What a day for a ride

The rumor started getting around yesterday that the powers that be might let all the worker bees head off for their Thanksgiving a bit early. Nothing real solid, but hope was all the motivation I needed to be prepared. So last night I loaded up my bike bag with all my gear and pulled Betty up from the basement bullpen.

It didn't take long after getting to work to get the official word, noon would be the end of the work day for us. Score. I had an inside lead on a group ride on a new trail between Golden and Idaho Springs above Clear Creek Canyon. A 12 mile loop with a hearty 2000 or so feet of elevation gain sounded right up my alley. Today would be my first chance to "measure up" to the pain that John "The Punisher" Perry would undoubtedly dish out in abundance. I've been steadfastly training for 4 or 5 weeks, but that is but a drop in the bucket compared to The Punisher's base training.

Under blue skies and 70 degree temps, a group of 4 of us met up in Golden to pound out some miles of singletrack. The normal routine of everyone jockeying for being the slow guy played out as normal with all of us telling the rest that they were without a doubt faster than we were.

Unload and hit the trail, and just as fast as that happened the race was on. The Punisher pushed the pace and quickly he and I were off the front. Since it was a downhill it wasn't that shocking that I was up front, but the ride quickly turned to a climb and it was time to see how things were going to go. This was my 5th straight day to ride, and 3rd "hard" day in that span. The Punisher doesn't care, and neither do the climbs. Much to my surprise, I'm middle-ringing it up the climb behind the Punisher and hanging tough.



The trail is fast and flowy with nothing really technical, but its fun and you can't argue with being out on such a great day. The downhills went quick and the climbs came suddenly, but as the miles clicked off I still had The Punisher in my sights. I'm sure he had a lot left in the tank, and I surely didn't, but it was encouraging nonetheless.

The Punisher and I had separated ourselves off the front, and the battle was just between us. About 1/2 way through the 12 mile route, I had to abandon my hopes of not needing the granny gear, and dropped into the 22 tooth for some recovery as I chase down The Punisher. The bad news is that my heart rate is sky high, but the good news is that I am recovering while spinning away but I'm keeping in contact with him.

John smiling that the climbing is almost over. For now...

As the ride pushed through the final stages, The Punisher put some time into me but nothing nearly as significant as our previous rides. Huh....Training does work. Its a good feeling to know I'm progressing with my fitness, but its a long winter and I've got a lot of work to do.

The first of many, many switchbacks

The group poses as the sun sets on our ride

The ups and downs

I have seen the Crest

...and it was good. Very, very good.

I took a needed day off work and headed to Poncha Springs with two other Boulder locals for a day on the Monarch Crest trail. The ride is a 35+ mile adventure, with few bail out points and a significant amount of climbing above the 10,000 feet elevation mark. When people talk about high country epic rides, this one is at the top of the list. Mountain bikers live for rides like this, and after two years of desperately wanting to ride this trail, I got the opportunity.

I had my doubts if I was really ready for this, but even lugging a Camelbak that had to weigh over 30lbs, I finished and didn't feel like I was 100% tapped out like some other long, hard rides I've done.

Letting the Yeti pose at the touristy spot before the start of the ride


You start out climbing immediately, which hurts under normal circumstances, and hurts that much more when you are starting above 11,000 feet. Blue lips are in this year right?

Even though your mind is oxygen deprived, the views still register as incredible. I can take all the pictures in the world, but they'll never match what my eyes saw. The green alpine tundra contrasting with the blue skies provide scenic views uncomparable to anything I've seen on a bike ride before.



As you break through the tree line, you spy "the Crest" that you will soon be upon. I can't explain the feeling I had when I was spinning my way up the trail towards the apex, but "giddy like a school girl" is probably close. Pain was quickly forgotten as we neared the top.




After our first big descent of the day, we stopped and had some much needed lunch. We still had about 2/3rds of the mileage in front of us, but I knew the last section, The Rainbow Trail, would require some energy that wouldn't be there unless I got some food.

The bad part was shortly after consuming a big roast beef & swiss sandwich with a couple of GU packets as chasers, we started climbing again. The food was weighing on me and the elevation (11,300 feet at that point) was making me wonder if I was going to be able to finish what I had started.

