On Travel: Grinding Up Mount Evans By Bicycle and Looking Down on Clouds and Peaks

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Mount Evans is an outdoor natural shrine in the Rockies, a 14,260-footer with North America’s most elevated paved road meandering its way 14 1/2 miles from a toll booth at Echo Lake at 10,600 feet to the Evans summit an hour west of Denver.

 

The alpine and valley panoramas are so vast in scope as I slowly grind up the Mount Evans Scenic Byway that the immense climb and elevation gain of 3,500 feet is a mere pittance to pay for the ultimate immersive Rocky Mountain natural outdoor experience.

 

Stronger roadie cyclists climb from Idaho Springs, which adds 14 miles to the ascent. I did that once. I’m glad I did. But I won’t again.

 

I’m happy to drive to a dirt lot next to the Mount Evans two-lane road near the Echo Lake Inn and start from there. I was reporting on the city of Denver some 20 years ago when the city approved a fee toll for motorists to drive the road to the summit. It’s $15 per car these days.

 

“You’re a bicyclist and you get in for free,” a happy toll taker informed me as I began my ascent at 8:30 a.m.

 

My game plan was to leave at this time and get to the peak at 11:30 a.m., when the weather will still be sunny at 14,260 feet. Weather is unpredictable up there in the clouds, and I recall racing down the mountain years ago when a squall came busting through the small parking lot on top of this famous Fourteener.

 

It’s a religious experience for me to climb this mammoth mountain. It’s my belief that I can reach the top that fuels my legs to slowly crank the pedals up the mountain that lack guard rails along the narrow two-laner that has cracks and holes scattered in the pavement.

 

 

 

The first three miles is a test as my lungs and my legs try to sync up at altitude This early setting is dominated by the road cutting a scenic swath through a dense cluster of evergreens. But the pavement soon leads to the open side of the mountain, opening up vast horizon vistas. Here’s a video showing the scene around 13,500 feet, maybe two and a half miles from the Evans peak.

And as I slowly bike higher and higher, I look not at clouds and surrounding mountains but down at clouds and the regional peaks.

 

It’s blustery and cold at the top, probably in the high 50s with strong gusts that make it feel much colder. I layer on a windbreaker atop the long-sleeve tight shirt, a jersey and a bright yellow vest. I pull on gloves and tighten the LVSportsBiz.com cap on my head so that it does’t fly away.

 

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich never tasted better at this altitude and I throw in almonds onto the lunch menu. Photos all around and it’s time for a wild descent.

 

The road has seen its wear and tear and it’s a bumpy ride flying down the mountain. I’m squeezing the brake handles, slowly down to keep the vibrations on the bike frame to a minimum.

 

I stop at a nature center at mile three during the descent around 1 p.m. and meet a cyclist from Chicago heading up. He doesn’t have a jacket or windbreaker and I advise him that it’s blustery and cold in a short-sleeved shirt at 14,260 feet.

 

He was cycling from Idaho Springs, so he already had climbed several thousand feet. So at mile three on the Mount Evans road, he decided to reach his pinnacle for the day and head back to Idaho Springs, 17 miles away. Good choice.

 

The final three miles to the finish line go quickly as I speed down the mountain at 30 mph, leading four cars down to Lake Echo.

 

After surviving a violent collision caused by a distracted motorist near Fort Pierce, Fla. in March 2017, this was the first Mount Evans ride since that near-deadly crash. It was a pure Rock Mountains bike experience and another bike ride that is helping complete the healing.

 

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