Comments (0) Best Place to Get High (on Your Bike) - 2009
Monarch Crest
There are plenty of quality miles to pedal on the Front Range, but you didn't buy that trick, free-riding dual suspension just to ride the foothills. The Monarch Crest trail is one of the finest rides on the planet; starting at over 11,000 feet in elevation and running along some jaw-dropping sections of the Continental Divide, it's not your average Sunday ride, so true that wheel, fill up your hydration pack, and make sure you've been doing your cardio for the past two months. You'll experience above-treeline grandeur, killer switchbacks that laser through dense alpine forests, and a descent that offers nearly 7,000 feet of now-would-be-an-excellent-time-to-adjust-my-brakes singletrack. There are even a number of shuttle-for-hire options outside of Poncha Springs that will do the driving for you, so you can spend more of your day feeling like a god with a handlebar, not some lost, citified touron in a Subaru. Just make sure you pack oxygen if you haven't been hitting the StairMaster, because this is a mile high times two.
