Just a few thoughts as a final post.
First, thanks to my wife Caroline for her support, understanding, and encouragement. I know I got tired and grumpy (ier) while I was racking up lots of miles getting ready for this. She understood and kept encouraging me to make sure I was ready.
And a thanks to Lukas for riding with me. When I saw the announcement, I sent it to him asking if he wanted to to ride it with me. I actually didn't think he would say yes. When he did, I uttered an "Oh bleep" because I could hardly back out at that point. Lukas was a great riding partner and camping partner. We figured out after a couple of days how to set up camp and break camp down. Our riding styles are similar and neither of us like to stop for long periods of time at rest stops. He was happy being my wind break for long stretches of road and was gentle on me on the long climbs. I couldn't have asked for a better riding partner, and given he is related, that made it even better.
People ask me if I will do it again. I would certainly consider it, and given the right set of people would say yes quickly. While it took a lot of time to train to be ready to ride, and it was stressful during the ride it was great fun and left me with a huge sense of accomplishment. So, any takers for RtR in 2011?
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Alamosa to Salida
The last day of Ride the Rockies was a bit bittersweet. For sure, I was ready for it to end. I was tired after Wolf Creek Pass the day before compounded with 450+ miles we had ridden in 6 days. But, in a way, I didn't want it to end either. The day was not terribly difficult, but it promised to be hot and breezy. The route map, the elevation, and a commentary on the route follow.
"81 miles and approximately 1600 feet of climbing. You will have 50 miles of virtually flat roads as you head north out of Alamosa. The San Luis Valley is a wide expanse of ranch and agricultural land at 7500 feet. It is flat. It is typically dry. It has fairly cool mornings. It can have searing hot days. Towns are few and far between so be sure to carry water. If it weren’t for the fact that the valley is surrounded by beautiful mountains, I’d say we were in eastern North Dakota or southern Texas. It doesn’t get flatter than this. Hope the wind is not coming from the north.
After mile 50, you have about a 20 mile climb up to Poncha Pass. The grades on this pass don’t exceed 7% and spend most of their time in the 4% to 5% range. In other words, this is a good pass to complete after six days or riding. It will provide nice scenery, good views of the valley, enough of a climb to keep the climbers happy, and shallow enough climbs to keep the tired moving forward without super human efforts. It’s a great way to end a long trip and should not prove to be too difficult. Enjoy Salida… it’s a cute little town with good food. Congrats. You made it." Source: http://www.mybicycleroutes.com/rtr2010.html
As you can see from the map and the elevation profile, we had 35 miles of flat, straight roads. The road is called the gun barrel road, for obvious reasons. As we left Alamosa, LUke and I got in a group of about 6 riders, 3 of whom were sharing the wind breaking duties. I was sitting in the back enjoying the tow. We averaged 20 mph + for the first hour or more. It was great.
At one point, I noticed the shadows and told Luke to drop back and get a picture. He is way more risky with his iPhone than I am. He dropped back, drug his phone out his jersey pocket and the bag it was in, and took this picture.
I realized that Luke had stopped and taken lots of pictures of me. I told him to slow down and I rode ahead and took a couple of pictures of him to prove that he was actually there.
As we rode up the valley, we could see the smoke from the fire that was still burning.
The terrain was pretty flat, not very interesting. But, we had a tailwind and had a high average speed as we headed north toward Poncha Pass. The climb up the pass was not too hard, and the rest stop at the top was a welcome sight. We knew that from there it was essentially downhill to Salida and the finish line.
We enjoyed another speedy descent and cycled into Salida. Caroline and Jynelle arrived just about the same time we finished. Here is a picture of us just after we finished.
We had a beer, wandered around the area seeing if there was anything tempting to eat. Finding nothing, Luke and I decided it was time to shower one last time in the shower trucks. We went to get our bikes to ride over to the trucks, and lo and behold, Luke had a flat tire. We had ridden 540+ miles and had just finished a high speed descent. When we are done, with only a 4 block ride to the showers left, we had a flat. Ironic, and a bit lucky.
