Aspen Colorado Crested Butte Cycling Shopping Telluride: Aspen Aspen/Snowmass bike rentals bike riding bike tours Bootdoctors Colorado mountain towns Crested Butte Crested Butte Mountain Resort Cycling Four Mountain Sports Sheraton Steamboat Resort Steamboat Springs summer fun Telluride Telluride Ski Resort
by maribeth
Comments Off on Bike Riding In and Around Our Beautiful Mountain Towns
Bike Riding In and Around Our Beautiful Mountain Towns
Biking in Telluride
Family Bike Adventure in Crested Butte
Penelope Gleason from Bootdoctors in Telluride
The hills are alive with the sound of cyclists clicking their way over all kinds of bike trails from single track to old railroad grades to paved bike paths to smooth and bumpy swaths cut through our forests for your recreational pleasure. Our towns and valleys are popping with cyclists clad in brightly-colored garb, too. Whether you’re looking for a scenic ride along one of our rushing rivers or interested in snagging a momentous climb or a descent of World-Cup order, Colorado’s mountain towns offer some of the best bike riding options in the United States. Young or old, skilled or amateur, mountain biker or road rider, there’s something for everyone set within some of the best drop-dead gorgeous scenery in the world.
Below is a rundown of a few of Colorado’s major mountain destinations and some of the cycling options they offer. Read them over, make some enquiries and/or reservations, then enjoy the ride. Most of the mud has dried up and the wildflowers are beginning to bloom, so there’s no better time to freewheel it through and around our mountain towns.
Aspen Colorado Crested Butte Cycling The Rockies Travel: Aspen bike races Colorado Colorado Crested Butte Cycling The Rockies Travel USA Pro Cycling Challenge
by maribeth
Comments Off on The Thrill of a Bike Race
The Thrill of a Bike Race
The Start of the USA Pro Challenge in Aspen
Sexy Cyclists
More Good-Looking Guys
I’m here at my desk amid piles and piles of papers, cards, brochures and miscellaneous other remnants from an action-packed trip to the USA Pro Challenge, which took place here in Colorado last week. I also just spent a couple of hours going through a slew of images from time spent at this exciting bike race. I met cyclists and bystanders, travel suppliers and promoters, journalists and commentators, fans of all ages, shapes and sizes, avid cycling enthusiasts, amateur bike riders and tons of folks just out for a good time.
There’s nothing like a big sporting event to bring people together, especially when it’s on wheels and it travels to different locations along the way. Many people followed the seven days of racing–an extraordinary route that began in Aspen and finished in Denver as it traversed some of the world’s highest mountain passes, most scenic valleys and most beloved Colorado destinations. I hit the USA Pro Challenge in Aspen, Crested Butte and Gunnison and boy, did I soak up every minute of fun I could find within that four-day period.
Cycling France Paris Tours: Cycling France Paris Tours
by maribeth
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Discovering Paris with Fat Tire Bike Tours
The Paris Fat Tire Bike Tour Peloton
I always say that Paris is a city best explored by foot. True. But there’s a lot to cover, so I’m suggesting more and more that people first take a bike tour of the City of Light.
If you’ve read my travel memoir, A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France, you know that I’m into bike riding, so this recommendation should come as no surprise. Although my book features two Paris chapters, which highlight taking in the sites of the French capital, I’ve never pedaled around Paree myself. Mon dieu! I long to do it, however, in the meantime I charged a friend and occasional contributor, Peter Hans, from Discovery Maps and Guides, to check out a tour with Paris Fat Tire Bike Tours himself.
Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Cycling Denver Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Restaurants Shopping Travel Vail Writing & Books: Aspen Beaver Creek Breckenridge Colorado Cycling Denver Hotels & Lodging Outdoor Adventures Restaurants Shopping Travel Vail Writing & Books
by maribeth
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Bike Race Spectating, Colorado Touring, Book Promoting, Travel Adventures Galore Oh My
Taking a Break from Book Promoting Along the Barriers at the Vail Time Trial of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge
“Have you decided what you’d like to order?” the server of Spencer’s, the signature restaurant of Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, asked me.
“I’ll have the snake,” I said.
When he looked at me in a bewildered manner, I realized my words weren’t matching my thoughts and then I corrected my order. “Oh, I meant to say steak. Yes, steak. I’m sorry, I’m just so weary.”
“No problem,” he replied and seemingly just minutes later I was served one of the most succulent steaks ever. I gobbled it down along with a heap of Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and a big gulp of red wine. I felt exhausted and much in need of sustenance and this unassuming restaurant delivered.
My Travel Memoir/Love Story that Features France and Highlights Colorado
I had been on the road a few days by the time I reached Breckenridge and realized that following a major sporting event, especially one that changes locales daily required a lot of hustling about, but then adding a book promo tour to it was like doubling town. I had been busy much of the summer promoting my new book, A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France, although I saved the biggest push for the end when I’d scheduled a number of events and publicity opportunities in conjunction with the USA Pro Challenge, a major bike race which was marking its third year in Colorado. It seemed like a good fit, so why not give it a go? My core audience seems to be made up of outdoor enthusiasts and discriminating travelers, just the kind of people you find showing up for this big cycling event, especially in Aspen, Beaver Creek and Vail.
