In the 15 plus years that I’ve lived in the Vail area I have made it on the mountain to ski several days each winter, but I had never taken my bike on the mountain until last month. In honor of summer ending, the day before my daughter went back to school, we brought our bikes into town with us and had them hauled up the gondola then rode down the cat walks. What fun!
While hard core mountain bikers may prefer to ride up, or at least take the single tacks down that was just a little above our skill level. Anyone who is used to the altitude and in fairly good health should be able to ride down the cat walks. It is a bit bumpy and can get fast but that is part of the fun. We took lots of breaks to take in the views because, after all, isn’t that what is so special about being at the top of a mountain?!
We did this in the middle of the week, the day before school started for us and at times we felt like we were the only ones on the mountain. I viewed my favorite ski runs with green grass and Aspen trees that I had only seen covered with snow in the winter. I have hiked on Vail Mountain several times but downhill on bike we were able to cover as much distance as skiing.
During the winter when my daughter is on break, she comes to the office with me and during lunch we do what is called a top-to-bottom. We take the gondola up and ski straight down. That is basically what we did on bikes last month. And, if the bike hauls were included in our passes (they aren’t; they are extra) I would make it a regular summer outing too.
