Home to Rock Cut by Bicycle

Rock Cut is the highest point on Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park. Trail Ridge Road is one of the highest paved roads in the United States, and it goes roughly from Estes Park to Granby, travelling above treeline and over the continental divide. On occasion, the Breakfast Club will ride from Fort Collins to Rock Cut and back, which is roughly 120 miles and 9000 feet of climbing. The altitude and the distance make it a tough ride, but the scenery is great and it's a good challenge. Some more information, including a useful map of Trail Ridge Road, is available at www.rmnp.com.

There are various routes for this ride. One can go through Glen Haven or not, one can go into RMNP via the Beaver Meadows entrance or via the Fall River entrance, and closer to my home, there are several ways to get to US34. The route shown here begins roughly at the corner of Horsetooth and Timberline in Fort Collins, goes down to US34 through Loveland, avoids Glen Haven and the Devil's Gulch, and goes into the park via the Beaver Meadows entrance. The profile shown is for half the route, the other half is the mirror image of what is displayed.

Since this ride is at high elevation and above tree line, one should be prepared for harsh and unpredictable weather. In June of 2004, the Bicycle Tour of Colorado rode over Trail Ridge Road to Granby. A number of people got caught high on the mountain in a thunderstorm. The week before, the Ride the Rockies tour was bussed around Trail Ridge Road due to snow. In September 2007, some friends of mine were caught by a quick storm atop the mountain, and had to ride down in hail, sleet, and hard rain. Be prepared with sufficient clothing, keep an eye on the weather, and be willing to go back down the mountain if a storm approaches To my knowledge, water is only available at Hidden Valley and at the Alpine Visitor Center (which is a couple of miles west of Rock Cut), so riders need to take enough water for their planned route. I use a Camelbak on this ride.

The third image in the logo above is based on a convention used in cattle brands. The curve under the scissors is not a smile, but a rocker, like the ones on the bottom of a rocking chair or a rocking horse. A cattle brand containing the letter A over a rocker would be the "Rocking A" brand. So the third image above is supposed to be the "Rocking Cutting" brand, or Rock Cut. You can tease me about it when you come up with a better image to represent that concept. If you meet someone wearing a t-shirt with this image, you've met a friend of mine who I know has ridden from their home to Rock Cut and back. I had a small number of these shirts made because the ride was so epic that I wanted to commemorate it somehow.

Map of the Rock Cut Ride

Newman > Bicycling > Home to Rock Cut

Last Modified: 24 May 2008
By: David Newman