RtR Day 2
Note: I'll be doing Bicycle Tour of Colorado next week.
Rumor is a male cyclist in his 40's died of a heart attack on the Cottonwood climb. Very tragic as I think he was on a tandem with his 10 year old daughter.
1st day of riding-Crested Butte to Buena Vista. My ride time was 4hr 54 mins I think. 76 miles with 4200 ft of climbing. It doesn't sound like much but it was all one climb for a LONG way up to Cottonwood Pass which tops out at 12,200 ft. That elevation is a new record for me on a bike.
The elevation didn't seem to bother me too much but I could definitely feel it above 10,000 ft. I'm trying to eat more this year to avoid losing energy during the ride. You have to force yourself to eat that much day after day.
To make it more challenging the last 14 miles is all uphill on a dirt road with gravel on it. That was TOUGH. It was mentally tough constantly looking for single tracks, eating the dust of cars and enduring the bumpiness. Plus there was a strong head wind the last several miles. I now recall why I quit mountain biking!
It got really cold last night-in fact there was frost on my tent when I packed it-and it was still there when I unpacked it. The new sleeping bag worked great but I wish I had brought my cycling tights to sleep in-I got a touch cool but not like last year.
Tomorrow we ride 76 miles to Edwards which is near Vail. More passes but hopefully all the roads are paved.
The descent off Cottonwood was really fast. I could have gone faster if I'd known the road but my top speed was 54 mph.
I took a number of pictures today with my camera-will post those when I return.
Just 824 more miles to go over the next 2 weeks!
Tomorrow is another 76 miles to Edwards via Leadville.
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Ride your Ride!!