I'll write one more post with some final thoughts.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Day 6: Pagosa Springs to Alamosa
Like all the other even days, day 6 was a tough one. The map, elevation guide, and the route description are below.
Almost 90 miles and 4000 feet of climbing. The good news! Except for 22 miles, this is a really flat or downhill day. In fact, after mile 22, you can put your bike on cruise control and watch the scenery fly by. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your level of sanity), the first 22 miles will be challenging. You will have 13-14 miles of shallow 2% to 3% climbing through mist shrouded green valleys at the start. As you head toward the pass, you really develop an impending sense of foreboding. As you head north, all you see is this massive rock face in front of you with no apparent way around it or over it. By mile 14 you are starting to feel the forces of nature turn against you, and the transition from 2% to 7%+ is all too quick and you start piling on the elevation gains. The hardest part of this side is at the base. Before you is a double switchback and a climb exceeding 8%. The view to the south is spectacular… but don’t stop on the road to look… too much traffic. There is a scenic overlook off the edge of the road that you’ll want to stop at for the view. After the switchbacks, then grade moderates to a steady 6% to 7 %. It’s unrelenting and there are precious few points that back off or level out. Around mid-mountain you get your one small break as the grade backs down into the 5.5% range. It’s strange how 5% feels like a slice of heaven after a prolonged stint at 7%+. It can rival what you saw in the San Juan’s. Once at the top, it’s almost 70 miles downhill to Alamosa. Note, however, the ride into the San Luis Valley can be hot and windy. If you are graced by a headwind, with will more than negate the advantage of the shallow 1% downhill. May the appropriate sacrifices to the wind gods so the trip to Alamosa does not become a windblown nightmare.
The author of the description got it exactly right. As we approached the pass I started to wonder if there was a way over that seeming wall of mountains. On the switchbacks near the bottom, where the road is as steep as it gets, we saw this semi that overturned. The driver should find the inventor of Jersey barriers because they probably saved his life (you can see how the truck knocked them over). You can see the driver (I think at least) sitting behind the truck with his head in his hands.
The road kept going up and up. There wasn't much relief from the climb. Some of the locals said that there were sections of the road that had a grade of greater than 10%. I can believe it for sure.
The views were wonderful although I didn't get to see them much. Luke stopped to take some pictures looking backwards. You can see the road way down in valley.
We made it to the top (death before sag).
The aid station at the top was a welcome site. There was a line to take pictures win the Continental Divide sign, so we just stood back and took this picture to prove we were really there.
You can see from the way Luke is dressed, once we stopped pedaling, it was pretty cool at nearly 11,000 feet. We also knew that once we started going down hill it would get chilly for the first bit so we got on some wind breaking material. On the way down, we need to stop to shed clothes so we found this pull out and took off our wind breaking clothes and took this picture. It wasn't a great hair day for either of us.
While we were stopped there we were joined by another cyclist who was clearly shaken. She describing seeing a cyclist in the middle of the road who was seriously injured. In fact, the way she described it, the injuries might have been fatal. We found later that a cyclist had been using a car to draft on and on one of the curves a cross wind made him lose control and he went down at high speed. We had been pretty cautious on the way down, because of the cross winds, and we were doing 35+ mph. If you were using a car to draft, 50 mph is not out of the question. He was airlifted to Denver where he had serious injuries, but not life threatening.
From here on, it was a long gradual downhill in Alamosa. In Monte Vista, the local potato growers association provided baked potatoes with green chile. It was a little slice of heaven and provided a wonderful break with 20+ miles to go. The potato I had was a purple majesty. It was wonderful. They are commonly available, but if you see them in the store, try them.
On the roads into Alamosa, we noticed a forest fire. At first, it was just a plume of smoke. As we rode on, the first went up the ridge and getting bigger. A few days later, it was still not completely out.
