Colorado Adventures

[Marek]

http://bouldercyclingclub.com/calendar/

check this out.

[Andrew G]

I like the look of a couple of their rides....
[quote]Meet at Boulder Brewery at 5:30 p.m

[Jon H]

Day 5: Fri 20th.

Rest day - bit of shopping, bit of chilling out, bit of ogling the local totty. Oh, and met up with Grahame for a late lunch and a beer before he had to shoot off to the airport to collect some Kiwis.

Day 6: Sat 21st.

Was going to meet up with the RMCC again and ride with them, but I worked out what time I'd have to get up to be in Copper Mountain for 7.45am, and decided I didn't fancy a time-trialesque alarm call. So, I got up at a reasonable time for a holiday, and got over to Copper Mountain to start riding at about 10am. Today was a triangular ride; from Copper Mountain, over Vail Pass and down into Vail, over Battle Mountain and Tennesse Pass to Leadville, then Fremont Pass back to Copper Mountain.

The first 20 miles to Vail was almost traffic-free, as it followed an excellent tarmac bike path which for a lot of the time was out of sight and away from the sound of the Interstate it was running parallel to. A gentle climb of 1000ft in 6 miles led to the pass, then onto a fantastic 14 mile descent into the sprawling ski resort of Vail.

Next up - an 8 mile climb to Battle Mountain with some really spectacular views down into a gorge below, a brief descent, then another 12 mile climb up to Tennesse Pass. Not much of a descent from that one, just some rolling terrain then a slog into a headwind before starting the final climb of the day to the high-point of the day, Fremont Pass (11,318 ft). Got the reward for all the climbing from there, with a long fast plunge down to Copper Mountain.

80 miles, 5500 ft of climbing, 45mph top speed, and some dodgy sunburn where I'd missed some bits on the backs of my legs with the sun tan lotion

[Michelle]

Nice one! Sounds like a glorious ride.

Don't think anyone got any sunburn this end yesterday, we all ended up nearly having a speedboat raleigh there seemed to be so much water on the road.

It was a truly comical sight when my legs got aired before going in the shower - massive dirty black mid sections, then trench foot white feet and ankles and pasty white thighs.

In reality, I don't think I''m gonna have to beat them off with a $hitty stick looking like that.

Arf

[Jon H]

Day 7: Sun 22nd.

A fairly local loop today, starting from Lyons 15 miles up the road from Boulder.

Rode up South Saint Vrain Canyon, 15 miles of fairly steady climbing (i.e. not bottom gear all the way), popping out onto the Peak to Peak Highway at the top. Glorious sunshine had brought out loads of the local cyclists for a Sunday morning ride up the canyon. Most of them seemed to turn around at the top and go back down the same way. But I had other plans, I hung a right and rolled along the highway for a while up to Wind River Pass, about 4000 ft above the starting point. Superb descent from there down to the town of Estes Park. Then a bit of a nasty bit on a fairly busy road with no hard shoulder, to climb up out of Estes Park. But after that there was the prospect of a brilliant descent down another canyon road. The weather had turned by this point, and there were dark storm clouds lurking overhead, so I went hell for leather down the canyon, in top gear all the way to try and get back to Lyons before the rain started. Didn't quite make it, and spent the last 5 miles with some big raindrops for company, but avoided a soaking.

[Jon H]

Day 8: Mon 23rd.

Saved the BIG ONE for my last full day here.

Mount Evans - 28 miles of climbing, 7000ft height gain, 14130 ft at the summit .

Started at Idaho Springs, and the climbing started virtually straight away with a gentle ride up a canyon road. After 6 miles the climbing got a bit more serious, up out of the canyon to the halfway point at Echo Lake. Up to now the weather was hot and sunny, and sweat was dripping off the peak of my cotton cap. Paid my 3 dollars to access the summit road, and carried on climbing through the trees.

After a while the trees started to thin out, the sky became overcast, and I could see some threatening black clouds over to my left. This was worrying as I didn't want to be caught in a thunderstorm high on this mountain, but they didn't look like they coming my way so I carried on up. A bit further on I knew I was high on a big mountain - the trees ran out, it all got rocky, big drops at the side of the road, and the temperature dropped dramatically.

Eventually I got a glimpse of the summit - a white observatory dome way up above me - only 6 miles to go. Passed by Summit Lake which was patially covered in a sheet of ice - 5 miles to go. With 2 miles to go the altitude really started to make itself felt, and from there on it was into bottom gear and struggling for breath all the way to the summit. Hurrah, made it! (3 hrs 12 min). Legs had a very strange wobbly feeling when I got off the bike and tried to walk, but I made it to the summit signpost for the obligatory photo without falling over in front of all the tourists.

Now for the fun bit - the descent. Well, it should have been fun, but the road was pretty bumpy and I was freezing cold despite donning armwarmers and gilet. So I was glad to get back down to Echo Lake for a coffee in the cafe there. Just as I was parking the bike the heavens opened, excellent timing. Two coffees and a chocolate brownie gave enough time for the rain to stop, and I was back on the road for the second part of the descent. The rain must have been very localised, as the road was dry until I got back to the canyon, where I got pretty damp from road spray and light rain. Never mind, it was warmer down there and I was nearly back to the car.

Overall, an excellent day out.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

[quote]Two coffees and a chocolate brownie

[quote="Jon Hemming"] bit of ogling the local totty

[Andrew G]

3 hours climbing, and you aint no slouch either!