Ride the Divide, The Route
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Ride the Divide, The Route |
Each July, 1994 through 1998, Mark Folsom organized the Ride the Divide, a four day, 1200 mile rolling rally that crossed the Continental Divide over fourteen different passes. It included a lot of Rocky Mountain scenery, thousands of curves, and plenty of comaraderie. The route of the RtD, with passes over the Divide in bold, was:
North to South Route - Steamboat Springs to Pagosa Springs.
Day 1:
Starting in Steamboat Springs.
US-40 to Rabbit Ears Pass (9,426'), Muddy Pass (8,772), Kremmling, Hot Sulphur Springs, CO-125.
CO-125 to Willow Creek Pass (9,683), Rand, Walden, CO-14.
CO-14 to Cameron Pass (10,276), US-287.
US-287 (or Masonville Road) to US-34.
US-34 to Estes Park.
Day 2:
Starting in Estes Park.
US-34 to Rocky Mountain National Park, Milner Pass (10,759), Grand Lake, US-40.
US-40 to Granby, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass (11,307), Empire, I-70.
I-70 to Georgetown, US-6.
US-6 to Loveland Pass (11,992), Keystone.
Swan Mtn Road around south side of Lake Dillon to CO-9.
CO-9 to Breckenridge, Hoosier Pass (11,541), Fairplay, US-285.
US-285 to US-284/US-24, Trout Creek Pass (9,346), Johnson Village.
US-24 to Buena Vista, Leadville, CO-91.
CO-91 to Fremont Pass (11,320), Copper Mountain, I-70.
I-70, to Vail Pass (10,603), US-24, Minturn.
Day 3:
Starting in Minturn.
US-24 to Tennessee Pass (10,424), Leadville, CO-82.
CO-82 to Twin Lakes, Independence Pass (12,095), Aspen, Carbondale, CO-133.
CO-133 to McClure Pass (8,755), Paonia, Hotchkiss, CO-92.
CO-92 to Crawford, US-50.
US-50 to Gunnison, Monarch Pass (11,312), Poncha Springs.
Day 4:
Starting in Poncha Springs.
US-285 to Poncha Pass (9,010), Saguache, CO-114.
US-50 to Gunnison, CO-149.
US-160 to Wolf Creek Pass (10,850), Pagosa Springs.
Two other passes over the Divide that weren't part of RtD but are worth the ride up and back down are Cottonwood and Boreas. The paved road to Cottonwood Pass (12,126) heads west from the traffic light in Buena Vista to a great view down into the Taylor Park area. The very scenic gravel road to Boreas Pass (11,482), easily traveled on a motorcycle (usually), starts at the south edge of Breckenridge across from the Conoco station and follows an old rail bed up to the former townsite of Boreas.
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