Part of the fire was in the Sand Dunes National Park. The linked web site says that part of the Park is still closed due to the fire.
Alamosa rolled out the red carpet for us. Luke and I set up camp and then rode back into town looking for food. We ended up at a brew pub where we had a sausage appetizer (three full sausages with kraut and mustards)--we split that. Then we both had huge hamburgers and fries and didn't leave anything on our plates. That was the first time we had really pigged out. In fact, we had eaten lasagna three nights in a row and one thing we were not going to eat in Alamosa was Italian food. Our diet might have been a mistake, because it didn't sit all that well with me or with Luke.
It was a gorgeous night in Alamosa.
Almost 90 miles and 4000 feet of climbing. The good news! Except for 22 miles, this is a really flat or downhill day. In fact, after mile 22, you can put your bike on cruise control and watch the scenery fly by. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your level of sanity), the first 22 miles will be challenging. You will have 13-14 miles of shallow 2% to 3% climbing through mist shrouded green valleys at the start. As you head toward the pass, you really develop an impending sense of foreboding. As you head north, all you see is this massive rock face in front of you with no apparent way around it or over it. By mile 14 you are starting to feel the forces of nature turn against you, and the transition from 2% to 7%+ is all too quick and you start piling on the elevation gains. The hardest part of this side is at the base. Before you is a double switchback and a climb exceeding 8%. The view to the south is spectacular… but don’t stop on the road to look… too much traffic. There is a scenic overlook off the edge of the road that you’ll want to stop at for the view. After the switchbacks, then grade moderates to a steady 6% to 7 %. It’s unrelenting and there are precious few points that back off or level out. Around mid-mountain you get your one small break as the grade backs down into the 5.5% range. It’s strange how 5% feels like a slice of heaven after a prolonged stint at 7%+. It can rival what you saw in the San Juan’s. Once at the top, it’s almost 70 miles downhill to Alamosa. Note, however, the ride into the San Luis Valley can be hot and windy. If you are graced by a headwind, with will more than negate the advantage of the shallow 1% downhill. May the appropriate sacrifices to the wind gods so the trip to Alamosa does not become a windblown nightmare.
The author of the description got it exactly right. As we approached the pass I started to wonder if there was a way over that seeming wall of mountains. On the switchbacks near the bottom, where the road is as steep as it gets, we saw this semi that overturned. The driver should find the inventor of Jersey barriers because they probably saved his life (you can see how the truck knocked them over). You can see the driver (I think at least) sitting behind the truck with his head in his hands.
The road kept going up and up. There wasn't much relief from the climb. Some of the locals said that there were sections of the road that had a grade of greater than 10%. I can believe it for sure.
The views were wonderful although I didn't get to see them much. Luke stopped to take some pictures looking backwards. You can see the road way down in valley.
We made it to the top (death before sag).
The aid station at the top was a welcome site. There was a line to take pictures win the Continental Divide sign, so we just stood back and took this picture to prove we were really there.
You can see from the way Luke is dressed, once we stopped pedaling, it was pretty cool at nearly 11,000 feet. We also knew that once we started going down hill it would get chilly for the first bit so we got on some wind breaking material. On the way down, we need to stop to shed clothes so we found this pull out and took off our wind breaking clothes and took this picture. It wasn't a great hair day for either of us.
While we were stopped there we were joined by another cyclist who was clearly shaken. She describing seeing a cyclist in the middle of the road who was seriously injured. In fact, the way she described it, the injuries might have been fatal. We found later that a cyclist had been using a car to draft on and on one of the curves a cross wind made him lose control and he went down at high speed. We had been pretty cautious on the way down, because of the cross winds, and we were doing 35+ mph. If you were using a car to draft, 50 mph is not out of the question. He was airlifted to Denver where he had serious injuries, but not life threatening.
From here on, it was a long gradual downhill in Alamosa. In Monte Vista, the local potato growers association provided baked potatoes with green chile. It was a little slice of heaven and provided a wonderful break with 20+ miles to go. The potato I had was a purple majesty. It was wonderful. They are commonly available, but if you see them in the store, try them.