I set out in Misty, my old 1993 Subaru with over 250,000 miles to her credit, late Sunday, August 18, for Redstone, Colorado, a delightful little mountain town just under an hour from Aspen. From Telluride, the drive ranks as one of the finest in Colorado, punctuated by bucolic farmland scenery in and around Paonia and dramatic mountain vistas up and over McClure Pass. I arrived at the warm and cozy Redstone Inn to find its bar and restaurant bustling with Sunday evening diners.
Colorado Cycling France French Life French Provinces Outdoor Adventures Paris Podcasts Telluride Writing & Books: Colorado Cycling France French Life French Provinces Outdoor Adventures Paris Podcasts Telluride Writing & Books
by maribeth
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Read and Listen to What I Say About A Tour of the Heart
A Tour of the Heart book cover
I’ve been pounding the pavement this past week, promoting my book, A Tour of the Heart: A Seductive Cycling Trip Through France. It’s been great getting out there chatting with people at promotions I’ve done in conjunction with the USA Pro Cycling Challenge—it’s always nice to connect with like minded people that enjoy to read. The beautiful cover of this travel memoir/love story draws people in right away and then I take it from there. I tell some people a lot about my book; others just a little—whatever it takes for them to determine if this is a read for them. I’ve done readings, signings and press interviews and have even distributed flyers and postcards the old fashioned way. To me, it has all been important and best of all, it has afforded me the opportunity to chat with people that love cycling, France, Colorado, food and wine, adventure, romance and other components of my story.
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Aspen Colorado Cycling France French Life Telluride The Rockies Writing & Books: Colorado Cycling France French Life Telluride The Rockies Writing & Books
by maribeth
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Tellurider Matt Beaudin Talks about Cycling, VeloNews and France
Matt Beaudin
I’ve been living in Telluride just over ten years now. And I’m still continually amazed by the number of multi-talented people living within our towns (Telluride and Mountain Village) of a combined population of about 3,200 year-round residents. Artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, you name it—T-ride boasts the crème de la crème of doers, adventurers and creative types from many areas. And Matt Beaudin definitely fits that profile.
I’ve always enjoyed the quality of writing in our local newspapers and came to know Matt through his stories when he was editor of the Telluride Daily Planet. After a nice stint at our local rag, Matt moved on—but not out of Telluride—to become a writer for VeloNews, one of the country’s top publications on cycling. Now after a year and a half at this post, I thought it was time to sit down and chat with Matt on Travel Fun, my talk show on KOTO. He’s passionate about cycling, has been to France a couple of times and covered the Tour de France twice, so I was sure we’d have a good exchange. I enjoyed what Matt had to say about the French, following the Tour and riding a mountain stage, recounting another impressive ride—Eider Creek—in Telluride and sharing his thoughts on the upcoming USA Pro Cycling Challenge that begins Monday, August 19 in Aspen, Colorado.
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Colorado Cycling French Provinces Podcasts Telluride Travel Trip Planning: Colorado Cycling French Provinces Podcasts Telluride Travel Trip Planning
by maribeth
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Cobbles & Corks: A Boutique Bike Touring Company
Bike Touring Through Alsace with Cobbles & Corks
Alsace in Its Rosy Splendor
Food, wine, travel, bicycling—now that’s a recipe for a successful trip. Add France as the destination, a Frenchman with local ties that has lived in the U.S. for over two decades and his wife that draws on her experience in the hospitality industry, and you’ve found an excellent formula for a very special trip. The bike touring company Cobbles & Corks is even cooler than that since owners Bertrand and Laura Marchal live in Telluride, Colorado, a town known for hosting a good time in drop dead gorgeous surroundings.
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Colorado Crested Butte Cycling Mountain Living Outdoor Adventures Writing & Books: Colorado Crested Buttte Cycling Mountain Living Outdoor Adventures Writing & Books
by maribeth
Comments Off on The Bike Culture of Crested Butte
The Bike Culture of Crested Butte
Sailing Down the Ski Hill in Crested Butte
Fat tires, skinny tires, town cruisers, sleek road bikes, bouncy mountain bikes—you name it, everywhere you turn in this freewheeling mountain town in the summer, you see a cyclist, a bike, a bike part or a bike path popping into view. I’ve been to many mountain towns across the Rockies, yet never have I observed so many bike doings as here in Crested Butte, Colorado. A bike mecca for sure, perhaps largely due to its glorious network of trails (many single track) and the fact that mountain biking took off here in the 1970s after some locals began retrofitting old Schwinns with gears and took to the hills. Since then, the bike culture has done nothing but grow to the point that people of all ages and ability levels can’t help joining in on the fun when they land in this stunning mountain town.
This morning I went out for a little power hike on the ski mountain. Did I feel out of place not being on two wheels? Not at all. Instead, I enjoyed hoofing about at my own pace and observing the biking activities both up close and from afar. From the bike wash station to the easy bike loading setup at the gondola, I realized Crested Butte is a mountain resort destination that takes cycling seriously. I meandered up my own single track that accommodated two-way hikers and uphill bikers, a sinuous path bordered by fields of wildflowers, where I could take in the full expanse of CB’s alpine setting and still boost my heart rate and break a little sweat.
