USA cycling destinations.

[Arlberg]

I'm interested in doing a cycling trip to the USA but I am having trouble finding an area with a large concentration of climbs. Colorado seems like the obvious place given the number of ski resorts etc, but even there (looking on Google Maps) it seems like the mountain roads are mostly highways rather than the quieter roads one finds in the Alps, Pyrenees and Dolomites. It also seems like they are a long way apart and very gradual ascents rather than the clusters of steeper winding climbs one sees in Europe. In fact, it seems there is a severe shortage of hairpin roads in the USA! Or am I just looking in the wrong place?

Ideally I'd like to find a valley town with lots of scenic climbs right on the doorstep that I can return to each day. A place similar to say, the European towns of Le Bourg d' Osains, Saint Jean de Maurienne, Argeles-Gazost, Bagneres de Luchon, Bormio, Corvara etc.

Does such a place exist in the USA?

[Warin]

Does such a place exist in the USA?

I don't know. But I'd look at what the commercial (or otherwise) firms do..

https://www.adventurecycling.org/
http://bicycleadventures.com/tours/clas ... Alps---NEW!
https://americabybicycle.com/

[P!N20]

I'm interested in doing a cycling trip to the USA but I am having trouble finding an area with a large concentration of climbs

If only someone had a book of all the great rides of the world for sale. <whistles>

http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... t#p1464300

[RonK]

They have proper roads in the US, not just surfaced goat tracks.
If you want climbing, take an MTB and ride the Great Divide MTB route.

[Arlberg]

Thanks for the tips everyone but I couldn't find what I was looking for so I've decided to go back to France instead!

[dalai47]

I spent 3 weeks riding the Cols in the Western states of the USA back in 2013. I started in San Fransisco hitting the classic local climbs and slowly worked my way East; acclimatizing by progressively hitting higher cols till topping out on Mt Evans at over 4000m! I did blog that trip here if interested, just search back through from July 2013 http://climbinglama.blogspot.com.au/

Didn't find one destination to fill the trip, so ended up driving over 5000km over those 3 weeks! But what I rode is just as good as anything in Europe, with the added challenge of topping out at nearly double the elevation!

From San Fransisco I drove out to Bishop for some sweet Eastern Sierra climbs. Then across to Colorado working my way East via Grand Mesa, Independence Pass, Trail Ridge road till riding Mt Evans and Pikes Peak. Looped down through Arizona to ride Mt Graham and Mt Lemmon and finished in LA riding Mt Baldy after riding San Diego's claimed Alpe d'Huez equivalent Palomar Mountain the day prior.

I have a few books that may help researching a further trip I could lend you if you decide to visit the States one day.

[cyclotaur]

Check out the scene around Asheville, North Carolina. They do a Haute Route event there, and there is a riding culture with many pros training in the area. Also checkout Veloguide which may give you some idea of popular areas anywhere in the USA.

https://www.hauteroute.org/events/overv ... ville-2020
https://www.veloguide.com/

I have a son/DIL and grandson in New York and just missed the New York Gand Fondo this year, but may look to do it or another next year. Asheville came up as a good cycling destination during some research I did on returning home. You could check out the calendar of the World Grand Fondo Series for North America to find likely decent ride locations in the USA.

https://granfondodailynews.com/gran-fondo-calendar/

[dalai47]

I have a few books that may help researching a further trip I could lend you if you decide to visit the States one day.

Books are both by the author John Summerson - The Complete guide to Climbing (By Bike) in Colorado and The Complete guide to Climbing (By Bike) in California.

Many are not well know climbs, especially for those outside the States. But flicking through them again just now, there are actually quite a few spots where you could base yourself and ride a different climb every day.

I only drove as much as I did as I wanted to hit the bigger known climbs; culminating in the equally amazing 4300 m monsters Mt Evan's and Pikes Peak. The later was only finally opened to bicycles after a successful trial back in 2012 and recommend getting there now in case thy change their mind.