On the roads into Alamosa, we noticed a forest fire. At first, it was just a plume of smoke. As we rode on, the first went up the ridge and getting bigger. A few days later, it was still not completely out.
Part of the fire was in the Sand Dunes National Park. The linked web site says that part of the Park is still closed due to the fire.
Alamosa rolled out the red carpet for us. Luke and I set up camp and then rode back into town looking for food. We ended up at a brew pub where we had a sausage appetizer (three full sausages with kraut and mustards)--we split that. Then we both had huge hamburgers and fries and didn't leave anything on our plates. That was the first time we had really pigged out. In fact, we had eaten lasagna three nights in a row and one thing we were not going to eat in Alamosa was Italian food. Our diet might have been a mistake, because it didn't sit all that well with me or with Luke.
It was a gorgeous night in Alamosa.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Durango to Pagosa Springs
Day 5 was a transition day between mountain passes. Below are the route, the elevation map, and some comments about the rout.
As you can see from the route, we rode south so we were nearly in New Mexico. Apparently, many people chose to ride 160 cutting off many miles on the day. They only cheated themselves of the full experience.
The last 30 miles or so were a gradual climb that never got too bad, but was a climb nevertheless. Luckily, the wind had picked up as the day went on and was mostly at our backs, making it easier than it could have been. Plus, I had my super domestique (luke) to break the wind for me. It also got pretty warm so it was important to drink, eat, and use LOTS of sunscreen.
It was nice to ride into Pagosa Springs and set up camp. Pagosa is a very nice town. It would be a fun place to spend a few days. At the food tent, the local bike club was selling T-shirts that read something like, "I rode Wolf Creek Pass". They should have been in Alamosa after the next day. I probably would have bought one after the fact. More about Wolf Creek Pass in the next post.
"86 miles and approximately 3200 feet of climbing. Kudos to RTR for keeping people off of 160 for much of the day. Hwy 160 is a major east west road with heavy traffic and minimal scenery (especially near Durango). The route choosen is safer, more scenic, and just plain a lot of fun. No passes today, but you will go through the burn area from a few years back. It will be interesting to see how the plants and trees are taking hold again. You will still have a nice healthy climb out of Durango as you head east, and in fact, it will be the steepest climb of the day and will last a few miles as you summit the ridge surrounding Durango. Expect a 15 mile climb from the start and, once you peak, it will be a 3 mile descent to Columbus (nice and steep for some speed). From Columbus to Arboles you will have a more or less 40 mile downhill run to the Navajo State Park and Navajo Resv. The rest of the day will be climbing at a fairly easy pace (1% to 3%) with a few steeper rollers built in, but the scenery is fine and you realy won't mind the climb much at all. A nice descent will great you as you approach Pagosa Springs.
Take it easy today. Use the day as a recovery ride. You have the most daunting days behind you, but you still have two passes to go. Eat well and drink (water or sport drinks) frequently." For the original, click Route description.
The morning started out cool and pretty. Early on in the ride (before the first rest stop), there were lots of riders strung out on the road, riding single file except when passing. The Colorado Highway Patrol were doing there usual great job of monitoring the roads. Most of the cars were courteous and gave us a wide berth as they passed. There was one car--a Saab convertible that came around us going WAY TOO fast (probably too fast with no bicycles). When we got the first rest stop, he was pulled over and having a conversation with several troopers. Apparently he had been buzzing riders, some of whom called the CHP and said they would sign witness statements about the driver. I hope he got the book thrown at him. His (sexist assumption) driving was very dangerous.
The ride out of the Durango was through beautiful farm country in a Colorado mountain valley.
We gained 1,000 feet in the first 15 miles, and then had a long (40 mile) mostly downhill into Arboles.The road was long, mostly straight, and while pretty, was not spectacular. So, not a lot of pictures were taken.
