Lake City Alpine 50 High-Alpine Endurance Race

The Lake City Alpine 50 is an epic, 50-mile, alpine endurance bike race with around 6,000 feet of climbing.

The Lake City Alpine 50 is an epic fifty-mile high-alpine endurance bike race starting in historic Lake City, Colorado. This is NOT a mountain bike race and it is NOT a gravel race. It is a high-alpine endurance bike race unlike anything else out there. This lung-busting race will take you by the iconic Lake San Cristobal before a long, steep climb to the top of Cinnamon Pass (12,640 feet). You then descend the steep, rocky, pass and start up the very tough, steep, and long climb to Engineer Pass (12,800) feet. Another very long, rocky descent takes you back to Lake City. The race will feature 6,000+ feet of climbing through some of the most incredible sections of the San Juan Mountains.

COURSE
The course heads out of downtown Lake City, Colorado on Highway 149 towards Hinsdale County Road 30 leading to Lake San Cristobal. Lake City’s namesake was formed by a rare natural earthflow called the Slumgullion Slide, which blocked the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River, creating the second-largest natural lake in Colorado and one of the most beautiful lakes in the entire state of Colorado.

The course then heads onto Hinsdale County Road 33, a dirt road located on the East side of Lake San Cristobal. Be on the lookout for moose, osprey, and bald eagles as the sun starts to cast its rays across this gorgeous lake. Crossing the bridge over the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River, the course heads back onto Hinsdale County Road 30 skirting the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River for the next approximately sixteen miles before the climbing starts to get tough. Along the way, you will pass by three 14,000-foot peaks (Handies, Sunshine, and Redcloud) and various abandoned mining towns (Carson, Sherman, and Burrows Park). You will also catch views of American Basin, a stunning wildflower wonderland and one of the most photographed places in Colorado. For the next two miles, your lungs will be tested as you approach the top of 12,640-foot Cinnamon Pass.

You will then descend from Cinnamon Pass (yes, it is gets rough here, gravel bikes be warned) for about two miles into Animas Forks (11,200 feet), a ghost town, but once a bustling mining town and one of the highest mining camps in the Western United States. After Animas Forks, for the next four miles you will ascend the VERY steep backside of Engineer Pass (12,800) before making a nearly nineteen-mile fast descent (once again, very rocky – again, gravel bikes be warned…think 2.0 or more on those tires) along Henson Creek, which includes passing through Capitol City (a small ghost town along Nellie Creek), the once booming Ute-Ulay Mine and Mill, and then back to Lake City to finish the race in Lake City’s Town Park.

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