Wind on the CO Front Range
 

I know it is normal for this time of year, but is anyone else looking forward to the end of this wind? I have put in a few hundred miles in the last two weeks, but they have been windy miles. I want to go ride up Lookout Mountain today, but I can hear it howling down here in Denver.

Perhaps some kind of sacrifice to the Mountains is in order...

Anyway, I plan to ride this afternoon no matter what. I am just griping.

If you're riding home to Denver from Lookout, at least you'll have a tailwind on the way home. I live downtown and work near Colfax & Simms. The headwind while biking to work this morning was a b1tch. Can't wait for the tailwind on the way home though.

Before long it will be afternoon thunderstorm season and we'll have THAT to complain about. :)

I live near Hampden and Wadsworth and bike to my client's site on LODO 3 days a week on my MTB. (better training on the MTB) Yes, the wind has been pretty bad of late. At least in the afternoons. This morning was great until I turned north on the PRT. Then...UGH!

Velo reminds me... I need to go purchase a good rail jacket! :)

Yeah, I just need to HTFU and deal with it. We are lucky to live here. What's a little wind?

I did wimp out on Lookout Mountain though and rode a quick 30 mile loop in Denver. Going NW is lots of fun right now. ;)

I picked a wonderful day to take my first outdoor ride since my accident. Oh my goodness... I forgot what fun a MTB and wind are. It couldn't be the engine could it? :p

I know that wind. I lived in Golden and Wheat Ridge for a long time. Four years car-free. Winds that frequently exceeded hurricane force levels. Lower gears, more sheltered routes, and suck it up and take the buses when it is too windy. Stay off of Highway 93 when the Chinooks are blowing

Oh yeah...the wind. ick. so sick of it. at least during t-storm season you can usually find a chunk of the day that is ridable.

If you want a break from the wind, take your bike to Pueblo for a nice spring ride. Any where between Pueblo and Canon City to start, and ride southwest toward the Greenhorn mountains. The forecast for Sunday is winds 8 mph, sound good? After the ride there are several great little Mom and Pop Italian or Mexican cafe's with very good food.
Here's the forecast for Sunday http://www.weather.com/weather/wxdet...nav_undeclared

I actually rode Lookout on Friday morning (11ish). Man that was tough. The wind literally stopped me dead in my tracks a couple of times. Managed to make it up to the top in 37 minutes though. Not to bad for the brutal conditions IMO. :D

Try this on for size...Deer Trail Road Race today. On the out and backs to Lowland and Agate we had a huge tailwind and we cruised at 35mph w/ no effort. On the way back it was all we could do to maintain 15mph into the headwind. Then, on the second return trip, ,the guy in front of me goes down, I try to ride over him and can't so I go down. I then had to TT into the wind for the next 4 miles. We then turned North and had monster crosswinds (and snow!) for the final section. Arg. Suffering makes us stronger though, right? Right? :)

Must....argh....love....argh.....wind....argh....

Today looks like the perfect day. Forecast is for 5 MPH winds out of the N-NW by this afternoon. Getting the bikes ready now!

There is no wind in the morning on the way to work and a headwind on the way home. Seems like every day....so YES, I'm ready for it to calm down.

Ahh HeyDuke I was up in your hood yesterday at the velodrome. I should PMed you, maybe you could have come down. Man....head full ah puddin'! :(

That's funny - I was there on Saturday.

Did you ride? What did you do? Clean up?

Yesterday we rode to Chattfield res and back. Not so bad, but headwind the whole way back. I really hope to get to Lookout Mountain this week. Hope to be getting a custom bike fit this week too.

Yesterday was wonderful. I hooked the trail-a-bike onto the back of my mountain bike and hauled my 4 year old son from Thornton to REI and back. We made 19 miles... his furthest ride on it yet. The only issue was with how his dad dressed him. Freezing hands! So he now has a pair of cycling gloves from REI.

Getting to lookout is a bit of a pain for me. Instead I think I will hit the wall in superior sometime this week for hill repeats.

Deer Trail was supposed to be my 1st race of the season, but due to a nimrod move on my part (I thought start was @ 10:30, but it was 10 :mad:) I soloed the course and chalked it up as a training ride. The 12 miles from Agate to w/ a 30mph headwind and snow were the toughest flat 12 miles I've ever done.

Daughter joined a road cycling team and the had a learning day up there to see what the track guys do. I didn't ride (long story) but she did. She was a little timid at first, I think the "no brakes" thing kinda freaked her out. By the end of the day she was riding above the blue line, that was a good thing. Had a great time, all in all.

No cleaning, it had already been done. But we did partake in the free food though. :D

Since misery loves company, here's my weekend story. Get out Sunday morning, its glorious out, a little chilly but supposed to be warming up. So I head up Goden Gate Canyon about 8:30am, by the time I got to the first summit I was damp almost everywhere from climbing, then froze going down towards Centennial Cone, then kind of warmed up again heading back up towards GG park, then the 30mph trip home I lost feeling in my feet, lower legs, cheeks, anything exposed, brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, took a 30 minute hot shower when I got home, sorry mother earth.

When we hit REI on the way back, there were a bunch of tour busses there, shipping in people who definitely didn't look like they needed outdoor equipment.

What is the wall in Superior? Never heard of it.

Thanks

How does traffic do with you on that ride? I have driven that route and the road is narrow. Been thinking about trying it on my bike anyway, but I will wait until it is warmer, if I do.

That is what they call the part of mccaslin heading south to 120th. Freaking steep hill.
I have ridden it all of 4 times.
1- Me and Bill just about killed ourselves climbing.
2- Pwnt and I went screaming down it.
3- I went up the dang thing on my fixed gear. Had to stop near the top.
4- Took my tarmac and finally made it up without stopping.

I like that ride in summer and have yet to have issues with traffic. It helps that traffic tends to move a bit slowly due to the grade and the switchbacks. Plus, it is nowhere near as crowded as lookout.
I like to take golden canyon and loop it around using the peak to peak highway, coal creek canyon, and 93.
It turns out to be something like 50 miles with a fair amount of climbing. Bikely or routeslip says something like 6000 feet of climbing but that can be off. I have yet to ride it with my garmin to see how much climbing it is.

I only ride it on Sunday mornings so traffic is about as light as it will get. While it is narrow the traffic is generally very light and I haven't had any problems, becuase the first half is pretty tight turns and such, traffic isn't going that fast to begin with. You hear the cars coming before they get near you and just hug the line and I can't remember ever being buzzed or had any close calls.

In the summer, I like to head out around 6am, it is heaven, some mornings I have run across more dear than cars, they can kind of freak you out when they start thrashing through the brush near you.

The trip down is as close to heaven as you can get, the pitch is just about perfect for keeping a steady low 30s and only having to break in the really steep turns, the rest of the time you are just gliding in and out of the wide turns.

I have gone once on a Saturday afternoon, not the same experience at all. Too much traffic and impatient folk.