As you can see from the route, we rode south so we were nearly in New Mexico. Apparently, many people chose to ride 160 cutting off many miles on the day. They only cheated themselves of the full experience.
The last 30 miles or so were a gradual climb that never got too bad, but was a climb nevertheless. Luckily, the wind had picked up as the day went on and was mostly at our backs, making it easier than it could have been. Plus, I had my super domestique (luke) to break the wind for me. It also got pretty warm so it was important to drink, eat, and use LOTS of sunscreen.
It was nice to ride into Pagosa Springs and set up camp. Pagosa is a very nice town. It would be a fun place to spend a few days. At the food tent, the local bike club was selling T-shirts that read something like, "I rode Wolf Creek Pass". They should have been in Alamosa after the next day. I probably would have bought one after the fact. More about Wolf Creek Pass in the next post.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Ouray to Durango
For me, this was a scarier stage than the Grand Mesa stage. Somehow the three mountain passes and the altitude worried me more than the long climb over the Grand Mesa. The map and the elevation profile and a commentary on the route are below.
"72 miles and approximately 6000 feet of climbing. If the Grand Mesa was the hardest day, this one is a close second. Not only are you climbing the hard side of Red Mountain, but after that climb, you still have Molas Divide and Coal Bank Pass to contend with. This is going to be a very hard day. It’s very very very scenic, especially the front climb up Red Mountain, the switchbacks at the top of Red Mountain, the descent down Red Mountain into Silverton, and the view of Silverton climbing out of it. Every turn will bring new vistas that you won’t soon forget. Also, given that you start climbing the second you leave Ouray, you should be able to complete all three climbs before the afternoon rains move in (providing you don’t sleep in until noon). Get an early start for this day, it is long and hard."
I've done hard events before (Pikes Peak marathon round trip. flat marathons where I wanted to go as fast as I could. 190 mile one day bike rides, 24 Hours of Booty, etc.) I always get a bit nervous before they start and don't sleep all that well the night before. I had those feelings when we went to bed in Ouray and when I woke up early. I'll admit it, I was nervous about getting over these climbs, and I DID NOT want to use the sag wagon.
We got started a bit before 7 AM. Even when I was young, it took me a while to get warmed up and have my engine work efficiently. The elevation map doesn't lie. The minute we got on our bikes we were climbing and in less than a mile we it got steep. This picture of Ouray is less than a mile up the road. It went up fast!
It took me a bit to get started, but eventually I found my rhythm (important in climbing) and was headed upward. We followed our usual routine. I ground out the pedal strokes. Luke rode ahead, found good photo ops, and stopped to take pictures. I usually passed him while he was shooting and we repeated that up the mountain. Notice the road below in this picture.
We skipped the first aid station--it was a zoo. I stopped on the other side of it to drink some Hammer Perpetuem and eat some Hammer gel (great stuff--I highly recommend it). Then it was on to Red Mountain. This is picture near the top of the pass. This picture was taken with a decent digital camera. The first two were with an iPhone. You can see the difference. The scenery was drop dead gorgeous. Even in my oxygen deprived exertion, I got to appreciate it.
After Red Mountain, we had a nice fast descent into Silverton. We did stop there for sun screen, food, water, and a rest. Then it was up and away towards Molus Pass. It is not as high and long as Red Mountain, but every bit as steep. And it seemed to be infinite. The road just went up and up.
But, on these passes I reinforced something I knew. When you climb you find a rhythm where your heart rate is under control and you can pedal. Keep that up for a while, stand up in a slightly higher gear for a few dozen pedal strokes, sit back down and repeat. And, the kilometers melt away slowly. We made it to the top of Molus Pass and were rewarded with the best view of trip.
Luke zipped up his jersey to give the sponsors of his adventure racing team some coverage. He actually looks pretty fresh.
