Biking around Buena Vista

Imagecurvyroads 25 Comments

I’ve shared before how much we enjoy our Green Bike USA folding fat tire e-bikes and today I’ll share a recent ride we took on a local scenic ride here in beautiful Buena Vista, Colorado. For those that have followed on FB or IG, this was before the snow! ❄

The e-bikes were perfect for this dirt road with gradually increasing elevation, and allowed us to complete a 24 mile ride while focusing on the amazing mountain and Arkansas River scenery! 🤣

Starting out just beyond the back gate to our RV park on CR 371

Love this rig and their spectacular location!

Frantz Rock, this property was put in conservation back in the 1980s for all to enjoy

Views to the West!

More views to the East!

Jerry coming back to see what happened to me…photos, that’s what! 😊

A really neat feature of this ride is the series of four historic railroad tunnels that were built in the 1880s to serve the Colorado Midland Railroad, which connected Colorado Springs, Leadville, and Aspen. Although the railroad is gone, the tunnels are a fun reminder of days gone by, and a hoot to ride through.

The first tunnel, heading north, with a car coming south

If you zoom in on this photo,you can see more of the tunnels ahead

I have a video of riding through the tunnels to share later on.

But first, more views of the Collegiate Peaks mountain range to the west.

We like the idea of one day finding a place to build a ‘barndominium’ that would house KokoMoto, a small apartment, and the other toys, of course. We discovered this awesome specimen off CR 371! 😍

View of the front elevation, with massive overhang to protect from weather

View of the rear with RV door

View of the interior…look at those windows!

This is their view looking south! 😍

We rode all the way to the end of CR 371 where it meets CO 24 about 9 miles north of Buena Vista (BV). Just before that, the road crosses the beautiful Arkansas River, and a kind passerby took our photo!

It’s not often we’re both in a photo that isn’t a selfie!

The Arkansas River through the bike

You knew we had to have a selfie in these stylish helmets!

Looking north or upstream.

Below is a video so you can hear the amazing sound of the rapids!

Looking south or downstream

Looking west toward CO Hwy 24

The original ‘tiny house’! 😀

We reversed course and headed back toward BV. This route runs along the river for much of the 9 miles and I couldn’t resist a few more photo stops! Jerry is very patient. ❤

Rocky river rapids!

Railroad Bridge crossing. There is a nice state park campground to the left of the bridge

The barndominium setting 😍

Jerry riding through the gorgeous rock formations

And, last but not least, a video riding my bike south through the railroad tunnels! It is amazing that a phone video would end up so stable, since the road wasn’t, and for that I am grateful. Enjoy!

25 thoughts on “Biking around Buena Vista”

  2. A really cool area! And nice trails for the e-bikes. The best ones are uphill on the way out so you can always coast on the way back. When does the camp hosting gig start (or has it already started and I haven’t been paying attention)

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    • Yes, uphill first makes for an awesome ride back! 👍 We report in Estes Park on May 12, so we are just enjoying this beautiful area until then! Then we have a week of training and the CG opens on the 20th.

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  5. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. I love the barndominium idea. I’ve always thought the perfect house was a huge garage with a smaller apartment on top.

    I might have to look into those ebikes. The last time we did any distance on bikes was 26 miles on a traditional bike and I don’t think I could hardly walk when we got off them.

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    • We are on exactly the same page re: garage vs house proportions, Brandy! 😊

      The e-bikes have been awesome. We think nothing of 20 miles and feel great afterwards.

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  7. Wowzers! You are rocking the photos and the helmets. What an amazing ride. I love the tiny houses and the RR bridge pix. Swoon. Love that we can hang around for awhile and see more and get into more stuff. LOL.

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    • Thank you, Lynn! You can’t take a bad photo around here! Yes, the best part of this FT journey is getting to stay when we have so much more to see! You guys have really been on the move, lots of CA and now Sin City! Lots of cool photos too! 😀

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  8. Wonderful job capturing the experience Lynne! I haven’t been on CR371, but am going to make it a priority to do so after seeing your pictures!

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  9. Ditto what Trobairitz said. Funny that we all think so much alike. Thanks for the new word — barnominium — which really is a very good way to describe the kind of place we want and need, but without stairs.

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    • Yes! We are struggling with the stairs in our mental design, but then, we think: do the stairs (exercise) till we can’t, then get a chair lift installed! 😀 Jerry’s mom had one installed in her house and it allowed her to stay there years longer.

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