Originally Posted by
FunkyStickman
Ooooh! Me! Meeee!
Here ya go 
Originally Posted by
badhat
id be more concerned about warmth and dryness than calories on loveland pass.
last time i rode it i got caught at the top, completely exposed with a hard freezing rain that soaked through my gloves and booties and and i legitimately feared for my life for most of the descent.
theres not a lot of traffic over the top of the pass, and theres no services anywhere, so if you get caught out you could be in trouble, and if youre summitting in the afternoon you stand a serious chance of surprise weather.
pack extra rainlayers.
I've got a fair bit of experience in the mountains of CO so I'm not too concerned about weather - meaning I know how to respect it. Thanks for the info on Loveland pass. I've never been up there via the road so good to know.
Originally Posted by
banerjek
Riding any kind of distance is much more a matter of pacing than fitness. If you drop 1mph from your normal riding speed, you'll find you can go a lot further without getting tired. Dropping your speed 2mph will make it feel almost silly slow.
I hammer fairly hard on my shorter rides (25 miles or so) looping around town and I suspect this is pretty accurate. I wasn't planning to try and hammer out the century but dropping down to a 15 mph pace (relative since the passes will make their own modifications to my pace) is probably a good initial approach.