As Julie call's it Notorious Pass it has it's reputation as an unforgiving pass at times. I've been over this pass several times, a few running, a few skiing and several on the bike. Each time it's handed me something different. Leaving the Como Depot I did not think I would have the weather that I ended up having over the pass this time.
I got a late start on the pass and knew I would descend into Breckenridge in the dark and was prepared for that, head light and tail lights with full charge. Rain, just went through that and was finally dry again and warm from the Depot snack. Well mid way it started to rain even though I thought I could get over before the rain came. Rain while climbing a mountain pass is mot so bad as your working pretty hard and welcome the cooling effect. But once I got to the top it really started to down pour. I put on everything I had for clothing and buttoned up tight and prepared for the 10 mile descent into Breckenridge. As I road down the mountain the road became very muddy and lots of big puddles. I could not wear my sunglasses as it was now getting dark. Lights on and standing on the pedals so I would not get a face full of mud from my front wheel I pressed on.
The further I rolled down the mountain and darkness came it got colder, and I was getting soaked.
I started to think to myself "I am not going to get hypothermia" and will make it all the way to the Breckenridge Brewery to meet Julie, Linda and Fred.
More descending, mud and cold and I am not in cell phone range to call Julie so I keep on down the road. Then I see a head lights, is it Julie? Nope just some one going up the pass. Press on and around the next turn I see head lights on in a pull out. YES it's Julie, now to get all of this muddy wet stuff off and the bike on the car. Heat full blast, seat heater on 5 and I'm ready to have beer. Then crash and we look at each other, what was that, the bike fell off the rack. I get out of the car and step right in a big mud puddle. Put the bike mud and all in the back of the car and we head down to the brewery for a warm meal and a beer with Fred and Linda.
After the brewery we head over to Fred's Dad house for the night. Tomorrow we ride to Breckenridge from Vail, more climbing and a race finish.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Start of dirt
Luckily for me the rain started so I got out of most of the rain.
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Friday, August 26, 2011
Rain and more Rain
I was lucky for a lot of miles and missed the typical Colorado afternoon storms. But my luck ran out and I got caught by a few storms.
Finally dry but out of fuel I made it to Como at the base of Boreas pass. I had to stop and get something hot to eat.
A bowl of green chili and hot coffee should get me there.
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Finally dry but out of fuel I made it to Como at the base of Boreas pass. I had to stop and get something hot to eat.
A bowl of green chili and hot coffee should get me there.
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Divide and beyond
Made it to divide before 11:30 and stopping for just a few minutes. It was a hot and humid climb up the pass. Won't have much cell coverage from on to breck.
Next stop is Lake George for lunch and water top off.
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Next stop is Lake George for lunch and water top off.
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RTP training ride
Leaving Manitou up Ute Pass to Lake George. This where I hit the dirt the rest of the way with about a mile of pavement.
This route takes me through Woodland Park, past the Fossil Bed, Lake George, Tarryall res, Como, over Boreas Pass (12,000 ft) and down into Breck.
From here I get a transfer to Vail by Julie to spend the night. The next day I ride back to Breck with Fred to catch the race finish.
Better start climbing!
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011
A Fan's Perspective on Stage 1 of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge
A Fan's Perspective on Stage 1
I was not able to make it to the start or finish of Stage 1 but instead decided to do some photo recon on Cottonwood Pass. It was nice to have the media/photo pass as it gave me access to the pass even though it was closed. The pass closed at 3:00 pm which gave fans ample time to get a spot to camp and setup. Lots of people have been marking the roads with words of encouragement and their favorite riders names. I came to the pass from the east, the Buena Vista side. This side of the pass is paved to the top and has a nice wide shoulder to ride. Lots of people were out riding the pass and enjoying the road closure.
At the top of the pass a large group had a terrific RV and camper setup. I stopped to talk for a little while and it certainly seems like everyone is very excited about being there. This will be my spot for the queen stage, Stage 2. I will be able to get photos from both side of the pass as the riders ascend and speed down the pass. Who will get the KOM points?
Heading down to Crested Butte I come across more campers on most of the switchbacks and pull outs. Everyone appears to be ready for a cool night and a warm day tomorrow.
As I get further down the pass the camping scene all but disappears. Then I come up on road crews preparing the road surface for tomorrow.
Grading, rolling and water that's what it take to make a good road surface for Pro Racing.