We didn't stay too long because it was pretty chilly for a sweaty body that was overheated. So, we put on wind clothing and headed down the pass. After another fast descent, we climbed the relatively short (although steep) Coal Bank hill. After that is was long downhill towards Durango. We had about 24 miles of downhill and I imagine we averaged close to 30 mph or more. We did have a pretty stiff head wind. We got in a few groups where we traded pulls. I felt good, I even did some strong (at least I thought they were) pulls. Luke, on the other hand, was an animal. He would get in front and just hammer away. I had to tell him to let others break the wind for while. The last 10 plus miles were pretty flat in to a head wind and it had gotten pretty hot. That was pretty hard since by this time we were pretty spent. Then, when we got near Fort Lewis college (our stop for the night), we had to climb to the top of a few hundred foot ridge. The Denver Post reported that one rider was so angry that he nearly threw his bicycle into a ditch and quit. I didn't find it that bad, but it was a bit of a nasty surprise at the end of the day for sure.
In any case, we made it to Ft. Lewis, and did our usual routine. I will say that a cold beer and some Fritoes tasted pretty darn good at the end of that.
It was a another confidence boost for me. If I could do that ride, there isn't much in Colorado that I couldn't do. Of course, we still had Wolf Creek Pass to go so the hard days weren't over yet.
I've done hard events before (Pikes Peak marathon round trip. flat marathons where I wanted to go as fast as I could. 190 mile one day bike rides, 24 Hours of Booty, etc.) I always get a bit nervous before they start and don't sleep all that well the night before. I had those feelings when we went to bed in Ouray and when I woke up early. I'll admit it, I was nervous about getting over these climbs, and I DID NOT want to use the sag wagon.
We got started a bit before 7 AM. Even when I was young, it took me a while to get warmed up and have my engine work efficiently. The elevation map doesn't lie. The minute we got on our bikes we were climbing and in less than a mile we it got steep. This picture of Ouray is less than a mile up the road. It went up fast!
It took me a bit to get started, but eventually I found my rhythm (important in climbing) and was headed upward. We followed our usual routine. I ground out the pedal strokes. Luke rode ahead, found good photo ops, and stopped to take pictures. I usually passed him while he was shooting and we repeated that up the mountain. Notice the road below in this picture.
We skipped the first aid station--it was a zoo. I stopped on the other side of it to drink some Hammer Perpetuem and eat some Hammer gel (great stuff--I highly recommend it). Then it was on to Red Mountain. This is picture near the top of the pass. This picture was taken with a decent digital camera. The first two were with an iPhone. You can see the difference. The scenery was drop dead gorgeous. Even in my oxygen deprived exertion, I got to appreciate it.
In any case, we made it to Ft. Lewis, and did our usual routine. I will say that a cold beer and some Fritoes tasted pretty darn good at the end of that.
It was a another confidence boost for me. If I could do that ride, there isn't much in Colorado that I couldn't do. Of course, we still had Wolf Creek Pass to go so the hard days weren't over yet.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday: Delta to Ouray
On the face of it, this looked like an easy day. Only 67 miles and not a lot of climbing. The map and the elevation profile are shown below.
Here is a description of the route.
Once past Montrose, the view of the San Juan’s become more and more clear. The jagged peaks are striking against the skyline. You are also getting a bit higher and the land is turning, ever so slightly, more green. The closer to Ridgway you get, the hillier the land gets. Just before the Ridgway Reservoir, Hwy 50 descends toward Dallas and you get one of my favorite photo-ops in Colorado: the road falling away against a backdrop including the San Jaun’s rock face and Ridgway in the foreground. You’ll know it when you see it. Ridgway can be a good stop for food and beverage. It’s a small little town with a cute Main Street off of 50.
After Ridgway, you come face to face with tomorrow’s nemesis, Red Mountain. While you’ve been climbing all day, this last segment is steeper and more prolonged than the rest of the day combined. You’ll gain almost a third of your elevation gain in the last six miles of the day. The valley you are in is closing in on all sides and you face what is looking like a solid wall in from of you.
