Biking from Steamboat to Fort Collins in 2 Days

My friend Ben and I biked from my parents' place in Steamboat, Colorado, to my brother‘s house in Longmont, Colorado. It was about 200 miles and 10,000 feet of elevation gain. We did it in two days, and about 22 hours of bike riding. The trip was split up into six acts or sections that helped us break it into sections. While this trip was grueling at times, it was a bike trip of a lifetime that really had it all, from beautiful, stunning mountain views, unending, empty highways, bumpy gravel roads, camping under the stars, rain, snow, and a bear eating all of our food.​

Act 1 - Rabbit Ears Pass

The first act started with us waking up in Steamboat Springs. We woke up at 5:30am, and I fed our dog Kai, walked him, then took a shower and made breakfast. I made a lot of sausages, eggs, and yogurt. I ate two sausages, eggs, and the yogurt, while Ben did not eat anything. We said goodbye to my fiancée, Adaline, at seven in the morning and started our approach and ascent of Rabbit Ears Pass. We followed US Route 40 to the base of the pass, and as we approached, we looked up at the daunting Hill we were about to climb. We were expecting this to be insanely difficult, so much so that we would have to walk some sections. On the way up Ben began fighting some vertigo, nausea, and headaches.  We stopped a few times to eat and drink, but all in all, it ended up being easier than we both expected (still insanely hard, but we didn't have to walk), and we pounded up the 7 miles of 2500 feet of elevation gain in about 1.5 hours.  About 3/4 of the way up the mountain, Ben pulled out four sausage patties wrapped in tinfoil that he kept in his shoe from breakfast. We took a nibble to give us a little bit of a sodium boost, and let me tell you that was the best sausage patty I’ve ever had in my entire life.  Nothing like dripping sweat at seven in the morning, eating a cold, salty sausage patty.  At the top of the climb, we took a break to consume some more calories and then headed across the pass to the hill bomb down to Colorado Route 14 towards Walden.  On the way down Rabbit Ears Pass, we enjoyed all the views as we coasted for a few miles; it was quite spectacular.

Act 2 - Road to Walden

Once on Colorado Route 14, we had about 33 miles to our next city, Walden, where we could resupply on some food, grab some hot meals, and refill water. The route to Walden from the base of Rabbit Ears is primarily rolling hills with lots of ups and downs.  I was extremely worried about this part of the journey, as I know from the base of Rabbit Ears all the way to the base of Cameron’s pass, the shoulder is quite slim, and cars fly at speeds over 65 MPH.  When we started this section of Act Two, my fears were alleviated as the shoulder of this portion was bigger than I thought, and we saw very few cars.  We rode for a few hours, taking intermittent breaks, and made it to Walden.  Once in Walden, we locked our bikes to get some real food, and as we sat inside, it started to torrentially rain outside.  It seemed we had just dodged a bullet, missing the worst of the impending rain.  As we were sitting, Ben realized he was starting to get a rash on the top of his hands.  I recommended we get some Benadryl at the nearby gas station before we leave, but he didn't think he'd need it.​

Act 3 - Torrential Downpour

After lunch and after the rain cleared up, we continued about 25 miles from Walden to Ranger Lakes Campground, where we would be spending the night. We decided to book Ranger Lakes Campground because it was right off the CO 14 and wouldn't detour us from the route.  This portion of the CO 14 has much less of a shoulder than the previous section, but thankfully, because it was a Wednesday, there were very few cars on the road. About 1/4 of the way through Act 3, it started to torrential downpour, causing all of our clothes, shoes, and socks to be soaked.  Luckily, we were wearing our goofy quick-dry bike outfits that wouldn't take long to dry, but our shoes and socks were goners. This section is more rolling hills trending upward, and at this point, we were pretty drained, moving at a sluggish pace, just hoping we could make it to the campsite before sunset.  Once we got to Gould, Colorado, we realized we had a 500-foot climb and a couple more miles to our campsite.  That 500-foot climb was brutal, after all the miles we put in, but we made it to our campsite at 7pm, an hour and a half before sunset and after 12 hours of biking.  We set up camp, changed out of our wet clothes, and started cooking dinner.  We had Mountain House, oatmeal, and other various snacks, then we brushed our teeth and got ready for bed.  I hung a bear bag up in a tree far from the tent, as there were no bear boxes and we had no vehicle to store our food in.  We went to bed around 9pm since we were so exhausted.​

Act 4 - Cameron’s pass and Bear Attacks

After not the best night of sleep, we woke up to a hot, stuffy tent and started packing up our sleeping bags and pads. Ben's hands were super hot and inflamed from the day before, and were starting to become more concerning.  I went outside to collect the bear bags to cook breakfast and to get Ben his sunscreen.  I got out of the tent, checked on the bikes, which had frost on them from the below-freezing evening.  When walking to the bear bags, I noticed that they were no longer hanging.  I looked around to see if maybe they fell or if an animal dragged them somewhere else.  I wandered the woods, and a few minutes later, I found our dry bags ripped to shreds with trash everywhere. A bear had taken down our bags and completely obliterated all of our food and smellables. 

