Mega Sneffels Loop

Sneffels range we looped around.

The bike was ravaged with mud in the last 25 miles of the ride. I was wet and muddy as a river rat.

Note: same write-up with some additions I posted on the Colorado Endurance Series forum page for this ride.

What a great ride and as tough as any ride yet.

Here is the route: Ouray to Imogene Pass, down Tomboy to Telluride. Up Jud Weibe to the Deep Creek Trail and over to Last Dollar RD. Last Dollar RD to Highway 62 and over the divide to County Road 9. Up CR 9 to the Dallas Trail, and continue onto Blaine Basin trail, Wilson Creek Trail and onto Ouray. My GPS showed 90 miles and 14k of climbing in 11 hours and 44 minutes. (I did go off route once and added some mileage)

Always fun to ride with this group that showed up. 5 started. Matt, Doug, Ryan, Danny and myself. 3 single speeders. I went with a 32x22 gearing which proved to be a good call. I think the weather scared some folks off. It wasn't a matter if it would rain but when and how much. Doug, Ryan and I were together until the end of Deep Creek and than Doug took off on the downhill and it was Ryan and I for awhile. Ryan dropped off the pace toward the top of Last Dollar and I was on my own from than on out. Even though I took a wrong turn for a while at the first hut (I went right instead of left to descend to the Blue Lake TH) I eventually made it back on route after referring to my map. The rain started about 2 pm as I was climbing CR 9 and made the hike-a-bike sections on the Dallas Trail miserable. Very slick conditions on the trail as well as the log crossings on Blaine Basin trail in particular were sketchy. Descending into the drains were precarious at times. I finished in Ouray at 6.22 pm. Congrats to Doug for a great ride. Doug and I enjoyed a beer at O’Brien's afterwards. I heard from a passerby in Ouray when I finished that he thought one of our guys was on the highway riding but not the case since Matt, Ryan and Danny had already bailed out earlier and left town before Doug and I finished as I learned from a text message from Matt. I was definitely disappointed nobody waited for us to finish. It is always fun to share the war stories over beers after a ride like this.

I have a great GPS track of the route and if I learn how to send or share I will do that.