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"To Hell You Ride!" greeted miners and other folks on a sign not far from the railroad tracks as they rolled into a deep box canyon now known as Telluride, Colorado back in the late 1800's. Fast forward - Telluride is now a premier destination for skiers around the world, but those "in the know" relish the pristine miles of killer singletrack ripe for mountain biking!
This tour is an incredible sampling of those amazing miles of singletrack in the San Juan Mountains around Telluride, CO. We’ll start out on the Uncompahgre Plateau north of Telluride and work our way to some dizzying heights near treeline just outside the Lizard Head Wilderness.
We’ll meet everyone at Cascade Bicycles in Montrose, CO at 7:30am to load up and head out for the week. From Montrose we have a shuttle of an hour or so up onto the Uncompahgre Plateau and our first day’s ride. The area of Red Canyon on the Uncompahgre Plateau is seldom seen nor ridden by mountain bikers due to it’s proximity to….well….anything, but this singletrack loop is a terrific start to our week of riding. Along our route today we’ll get a mixture of ponderosa and spruce pine with numerous views of rock outcroppings that remind us we’re on a plateau. Ride length approximately 25 miles.
This morning we’ll shuttle down into Telluride for the start of our day’s adventure. After a short climb on a forest service road, we’ll continue climbing a beautiful piece of singletrack several hundred feet above town. A turn north and we begin a pleasant traverse on aspen-lined singletrack away from town with incredible views of several 14,000 peaks in the distant Lizard Head Wilderness. The traverse will take us up and down…all under the shadow of the Mount Sneffels Range high above. Ride length is approximately 14 miles.
After a short, but scenic shuttle we’ll start a mellower, mid-week ride in the Alta Lakes area. The Alta Lakes area provides us numerous loop options as we skirt the boundary of the Telluride Ski area and Prospect Basin. Like most of our riding during week, the numerous views that open up during our ride will blow the mind. Ride length is approximately 12 miles.
From our base camp on Wilson Mesa, today our route carries us across the Wilson Mesa Trail. The Wilson Mesa singletrack changes numerous times from thickly-wooded spruce groves to calendar-worthy aspen groves. Along the way we’ll pass quite close to the boundary of the Lizard Head Wilderness with 14,000 Wilson Peak looming above us. As we are now opposite of our day two ride, distant views of the Sneffels Range permeate our day. Ride length is approximately 19 miles.
Our final day is a ride down the infamous Galloping Goose Trail. The Galloping Goose was a hyrbrid railroad machine – part railcar, part truck. The Galloping Goose delivered cargo and mail in the Telluride area from the 1930s to early 1950. It is on this very railroad grade we now travel on a mix of dirt road and singletrack from Lizard Head Pass all the way to Telluride. The entire week’s views make themselves available during the mostly downhill ride and the end of our incredible week of mountain biking. Ride length is about 22 miles.
After a great week of riding, we return you to Montrose and Cascade Bicycles. Thanks for joining us!
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