I would still rate Pikes Peak as one of the best anywhere and is the hardest climb I've done and that included many of the climbs in the French Alpes plus those around Bormio including the Mortirolo. 10+ percent gradients at over 4000m are brutal!

[dalai47]

In fact, it seems there is a severe shortage of hairpin roads in the USA! Or am I just looking in the wrong place?

Hairpins exist.

Eastern Sierra CA

Onion Valley Rd





Horseshoe Meadows - you can see those switchbacks for miles! Given the barren terrain it is really hard to judge just how big the climb is!





Whitney Portal

[dalai47]

Colorado

Mt Evans





Pikes Peak

[dalai47]

Arizona

Mt Graham



Mt Lemmon

[dalai47]

Southern California

Palomar Mountain



Glendora Mountain Road

[MichaelB]

Pikes Peak would be an amazing ride (it's an amazing race too), but for me, too many guns, bears and crazy peeps in the 'States.

I'd rather go to Italy & France or ride the Belgian cobbles myself. Short sighted yes, but still

[dalai47]

Surprisingly even in their big trucks (and gun racks in the back window) everyone gave me space and I never felt concerned.

If you only had a choice to go to one, then I also think just for the Grand Tour history France and Italy would be my pick too. But I had a good run of trips the two years prior with 4 weeks in the French Alps 2011 then a super quick visit to Bormio to ride the Stelvio, Mortirolo and Gavia 2012...

[antigee]

Surprisingly even in their big trucks (and gun racks in the back window) everyone gave me space and I never felt concerned......

similar rode San Fran' to LA last year over 8days or so and had only 2 close passes! - even on a busy sunday drivers towing large boats from a recreational lake were taking the oncoming side of the road to pass as did agricultural trucks in farm areas. When riding the occasional wide freeway shoulder passing trucks routinely pulled over a lane so none of the usual high speed suction/blast ...I would def' go back and do some more riding probably more in the style the OP is talking about and was hoping for some inspiration/suggestions

[g-boaf]

Check out the scene around Asheville, North Carolina. They do a Haute Route event there, and there is a riding culture with many pros training in the area. Also checkout Veloguide which may give you some idea of popular areas anywhere in the USA.

https://www.hauteroute.org/events/overv ... ville-2020
https://www.veloguide.com/

I have a son/DIL and grandson in New York and just missed the New York Gand Fondo this year, but may look to do it or another next year. Asheville came up as a good cycling destination during some research I did on returning home. You could check out the calendar of the World Grand Fondo Series for North America to find likely decent ride locations in the USA.

https://granfondodailynews.com/gran-fondo-calendar/

Haute Route is now quite big in the USA, they don't do the 7 day there any more though, sadly. Haute Route Rockies used to be the toughest of all of them, and they served up Pikes Peak on the final day.

The rest of the North America events are: https://www.hauteroute.org/events/north-america

They are superb events, you just go and ride, the rest is sorted for you.

Does such a place exist in the USA?

If they above seems interesting and you've got questions - I'll be happy to answer them. I'm not a HR ambassador (and Fergus Grant isn't bribing me to promote them), but I've done a lot of the 7 day events.



Et voila, Fergus at 0:13... You get very fast riders turning up there (even current pro riders), but you don't have to be one of them to do these events.

A bit more about the way those events work in general:


You have support along the way, from the medical people, Mavic, food stations, the Laterne Rouge or even some of the Ambassadors who are also riding. 0:17, she's one of the ambassadors if I remember right, I met her a few months ago - she's from Spain and such a lovely person. If it seems too difficult, you'll have many people encouraging you. 0:36 is Jean-François Alcan (aka Jeff), he's the race director and ultimately in charge of these events - he doesn't say much about it, but he used to run the L'Etape du Tour events. He's pretty good at organising the stages and keeping everything safe. Another nice person too. And yes, once you've done one event, you want to go back again. If I had the time, I'd do every one of them.

One thing I would say, if you don't do much riding descents, you should do so before these. Some of the descents you will ride are very, very fast, so you want to get down them safely.