First off, I spent a quiet night home on Friday night in lieu of getting home kinda late from work. I had a few things to do around the house, and, pretty much decided that I didn't want to do much else. So, with bored/idle hands, I established my "to-do list" of rides that I want to complete by the end of the summer. Granted, some of them are just basic training rides/routes and not really too epic, but, just rides I've never done, and, have been really itching to do. In no particular order:
1. Mt Evans
2. Gross Resevoir Loop
3. Trail Ridge Road (did it already, but, this time w/ Amy!)
4. Big Thompson w/ Wind River option
5. Golden Gate Canyon allllll the way to the top with Coal Creek/etc descent
6. Rist Canyon/Stove Prairie/etc
7. Ride to M&K's cabin
8. Copper Triangle
9. High Grade, Conifer, and Shadow all in one ride
10. Erie to Ward via Lyons/Raymond.
Saturday was pretty nasty when we woke up, but, I opted for a nice light 2 hr ride to prep the legs for Sunday's epic. I took a great route Jamie and the boys showed me a few weeks ago, but, got a bit lost (yes, I do have a GPS!). Later in the day, we went house shopping again with Dcrowe and saw a BUNCH of winners. We're very excited. Not putting the cart before the horse, as we have to pass inspection/etc too on our place.
Sunday, was just plain epic. We headed out from Erie about 8:45 or so, and headed towards Lyons to tackle the climb up to Ward. This ride solidified one thing we already knew...Mike is the all-time strongman, along with his partner in riding-crime. Check this out...Dudes rolled out of Erie at 5am, climbed to Jamestown, then, returned to Erie to pick us up, then, hit the climb up to Ward and back home. 130 or so miles round trip...10K of climbing. UNREAL! At the beginning of the ride too, he was super uber Euro eating a danish in tinfoil like the pros have in their mussettes. I tried to get a picture, but, just couldn't. The weather was stellar. A beautiful colorado blue sky, and, the thought of the cookies waiting for us up in Ward was nothing but motivation. We had a long way to go though. We rolled into Lyons to meet Katie Coble, and, started climbing up to Raymond. The smack talk wasn't flying too much, and, no matter what I'd say, it didn't matter only cuz these guys were so much tougher than I since they'd already climbed up to Jamestown & back. Sheesh! I was feeling pretty good compared to a week or two before when we headed up towards Raymond, and I bailed. I took off for a bit and was turning the pedals over nicely. I stopped a few times to stretch and wait for everyone since we splintered pretty good. We all caught up in Raymond, and, refilled our bottles. Kelly (unfortunately) turned around, and, headed home. The rest of us continued the slog. The upper half of this climb is just as beautiful as the lower, and, the views and roads are just amazing. I really love this ride, and, the scenery and serenity just are endless. We hit Ward and dove into the insanely stellar chocolate chip cookies that are sold at the general store up there. YUMMMMMMM! On the descent, we opted for Lee Hill Road, since, it cuts about 7 miles off of the trip home. This road is super steep though...15% in parts...and Mike hit the hill at about mile 110 in his ride. OUCH! On our descent, poor Katie crashed, but seemed to be in good spirits on her arrival at the bottom. We rolled into Erie 5h21m later, and, I was feeling really good in the legs & back. I was surprised only because that's my longest ride so far, and, at the end of the week. That's great news though!
This week is going to have lots of new developments, so, stay tuned. I realize I didn't go too much into the ride itself, but, here's a photo dump. My words just can't do it justice!
Congrats to Chris on an 11th place at the N Boulder Crit. Nice work.
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