Riding a Two-Wheeled High in the Rockies

This promises to be the summer when mountain bicycling is recognized as one of the best ways to enjoy the Rockies.

More than 30 new bike tours, along routes which you can also pedal on your own, await cyclists of all ages, abilities and budgets.

While the snows of winter were still melting, bikes were already replacing skis on the bumpers and tops of cars heading for the high country.

Joe Rutherford of the Utah Travel Council believes that mountain biking will be ranked this summer with hiking, river rafting, fishing, horseback riding and other popular warm-weather recreational activities in the Rocky Mountain states.

As for his own state of Utah, Rutherford quotes Hank Varlow, editor of Mountain Bike magazine, as telling his readers, “Utah is a mountain bike paradise--it’s so different!”

Here around Dinosaurland in the northeast corner of Utah, biking trails to the Uinta Mountains wind beneath a dozen peaks that rise above 13,000 feet in elevation, crowned by 13,528-foot King’s Peak.

Dinosaur Bones

Down in a valley, it’s only 13 miles of pedaling from the town of Vernal into Dinosaur National Monument where paleontologists have found more than 2,000 dinosaur bones. In Vernal, 14 dinosaurs recreated in life-size form greet you in the gardens next to the Dinosaur Museum of National History.

It’s easy to believe Utah biking enthusiast Joel Bingham when he assures visitors, “You can take your mountain bike to the Uintas every summer for the rest of your life and never see the same trail twice.”

Progressive Travel Ltd., known to bikers for its chateau biking tours along the Dordogne, Lot and Tarn rivers of France, is inviting mountain cycling enthusiasts to pedal “The Elegant West,” dining and overnighting through the Colorado Rockies “in the style once enjoyed by cattle kings and silver barons.”

Backroads Bicycle Touring offers pedaling comforts at lower budget levels in eight biking tours through the Colorado Rockies this summer; all will be with overnight accommodations in mountain inns. Backroads also plans eight mountain inn tours and eight camping tours in the Canadian Rockies.

How to bike the Rockies on your own, while overnighting with a touch of graciousness and catering to your personal interests, is suggested by Grant and Lorraine Cotter, who have inspired my wife, Elfriede, and me to take our own long-distance cycling trips along with fellow members of the Los Angeles Wheelmen’s Club.

Scenic Route

But our trips of a few hundred miles seem like beginners’ efforts compared to the spectacular scenic route the Cotters followed on their tandem bike last summer for 21 days and some 1,700 miles from Texas and New Mexico to Salt Lake City, spending every night in a mountain lodge or inn. They even mailed ahead the shoes and clothing for five days of square dancing at a festival in Lake City, Colo.

The Cotters own the Manhattan Shoe Hospital in Manhattan Beach. Their son, William, carries on a family tradition started by his grandfather when he tends to the business while his parents go off on their frequent bike tours. Lorraine Cotter has corrected a heart condition by putting in some 80,000 miles on their tandem bike.

For the trek through the Rockies, the Cotters carried their tandem on a rental car to Houston. Pedaling from there, they headed up through Amarillo to Clayton, N.M., then over Raton Pass to Trinidad, Colo.

They followed the shoulder of Interstate 25 to Wolf Creek Pass above South Fork, Colo. Continuing northward, they went over the 10,901-foot summit of Spring Creek Pass. After that they pedaled over 11,361-foot Slum Gullion Pass for their five days of square dancing in Lake City.

When the Cotters had bundled up and mailed home their dancing gear, they took Highway 50 over 11,003-foot Monarch Pass. Then it was on to Denver and finally down to Park City, Utah, and Salt Lake City, where they rented a car to drive back to Manhattan Beach.

Two-Wheeled Luxury

Progressive Travel Ltd. will begin this summer what it considers to be “America’s most luxurious bicycle trip,” in Denver. On the first day, a van carries the small group of cyclists to the top of Boreas Pass, named after the god of the north wind. The cyclists warm up for the coming week by riding down the pass to Breckenridge.

A gourmet picnic is catered trail-side while cyclists relax on a grassy stream bank. The first night is spent at the Victorian Briar Rose, where hot tubs await the group. After the salmon dinner there is time for dancing and strolling beneath the stars.

Day 2 offers one of the world’s most scenic bike paths, from Breckenridge to Copper Mountain, where the afternoon is free for options that range from an outdoor concert to the golf course. A special menu at the Plaza Restaurant features the dish that won the grand prize at the Governor’s Dinner competition: rack of lamb in an apricot, pistachio and cabernet wine sauce.

Over Vail Pass

Day 3 calls for biking over Vail Pass, but the van is there if you need a lift. Dining that night is to music at Tea Rose Alpenrose in Vail, where chef Klaus serves a Veal Mozart in a sauce of curry and fried bananas. Afterwards you snuggle under European quilts at the Sonnenalp, a twin to the Sonnenalp of Austria. Guests in the Rockies are served by a staff dressed for the Tyrol.

By Day 6 you’re ready to believe that the farewell dinner at Chev Grand Mer in Aspen has always been part of your bicycling life style.

A week of bicycling the Rockies in this elegant style is priced at $1,675 per cyclist. For a schedule of dates and information about the route, contact Progressive Travel Ltd., P.O. Box 775164, Steamboat Springs, Colo. 80477; (303) 879-2859.

A six-day Backroads bicycle tour in the Colorado Rockies starts at the Strater Hotel in Durango, a Victorian landmark since 1882. The tour goes through a panorama of mountain splendor, forested river canyons, flower-filled meadows and the cliff dwellings and ruins of Mesa Verde National Park.

The next morning, cyclists ride the historic narrow-gauge railroad to the old silver-mining town of Silverton. After a picnic they cycle over Red Mountain Pass into Oura, “Switzerland of America.” The overnight here is in the storied St. Elmo Hotel. The fourth night is spent at Lake Stoner Alpine Lodge on a working cattle ranch. Then come two nights at Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde National Park, biking during the day to explore pre-Colombian cliff dwellings.

This type of Backroads trip is priced at $776 per person. The camping trips in the Canadian Rockies are $498 per person. When you ride into a camp, you relax with a swim while the Backroads staff prepares a dinner that includes hors d’oeuvres, wine and a table set with candles and china. For schedules and details of the Backroads trips, contact Backroads Bicycle Touring, P.O. Box 1626, San Leandro, Calif. 94577; (415) 895-1783.

Biking adventures in the Uinta Mountains of Utah can begin at Vernal with its log post office and store built in 1827. The Oscar Swift Ranch is listed on the National Historic Register as “a capsule of frontier life.” Still standing between Vernal and Dinosaur National Monument is the cabin of cowgirl Josie Morris, linked with Butch Cassidy and other outlaws of the Old West.

The Uinta Arts Council in Vernal sponsors art shows throughout the summer. The annual July 4 Ute Pow Wow in nearby Fort Duchesne recreates the story of local Indian life. The Uinta Mountains have more than 1,000 lakes for fishing. There’s golf in Vernal for a change of pace from pedaling, and every summer offers Dinosaurland rodeos. You can bike around on your own, or with package tours offered by Rim Tours of Moab. For information about mountain biking in Utah, contact the Utah Travel Council, Council Hall, Capitol Hill, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114; (801) 533-5681.