Leadville claims to be the highest incorporated city in the United States, sitting at 3,094 metres, or 10,152 feet, and when you step off the bike you will believe it. The air is thin, the nights are cold even in July, and the town itself, a grid of Victorian brick and false-front wooden buildings on a broad plateau, feels like a place that has survived on stubbornness. Around it stand the highest mountains in Colorado, with Mount Elbert, the state's top summit at 4,401 metres, and Mount Massive both visible on a clear day.
The history here is silver, and a lot of it. In the late 1870s a strike of rich silver-lead carbonate ores triggered one of the wildest booms in the American West, and in a few years Leadville went from a camp to a city of tens of thousands. Horace Tabor, a storekeeper who grubstaked two prospectors and ended up a millionaire, built the Tabor Opera House in 1879, and it still stands. His scandalous second marriage to Baby Doe is the stuff of an opera, which in fact it became. Doc Holliday passed through, and Molly Brown lived here before the Titanic. When silver collapsed in 1893, the town survived on gold and later on molybdenum from the huge Climax mine over Fremont Pass.
Riding here is a matter of altitude and weather. US 24 comes up from the south past Twin Lakes, and the road from the north comes over Fremont Pass, with the mine tailings looking oddly lunar beside the pavement. The roads are open and fast, the gradients are modest because you are already high, and the scenery is mostly wide skies and big mountains. Thunderstorms build over the peaks in the early afternoon through summer, so aim to be off the high ground by lunchtime, and carry full rain gear. Even in midsummer a clear morning can start at near freezing.
Leadville has fuel, food and a surprising number of old saloons and cafes along Harrison Avenue, plus a National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum that rewards an hour's browsing. If you are tired, rest at the lower end of the valley rather than pushing on at altitude, because the thin air makes fatigue hit harder than you expect. The town is also known for an ultramarathon and a mountain bike race held each summer, so check dates if you want a quiet bed. In September the aspens on the surrounding slopes turn gold, and it is the best time of year to be here.