Overall, this will be a fairly easy day. The climbing is long but shallow (for the most part… there are some steep but short parts). It’s a good day to relax a bit and recover from the Grand Mesa. When you get to Ouray, it should be fairly early in the afternoon. Take advantage of the hot pools and eat well. You’ll need the muscle relief and the food reserves for tomorrow."
Here is a description of the route.
"58 miles and about 3000 feet of climbing. While there are some interesting sights and scenery along this route, mostly on the approach to Ridgway and definitely into Ouray, by and large, this is a ride through 5000-6000 foot high arid treeless terrain. Delta to Montrose is a bit of a bore if you like alpine scenery. The road has a number of rollers, trending upwards, and is wide open. With the Grand Mesa shrinking behind you over your left shoulder, there is not a whole lot to look at. As you approach Montrose, traffic increases and you’ll have access to a lot of food and refreshment. The DQ on the north side of town is great on a hot day (and it will be hot, so try to get an early start).
Once past Montrose, the view of the San Juan’s become more and more clear. The jagged peaks are striking against the skyline. You are also getting a bit higher and the land is turning, ever so slightly, more green. The closer to Ridgway you get, the hillier the land gets. Just before the Ridgway Reservoir, Hwy 50 descends toward Dallas and you get one of my favorite photo-ops in Colorado: the road falling away against a backdrop including the San Jaun’s rock face and Ridgway in the foreground. You’ll know it when you see it. Ridgway can be a good stop for food and beverage. It’s a small little town with a cute Main Street off of 50.
After Ridgway, you come face to face with tomorrow’s nemesis, Red Mountain. While you’ve been climbing all day, this last segment is steeper and more prolonged than the rest of the day combined. You’ll gain almost a third of your elevation gain in the last six miles of the day. The valley you are in is closing in on all sides and you face what is looking like a solid wall in from of you.
Overall, this will be a fairly easy day. The climbing is long but shallow (for the most part… there are some steep but short parts). It’s a good day to relax a bit and recover from the Grand Mesa. When you get to Ouray, it should be fairly early in the afternoon. Take advantage of the hot pools and eat well. You’ll need the muscle relief and the food reserves for tomorrow."
I think this writer took the straight line from Delta to Montrose. The RtR route took back roads adding about 10 miles. The route book said 67 miles. That would have been great--less traffic and better scenery--except much of that road was really rough. I don't suppose it was like the cobbles in Paris-Roubaix, but it had to be similar. By the time we got to Montrose, we were plenty tired of rough roads.
The terrain was lots of rolling hills, but the climbs were generally a bit longer than the descents so we slowly gained altitude. It got to be a bit monotonous after a time. Those mountains in the distance were where we were headed and they just kept getting bigger and bigger all day.
It turned out to be harder than we thought, and was warm and dry. Luke felt the need to stretch a bit at one of the aid stops. What better place than in amongst the bikes?
We knew the next day was going to be tough, and the closer we got to Ouray, the more we could see how hard it was going to be. The mountains begin to loom ominously in front of us reminding us every pedal stroke that we had to go up and up before we could go down again.
We got to Ouray and set up camp. We camped on a baseball field and it got FILLED with tents. It was hard to walk from our tent to the outside of Tent City.
Ouray is a beautiful town, that has almost no flat spots. Even Main street is about 15 feet higher on one side than the other.
It was off to be early that night because we wanted to get an early start the next morning.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday: Over the Grand Mesa
There were 3 days on the calendar that were clearly going to be hard--Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As it turned out, many people think Monday was the hardest. I tend to agree, but Wednesday and Friday were close (more about those later). Here is the map, the elevation profile, and a description of the route.
