badhat

awesome ride today

superdex

great report!

badhat

i was hoping someone else would start cuz i spent so much time on the bike this weekend that my pinkies and ring fingers are all numb, so typing is sort of annoying.

in anycase i'll write more eventually but the short version is i rode up to frisco saturday, from FC (ouch, shift key+ pinkie hurts).... went fc to hygene to lefthand to ward to central city to idaho springs to loveland pass to frisco.

had nice weather and made good time mostof the way. some showers in idaho springs but i stopped for lunch and missed most of it.

got to the loveland pass turnoff at about 5pm, to light rain and darnening skies, figured i could make it up and over even if it turned. it never really got awful... no lightning, and the wind was manageable, but i was 120-some miles into the day, and the drizzle kept slowing ratcheting up till it was a full on downpour, complete with sleet and light hail. and of course we're at 12000 feet now, so the rain is freezing. i was wearing my showers pass jacket and pretty good layers and gloves and all, but the cold rain started to seep in, and on the downhill i got terrifyingly, violently cold and soaked to the bone.

made it to keystone and stopped at the first motel i saw and sat inthe lobby and drank free motel coffee for a half hour before i had to head back out and brave the last 10 miles or so to frisco. weather was a little better by then but it was still pretty miserable. got to my hotel and sat on the floor of the tub for a halfan hour letting warm water thaw me out.

so that was the short version of the friday report. i'll do the less eventful, considerably more pleasant saturday report tomorrow.

i will say that having done most of the really hard classic colorado routes in my time here, and considering myself a pretty good climber (sub 2:30 my evans) and having done peak to peak maybe 5 or 6 times over the years, peak to peak from estes to blackhawk is mile for mile the most exhausting route ive ridden in co. its just up and down and up and down forever without any tempo or chance to get a rhythm. is beautiful but man its killer. even if it lacks any one particularly steep section (other than central city parkway).

valygrl

wow!

badhat

thanks for the tip on the central city pkwy>i70 connection vallygirl, that made the trip possible. though i didnt find the biike path. i just rode the pkwy the whole way, and even waved as a cop passed me and didnt get any trouble.

DataJunkie

Dude. You are more insane than I am. I am hereby passing the trophy to you. That is if I can find it.

badhat

i dont really have much of a report on the CT event itself, bu i figure if i start typing i'll think of stuff:

i only brought one kit with me cuz i wasnt sure if my fam was gonna make it to frisco or not, so i was planning on just washing in the sink. unfortunately when i got up at 5 on satuday morning, everything was still damp, and it was colder than the forecast anticipated... about 30 when i left.

unless you guys follw the commuting thread, you may not know that i'm a lunatic winter commuter too, so riding damp kit at 30 degrees up tenmile canyon isnt actually all that bad, comparatively, but it was an iffy beginning to the day.

somehow i accidently ordered a large jersey instead of medium from the CT people so instead of just starting my ride and jumping on the route at the quiznos, i went all the way into copper and foudn the registration area and tried to do an exchange. sadly no dice, as they were out of mediums. bummer, as its a nice jersey. i may write them this week and see if anything can be done.

got on the course at almost 7am straight up. it was still prett damn cold, but manageable.

friday night i was so hungry that we went to mi casa in breck and i gorged myself pretty good, and as a result of that and an uncomfortable motel bed, and tingly toes and fingers, i didnt sleep all that well, so i promised myself i was gonna take it easy on saturday and make a specific effort not to let me ego take over. i was gonna just sit up and enjoy the scenery and if i got passed, i was gonna smile and wave, not try to jump on wheels and match pace.

so that lasted for maybe the first 6 miles.

in my defense i did manage avoid being competitive on the flats and downhills, but theres something about climbs that i just cant NOT respond when somebody tries to pass me on a hill. so i spent the whole day with my head up for all the flats and descents, and i stopped at every rest stop for pics and food, but every time i hit a climb i was all business.

very light traffic all day. i took off my cap at freemont pass, and my jacket and gloves at tennessee pass, and my base layer and knee warmers at vail before the climb.

ive done the route before but never clockwise, and i guess i never realized just how hard vail pass is from the vail side. by the time we hit it it was pretty warm, and the sun was directly overhead, so the sweat was pouring.

...

badhat

homemade brownies at the top of vail pass were awesome. weather up there was great, everyone was happy and tired. great scene.

i decided to tweak my handlebar angle a little bit up whilei was there, to see if i could regain some sensation in my fingers.

theres a really dark underpass on the trail with a sharp blind right turn and a nasty pothole that you cant realyl see cuz its so dark... well i hit it and discovered i'd neglected to tighten my bars enough as they suddenly pitched down about 30 degrees, startling me and making me fail to make my turn. so i flew across the oncoming bike lane and into the mud and grass on the opposite side of the trail. kept the bike upright though, and managed to not kill the oncoming cyclists who yelled at me so going too fast. (i'd probably have done the same thing if i was them, my bad). embarrassing mark on an otherwise great day of riding my bike.

food at copper was good, got some schwag from the expo, then got back on and coasted down 10 mile trail back to frisco where my fam met me in the safeway parkinglot. we stopped in the pearl izumi outlett, found no good deals, and headed back to FC. home by 5, eating copious amounts o9f chinese food by 7.

yesterday i just drank water and rested. i went to the oval races to cheer for the kid, but didnt dare race this time.

badhat

totals for the TRIP:

FRIDAY:
149 miles from fort collins to frisco
14083 feet of climbing
average of 14 mph (low average is cuz it was much more up than down)

SATURDAY:
96.7 miles
6700 feet of climbing
avg pace of 17.3 mph

superdex

wow. just. wow.

dark13star

I think I agree

+1

UGASkiDawg

I hurt just thinking about it

bvfrompc

So Friday after work we loaded up the van and got to our mountain house in about an hour, had a cold beer as my brother in law finished making the Cincinnati chili. Had a couple more during dinner and then stretch out in bed and read a while, wait a second,

this doesn't sound near good as badhat

I really look lazy

but that's all I got, so anyway

What a beautiful course, my wife and I were there Saturday, awesome ride!

Started out a little chilly, 33 degrees up Fremont, froze a little on the descent, then it just got perfect out. From the start to Minturn seemed to go soo fast, not so much on the ride up Vail Pass, but we had a tailwind, no clouds and mid 60s, just perfect.

It was our first organized ride and I thought it was really put together well. She's not that comfortable in a group but almost everyone was polite and she never felt crowded.

Big thumbs up!