Luckily, that climb was pretty shortlived and we then were treated to a high speed, brake burning descent towards Silver Creek. This descent was fast and loose with the trail barely wide enough for your tire. As we ripped through the alpine meadows I thought "it doesn't get much better".



The ride flattened out a bit at the bottom of the Silver Creek trail, and we made our way to the Rainbow Trail, a 9 mile long, up and down trail that would be the final leg of our journey.

As it wound its way slowly down, we had lots of steep but short climbs that would pop up unexpectedly from around a corner. Grinding out these steep climbs wasn't easy on tired legs, but I kept turning the pedals and only had to walk one or two of the steepest sections on the ride.



The one problem we had on the ride happened just about the middle of the Rainbow Trail. As I rode along on a thin, gravely track I heard a huge bang that made my already tired heart jump about 15 beats per minute. As I checked myself for gunshot wounds, I realized that it was just a blow out on my tire. No big deal, I've got two extra tubes.

"Well this is interesing..."

Under closer inspection I realized it wasn't just a tube that had blown out, but I had actually blown out the sidewall of my tire. Not so good. With a little help from Sean, we managed to use some duct tape on the inside of the tire to improvise a boot that would hopefully keep the sidewall from separating anymore and keep the tube from pushing out the sidewall.

We threw in a new tube, pumped it up and gave it the thumbs up. Not sure that it would hold for the next 6 miles, but willing to try to make it as far as we could, we set off down the trail again.

I had Sean go in front of me so I could "take it easy through the rocks" and try to save my tire. Well that lasted about 50 yards before I let go of the brakes and started ripping the downhill like I normally would. Hey if I'm going to have to walk, I might as well have fun up to that point right?

The next 5 miles is pretty much a blur as we descended quickly towards Highway 285, with the final section being very steep and loose. Before we knew it, we hit the highway which signified the end of our ride. A quick couple miles of downhill on 285 back in Poncha and we were at the car again.

Such a great ride, and perfect weather and trail conditions really made this a tremendous experience. No blood, no serious mechanical problems, and no torrential downpours or lighting on the high ridges. You really can't ask for a better day to get out and ride what a lot of people consider to be the best ride in Colorado. What a ride...

Still Learning

Even at 30 years old, I still have lessons to learn, sometimes I learn the hard way. Everyone who lives here knows the golden rule of high elevation recreation:
"Get off the peaks in the afternoon, storms brew up fast and lightning is a real concern."

Well after the big hike yesterday, I was lazy getting around this morning and didn't get up and get in a bike ride. So finally I decided after lunch that I would go check out Sourdough Trail, which sits just east of the Continental Divide. Yeah I know that storms brew up on the Divide in the afternoon, but it can't rain everyday up there can it? Today surely wouldn't have any storms, the skies are as blue as they can be up there. I'll get this ride in for sure.

So I drive up to Sourdough (about 25-30 miles), and as I approach I start seeing some lightning. No big deal, its way north of where I'm going. I'll just keep an eye on it and make sure it isn't getting too close. I continue on.

I think to myself, "Looking a bit dark over there". I pull up into the parking area and a flash of lightning rips across the sky, followed by an immediate boom of thunder that makes me jump. That was close. I think I'll stay in my truck and let this thing blow through, then I'll get in my bike ride.

And then the heavens unleased. The rain came so sudden and so furiously that even with my wipers moving at their maximum (and the truck not moving) I couldn't see out of the window. It was incredible, I've never seen rain like this before. I look over at the trail kiosk to see a group of 3 bikers scrambling for cover, looking quite surprised and soaked by this so at least I'm not the only one.

I decide I'll wait it out and maybe go if it blows through, but after a gaze up the trail to see the huge amount of water rushing down it I realized today is a bust. So I put my truck in drive and started making my way out, as quickly as I could given the circumstances.

On the way back I got stuck behind a very large man riding a motorcycle at a very, very slow rate of speed. With no opportunity to pass for miles, I just decided to pull over and enjoy the rushing creek and let him get ahead of me so I could enjoy my drive back home a little more. I pulled out the Yeti and the camera and snapped a couple pics just to have gotten something done instead of driving all the way up there for nothing. I considered stopping and riding at Hall Ranch or Rabbit Mountain, but then I just decided to head home and try this again tomorrow.

But on the bright side, I got a free bike wash out of the deal...