"85 miles and approximately 6500 feet of climbing. The Grand Mesa is one of the must do climbs in Colorado. Rather than repeat what I have already written, click on this link to bring you to my Grand Mesa write-up in this site. Please note, the write-up is from Cedaredge to I-70, so just reverse it as you read. The first 30 miles out of Grand Junction are fairly flat and uneventful. You are on city streets to Palisades, I-70 for a few miles, and then in a spectacular little canyon with impressive rock overhangs and cut outs until you get to the town of Mesa (about mile 31). From there, it’s up. And the up is relentless and grueling. This face is steeper, but a touch shorter, than the Cedaredge side. It will more than likely be hot so bring extra water… It’s a long hard climb and this IS the hardest day of the ride. Sag wagons will be in short supply. Just plan on it being long and hard. Scenery, on the other hand, will blow you away."
The author was right on all accounts. The day started on flat roads through Palisade with a short stretch on I70. The Colorado Highway Patrol had the right lane coned off so we had a lane between us and the shoulder which we were supposed to ride. As we headed up towards the Mesa, it was clear that the weather was a bit iffy on the top. There were stories of 4 inches of snow on the top overnight so everyone was a bit wary of what we would ride into.
This photo must have been at about mile 30 as we were beginning the serious climb.
The climb was relentless. It was Energizer Bunny-esque. It just kept going and going and going and going. The average grade was 5%+ so it wasn't as steep as some of the later climbs, but it was LONG. And, it was steep enough (as you can see).
Even Luke suffered a bit up this climb.
But, we made it to the top after well more than 3 hours of climbing and took a welcome break.
It was a bit cold at the top, but the sun was out a bit (you can see shadows). After some photo ops, eating some food, refilling bottles, we headed down the other side. As you can see from the profile, we had a nice long downhill in store that we were looking forward to. As we headed downhill, it begin to rain and after a couple of miles it was raining pretty steady. It made the road a bit dicey and it was COLD. Even slowed down a bit to account for the slickness of the road we were doing over 30mph in a cold rain. The downhill was over 25 miles so it took us close to an hour. By the time the rain stopped and it begin to warm up a bit, I was so cold my arms were shaking a bit and I had little feeling in my hands (in spite of having long glove on. It was a bit sketchy to be riding at 35 mph with arms which shook a bit--makes the bike feel unstable. When we got to Cedaredge, the weather was considerably better, and we were able to warm up, take off the cold weather clothes, and enjoy a warm ride to Delta for our next stop.
We rode for about 7 hours for the day. That much effort requires a lot of calories so you get to eat a lot at night.
It was a bit of confidence builder to know that I could actually get over the top of that climb and feel pretty decent that night. But, it was only day 2 of 7.
"85 miles and approximately 6500 feet of climbing. The Grand Mesa is one of the must do climbs in Colorado. Rather than repeat what I have already written, click on this link to bring you to my Grand Mesa write-up in this site. Please note, the write-up is from Cedaredge to I-70, so just reverse it as you read. The first 30 miles out of Grand Junction are fairly flat and uneventful. You are on city streets to Palisades, I-70 for a few miles, and then in a spectacular little canyon with impressive rock overhangs and cut outs until you get to the town of Mesa (about mile 31). From there, it’s up. And the up is relentless and grueling. This face is steeper, but a touch shorter, than the Cedaredge side. It will more than likely be hot so bring extra water… It’s a long hard climb and this IS the hardest day of the ride. Sag wagons will be in short supply. Just plan on it being long and hard. Scenery, on the other hand, will blow you away."
The author was right on all accounts. The day started on flat roads through Palisade with a short stretch on I70. The Colorado Highway Patrol had the right lane coned off so we had a lane between us and the shoulder which we were supposed to ride. As we headed up towards the Mesa, it was clear that the weather was a bit iffy on the top. There were stories of 4 inches of snow on the top overnight so everyone was a bit wary of what we would ride into.
The climb was relentless. It was Energizer Bunny-esque. It just kept going and going and going and going. The average grade was 5%+ so it wasn't as steep as some of the later climbs, but it was LONG. And, it was steep enough (as you can see).
We rode for about 7 hours for the day. That much effort requires a lot of calories so you get to eat a lot at night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
