60F at the start of the ride, and 64F at the end. Below is a map showing the track, profile and statistics for the Sourdough Trail ride. This was an "out and back" ride. You can right-click on the image below and use the "Save Target As" option to down-load a 1MB 11x17" PDF version of the map. You can also click on the image and zoom up to 200% for a detailed view in a separate window. Right click here to down load the GPX file for this ride. The file may want to save as an XML file, so if it does, change the extension to gpx before you save it. The file is a high-resolution track created on the Delorme PN-60W GPS.
The distance ridden was 9.6 miles and the ride time was 1 hr. and 58 min. Climbing was 1,843 feet and was spread out across the entire ride. The average grade was 7% and the maximum elevation was 10,352' AMSL. This is the kind of trail on which you will use all your gears, and spend a lot of time in 1-1. The grades are not impossibly steep, but go on for some distance, making it necessary to slow down to a sustainable climbing pace. Sourdough is on County Rd. 116 off CO-75 about 5 miles north of Nederland. There is a nice parking lot on the south side of 116 and the trail head is on the north side. It is a multi-use trail as seen from the signage below. It is rough, so I do not know how anyone skis or snow shoes it unless there is a good bit of snow on it.
The trail starts out climbing and the climbing goes on for 3-4 miles with very little flat ground on the way up. The initial ascent is 1,000' in 3 mi.
The trail does level out once you get up on top at about 10,300'. Below is Janet, Monte and Bud.
There are a few log piles along the trail. Below is Monte crossing one of them.
Here is Monte crossing another log pile.
Once back down, it was time for a short rest before heading to a cafe for dinner. Yes, a couple of us needed jackets. The temperatures during the ride ranged from 60F to 64F.
Here is Aaron and Bruce chillin.
After chillin, it was off to the Sunset cafe. The table had a wonderful view of the mountains, but you can't see it for the back-lighting. At the table are Bruce, Janet, Monte behind Bruce, Michele, Bud and Matt.
Back at the apartment in Denver, Bruce unpacked a water bottle used on the mountain. Notice how it collapsed even at Denver elevations. The difference in altitude was about 5,000'.
Sourdough was a fun trail, but one you want save for later on your list. There are lots of better rides. The group did this one because it was high and in the cooler temperatures. The folks in Colorado don't like to ride when the temperatures hit 80F or above.
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Version 0.1, August 11, 2014 |
