The plan was to start in Lyons, and, summit the top of Trail Ridge Road, hitting the Visitor's Center. We climbed out of Lyons up and over to Estes on HWY 36, which offered a pretty good challenge for about 12 miles. I've lived here for 16 years, and have never been north of Lyons, so, it was a double treat for me. On a brief descent, Tom Zirbel proved why he's a fast mofo, and just opened it up on all of us...however he was gracious to let us try to hold his wheel. Dang that boy can pull a car with his bike. Once we got to Estes, we stopped at a donut shop, exchanged some bottles with the car, added/shed some clothing, and began the ascent up.
The climb starts off rather calm out of Estes, and, even has a very short descent for about .5 miles. Once you hit the turn off for the old Hidden Valley ski resort, it was all uphill from there for about 20 or so miles. The climb was very consistent in its gradient and was never "too steep" (trust me, STILL CHALLENGING), it was rather, too high into the clouds! I had some trouble breathing once we broke the 11K foot mark, but, recovered and finished up. There was a splinter of the group that left the rest of us down the road, and they just hit it. Frank & I met up a the final turn off to grab some bottles, and we bs'd our way up to the Visitor Center. We hit the summit at 4hrs on the nose...4hrs, ~5000ft of climbing, and no issues with anyone. The views were amazing the whole way up, and the climb was obviously unrelenting. We started in a lush valley, and ended up above tree-line overlooking glaciers and big ole elk.
The descent was one of those "icing on the cake" things...you work so hard to get your butt up the hill, that you have to descend because you simply earned it. The only thing that makes you wonder is like what Tom said..."4hrs up, for only ~1.5 down. Just doesn't seem fair!" Either way, it was as super safe descent, and there were very few cars interrupting the group. I stopped to remove my knee warmers at the top, and lost the first bit of the group, but, we circled back up and headed back into Estes. The final final descent first required us to climb up and out of Estes, then, hit the 12 miles that bitch slapped us on the way up, back in her own ass. I spun my 12t cog out and eventually the day's work hit my legs. I was knackered! I descended the rest of the way with Eric (one of the outta town boys), and we hit the coffee shop within a few minutes or so of the main group.
The absolute coolest most amazing part of the ride was that Frank organized a sag wagon for the entire trip. Nate, Tom Zirbel's roomate, was gracious enough to sit behind us the entire 6hrs, and, would pull over to the side of the road, hop out, and offer up some encouragement as we passed. We lucked out with the weather and it was a gorgeous day the entire time. Definitely got a bit chilly/windy at the top, but, hey, it was ~12500 feet.
The guys I met on this trip, and met for the second time, were TOP notch as top notch gets. No egos, no competition, just plain old fun riding your bike. This was definitely the most epic of rides for me and a day to remember for a looooong time!
Here's a dump of photos...they are in random/reverse order...Enjoy!
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