Stitz's in Colorado Take 2

Here's a non-specific and out of order write-up that I'm going to post on Walt's Bike Shop website.

So my family decided to take a vacation over 4th of July week to Colorado. For many it was a first time, and for me it was my first summer trip out there. Right from the start I found the trip to be a much more fulfilling one, able to satisfy my adventurous personality in many different ways. The bleak white landscape of a snow covered Kansas was replaced with green range as far as the eye could see, with clear blue skies meeting the green at the horizon. When I wasn’t catching z’s this picture held my attention with no problem. After driving through the also flat eastern CO, we stopped just outside Denver and got a hotel room for the night. The next morning we got out bright and early and headed into the city to walk around for a few hours and see some sights before heading into the mountains. Post lunch we got back in the car and pointed it west. The 1.5 hour drive into Breck gave us spectacular views of the Rockies, in my opinion much more beautiful in the summer than the winter. My mom said the views were worth the drive in themselves, which they are. When we finally reached our destination we were pleased to find that the pictures we based our lodging rental on had done a nice job of making the condo look quite a bit smaller than it was, a spacious space to relax, bonus. Now to earn that relaxation.
After grabbing every brochure from every rest stop we made, and having made plans to do certain things before we left St. Louis, we had enough to keep our days filled. Monday rolled around, and everyone was up and moving around 7 a.m., a time that I have unfortunately been seeing a lot over my summer vacation. But that’s good, more daytime to wear myself out doing stuff. After breakfast my brother and I rode down to Main St. and stopped into a shop to ask where the nearest single-track trailhead was. Right down the street, hmm, that rocks. So we rode for an hour and a half or so, caught some nice photos doing wheelies with a mountainy backdrop, and then we headed back to the condo to regroup. The afternoon trip took us just down the way to Lake Dillon, where we rented a boat and took it out on the water for a couple hours. To be on a lake with the 80 degree sun keeping you toasty, and the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains all around you is a view that is engraved in my head, we couldn’t have asked for a prettier day.
Things got a bit more aggressive on Tuesday; we went to the Arkansas River for some white water rafting. After donning some super sweet wetsuits, splash jackets, and PFDs (all of which had an indescribable odor to them), we were ready to hit the rapids. Our guide was pretty standard, he took off one summer to lead raft trips and hasn’t been back since; I can understand the appeal in that. He steered us down some Class III+ rapids with my brother and I riding in front, and my sister, sister in-law, and parents in the rows behind us. We took some pretty big hits while enjoying the scenery, and I looked back at my mom on numerous occasions to a) make sure she was still there, and b) laugh at the ridiculous mix of happiness, wonder and awe, and wet and freezing on her face(the water was 40 deg or so). After the trip we stopped off in Buena Vista, which we found out is pronounced ‘byoona vista’ because the founder apparently wasn’t familiar with Hispanic phonetics. Anyway, we got some Mexican food and I ate way too much, end of story.
Wednesday. Family bike ride down the nice paved path between Breck and Frisco, and afterward my dad and I went up the ski slope to investigate a good looking trail that we had driven by on Monday. The hike took us through some flowy rocky single-track that frequently crossed over man made bridges that spanned roaring mountain streams, and for some reason I found myself craving a can of Busch beer. We snapped some great photos, chatted with a park service worker and his Siberian husky, and then headed back to the condo. I knew one thing for sure, next time I was on that trail I was going to be on two wheels.
Thursday was an especially early morning. Up before dawn, my dad, brother and I had decided to hike our first fourteener, Mt. Quandary Peak, just outside Breckenridge. It’s a Class I hike, which is the easiest, most user friendly hike…a somewhat truthful statement. Thankfully on the way up the sun was not overhead, and at times it was even a bit chilly. The trail was a highway with people heading up in front and behind us, and we yo-yoed back and forth with many of the same people multiple times on the way to the top. Here is what the trip up consisted of: start in woods on steep dirt trail, trees start to thin out, trail becomes rocky, trees gone, trail become steep and rocky, trail becomes large loose rock and sometimes trail disappears, then trail gets really steep and rocky, and forward progress is made in small 10 step increments before catching breath, then you walk through some snow for a while, slip a few times, posthole a few times, until finally you reach the peak. Then you look around and realize that it was worth it. I’m sure at this point many people, as I did, wished that afternoon mountain weather wasn’t stormy, and that they could just stay on the peak for the evening. Unfortunately, the weather is predictably unpredictable. You know you’re going to have storm clouds forming, but you don’t know if or how much rain and lighting they bring. So don’t take your chances. After taking some photos from the peak we began the downward trek. What began as an upbeat and fun descent eventually turned into three guys with their heads down shuffling slowly along the trail. The sun had been directly overhead for the down climb, and it drained us. About two and a half hours later (the whole thing took us about 7 hours) we reached the car smiling, and I realized that I didn’t put on enough sunscreen. As I sit here now at my non-Walt’s job and type this, I smell like women’s lotion after attempting to settle the peeling, dry skin on my neck and face.
Friday rolled around and it was a big day. Fourth of July in Breckenridge is a celebration, with a parade and fireworks, but most importantly, the parade kicks off with hundreds of mountain bikers riding down Main Street in the USA Cycling Marathon MTB National Championships!!! My brother and I had considered doing it, but he backed out because he didn’t want to cut that much time out of our family vacation for himself (allegedly) and I didn’t do it because I’m a wuss and don’t have the legs yet for something like that, not to mention we were both pretty beat from the hike the day before. We had driven the first 6 or so miles of the course earlier that week and it was a slow climb up even in a 4WD vehicle. While we were not able to represent Missouri, I have to give props to Walt’s employees Jon Schottler and Travis Cordoza, as well as their friend Lou Reilly, who all sported their tiger striped Mizzou jerseys and partook in the race.
We may not have raced that day, but seeing all those riders made my brother and I want to ride. So what did we do you ask? Remember that trail I mentioned earlier, well we went up there and rode it the 10 miles to Frisco. It was an awesome trail, gain some elevation for a few miles, and then the rest of the trail drops straight into Frisco. It was a bit bumpy for my rigid frame, and at times I was worried that my grip would give out and cause me to eat my stem, which would have resulted in many lost teeth considering I was smiling so big the whole time. It was awesome.
Saturday was dedicated to 16 hours of driving and reminiscing, and even though I love being out there, there was something nice about getting home at midnight, showering, and plopping down in front of the TV to fall asleep.