I walked back to Ben, who was starting to prepare the stove to make some coffee and boil some water for the oatmeal, to tell him the bad news that we no longer had any food for the rest of our journey.  We were both a little shocked and surprised that the bear was able to get to our bags, but we moved on, and I went to fill up some water at the campsite.  While walking over, I noticed another campsite with a cooler that was also ripped to shreds by the bear. 

I then saw two people and asked them if they had any food to help us on our climb up Cameron‘s Pass.  As they started to look for food, one individual came up to me and asked if I had seen the bear, to which I told him no, but the bear ate all our food.  They told me that he didn’t see the bear either, but the ranger told him there was an aggressive bear in the area and that the bear climbed onto his car last night.  Thankfully, the bear didn't damage the car, but it was still wild.  We went back to the site and were given food from the neighbors, which was extremely helpful, so I ate some, and we packed our bikes and started our day. 

We started our ascent of Cameron’s Pass, which was much more gradual than Rabbit Ears.  It was about 1700 feet and 6 1/2 miles.  The climb went pretty quickly, and the sun was just peeking over the horizon, illuminating the snow-covered mountain tops, and it was so beautiful riding up, seeing the rocky Dolemite-looking mountain tops of the Rocky Mountains.  Once we summited Cameron‘s pass at 10,276 ft, we started our descent.​

Act 5 - The Descent

The first few miles of the descent are fast and so much fun, with no peddling required, just cruising at 30 to 35 mph.  As we continued to cruise down, we enjoyed all the scenery and all the spectacular views as the Poudre River snakes along.  We took a quick stop at Poudre Falls, and then continued onward as things started to level out. The morning was pretty cold, especially in the shade of the hills, but as we descended, it began to warm up quickly.  We were still descending, but not as quickly, just enjoying the scenery following the Poudre River all the way down to the Fort Collins area.  We stopped at a small convenience store that happened to be open to get Ben some sunscreen, since the bear ate his.  At this point, we came to the conclusion that the "rash" on his hand was a sunburn and heat rash.  Ben‘s hands were extremely inflamed, itchy, and hot.  We were hoping the sunscreen could help mitigate his hand issue, and we continued down to the Mishawaka to get some real food in us, relax by the river, and enjoy the views.  After we ate, we continued down the last 20 or so miles to the base of the Poudre Canyon into Fort Collins.

Act 6 - The Front Range

​After completing the descent, we had about 40 to 50 miles remaining to Longmont. If we were ending in Fort Collins, Day 2 would have been a cakewalk compared to Day 1, but I knew that this portion of the trek would be one of the most miserable portions, if not the most miserable portion.  The reason I anticipated it to be so difficult is that all the hard work had been done.  Now it was about the slow, monotonous grinding on these flat, sometimes rolling, roads.  At this point, the parts we were worried about, such as the descent, the narrow shoulders, or Rabbit Ears Pass, were all completed. All that was left was biking from Fort Collins to Longmont, which is by no means nearly as difficult as the rest that we just accomplished.  I knew that we would probably feel extremely accomplished, and it would make these remaining 40 to 50 miles miserable. We started off by routing to Spring Canyon, where we took our first little break of this act. I stopped by the Skatepark, my favorite Skatepark in Fort Collins, and saw some old friends and met some new ones.  I borrowed a skateboard, did a couple of flat tricks, and a back tail on the out ledge.  As I skated, Ben cut up some old socks to turn into gloves so he could survive the hot sun, as his hands just continued to look worse and worse.  

Then we were off again towards Loveland.  On the way to Loveland, we met an old biker who told us the best route to avoid the wind.  On his recommended route, we stopped at a random lemonade stand, and it was some of the best lemonade I’ve ever had in my entire life.  We continued onward another 10 miles to a Safeway, got some junk food, and got back on the bike.  After a few gravel roads, and some nice bike paths we grinded out the remaining miles to my brother‘s house.  Once we arrived, we were exhausted, sunburnt, and just excited to see our friends and family, lie in a comfortable bed, and take a nice warm shower. 

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This journey was so incredible, and while I’ve done the drive from Steamboat to Fort Collins through the Poudre more times than I can count, this one will be the most special to me. I wouldn't have wanted to complete this journey with anyone else besides my favorite adventure buddy, Ben.  He is always down to do whatever crazy shit I throw at him. It was definitely a gnarly adventure, but couldn’t have asked for a better time from ascending Rabbit Ears Pass, to getting torrential downpour on near Walden, to having a bear eat all our food, to bombing Cameron‘s pass, to cruising through the Poudre Canyon looking at all the stunning views, to even the monotonous rolling roads of the front range.  I couldn’t have asked for a better adventure.​  If you have read this far, this is your calling to get outside, do something challenging, push yourself, and really experience what the Earth has provided us.  I love pushing myself to do hard things, and trips like this help remind me what it's like to be a kid, chasing the unknown with no expectations, just living in the moment.