Cycling Vacation in Carbondale Colorado

Late in August we visited Carbondale Colorado to visit our mountain biking daughter and her boyfriend. Instead of searching area bike shops for rental bikes, they introduced us to their friends at Why Cycles where we were able to ride their R+ Titanium gravel bikes!

They offer a variety of bikes including a hardtail and fatbike. Check out the beautiful downtube and seat tube design on this hardtail where the tubes flatten out at the bottom bracket. Very cool designs! We rode these gravel bikes on roads, and even though the tires were almost 2x the width of our road bike tires, they didn’t feel any slower and were very comfortable and responsive. The people at Why Cycles also super nice people!

Look at the views of Mount Sopris and the ridgeline behind our airbnb garage apartment! Our host Dave was very friendly and even dropped off hot cinnamon rolls one morning. If you go, tell Dave you found him through BTF. It is the perfect location with challenging hills right out of his driveway. in fact, our first ride went by his house. And, it’s only a 10 minute drive from downtown.

Carbondale isn’t just for cycling and hiking, they also host rodeos all summer long with everything from little kids riding sheep to broncos and bull riding.

If you don’t want to ride into the mountains, consider a gravel ride along the sides of the valley. We rode from Carbondale up past the first set of hills and a 10% climb to Rt. 125 then through Crystal River Ranch on a scenic gravel road to Glenwood Springs for lunch.

The ride back from Glenwood Springs was just as enjoyable. The paved path goes all the way from Glenwood Springs to Aspen. Here you can see how the grass along the trail is cut in some areas. The goat herders set up portable fences that they move along the path as the goats eat the grass.

Of course Glenwood Springs is famous for the hot springs, but there are also free hot springs along Rt. 133 (and probably other areas) on the way to Redstone (also a cool town) where the hot springs come out of the ground and mix in man made pools with the Crystal River.

There is so much to do in the area from Glenwood Springs to Aspen, certainly enough to fill a week of road, mountain, and gravel cycling. If you have questions, or want help planning a trip, shoot me an email or give me a call. My contact info is on the site.