Finally down in the Butte and wow it's pack with fans, it's really great that the races getting this kind of turn out. So from my perspective of Cottonwood Pass, the USA Pro Cycling Challenege could easily be mistaken for a large race in Europe.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A Local Fans Thoughts Post Race
What a Great Day in Colorado Springs.
As the day began the Blackberry started buzzing, text messages and phone calls from friends. All asking where will you be, are you ready, are you riding to the race? Coffee and breakfast down and bikes, cameras and cow bells ready and we hit the road.
Leaving the house we can easily hit the trail and head west to Old Colorado City for our first stop. On the way we see lots of cyclist packed and heading to their favorite viewing spot.
For us we have a plan to hit several different spots. Our first stop is on the westside at 21st st. and Colorado ave. with some friends that have a premium location. We settle in and I help get the technical side of things setup. Laptop with live feed and connected to a sound system. Ride start list so we can cheer by name for each rider as the fly by.
Cold drinks in the cooler, cow bells ringing and girls yelling, I think we have it all ready to go.
The day is a typical Colorado summer day, light breeze out of the North East, barley a cloud in the sky and warming up fast. Good thing for the canopy and sunscreen, and a cool beverage.
Lots of buzz as the teams are out for warm-up runs up and down Colorado Blvd in front of us. Every time some one goes by they get the yelling and cow bell treatment. Smiles and waves are returned and it seems to be a very festive day.
As the time gets close to the start things really get active and you can feel the excitement in the air all around. Police motorcycles, team cars and helicopters in the air. I think the race is ready to start, yep here comes the first rider, we check the start list and sure enough we have a race.
Watching the broadcast footage online we awe at the coverage. We have transformed our hometown into a world class bike race. We look at each other and big smiles follow, then back to the next rider on the course cowbells ring and girls scream.
As the race goes on we decide to head down to the finish line to get some photo ops and see how things are going there.
We are joined by some friends and head off to downtown. Wow we are very suprised at the turn out downtown. It's Monday after all and suprising that this many people are off work and downtown for the race. The excitment level is a couple of notches higher here as we stop for a few minutes to take it all in.
Billboards and big screens, the streets are barracked and the finish line looks amasing. Off to the beer tent to get a cold one as we wait for the favorites to come in. The temps are high and that means we will get our afternoon showers as the cloud beginn to gather. uckily the riders finish just in time and miss the rain.
What a grand day in downtown Colorado Springs it was and all you coud see all day was smiles from everyone there.
On to Salida tomorrow for Stage 1 and some climbing a head.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
USA Pro Cycling Challenge comes to Colorado Springs
The tour starts right here in my home town and everyone seems to be excited? I get phone calls and text regularly saying they saw this team or that group of riders. Even out on my daily rides I come across some one that's a team rider out spinning their legs out.
It really is nice from a cyclist and a fan's persecutive to see this caliber of race and world class rider come back to Colorado. I extend a huge thank you to Lance Armstrong, Governor Ritter and the rest that had the fore thought to make this event happen.
Not only will it be cycling heaven for us this week but also a much needed economic boast for each host city. Hotel rooms are filling up, restaurants are over flowing and the downtown area will be crowded with on lookers.
We will attend a "Peoples Pedal Party" this evening to help kick things off downtown and it should be a very packed event. Even though there's a threat of rain, I doubt it will dampen spirits much.
Tomorrow promises to be a great show for everyone, with some of the very top Tour de France competitors on the Prologue course. The big buzz is where should we watch the race? Most people want to be at the hazardous turn at the bottom of Ridge road. Other will gather somewhere in the Garden of the Gods. And the other popular place will be the finish line for the photo ops. Everyone has their favorites team and riders so this will give them a chance to see them in action first hand.
The rest of the week is expected be very challenging for the teams and will demand they work together to get the GC hopefuls in position for a podium finish. Tommy D (Danielson) seems to be the favorite for us Coloradans as he's a home town rider from Boulder and finished 9th in the TDF this year as the top American.
As the party begins we set on the edge of our bike seats waiting for the race to start.
More to come tomorrow!
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Thursday, August 11, 2011
Ring the Peak Recon Recap
I met my friend Bob Cat at the downtown Starbucks at 6:30 am to get an early start on the recon trip. Our plan was to ride together for as long as Bob's ailing back could take the riding.
We hoped he could make it as far as the Crags then bail out down to hwy67 and back to the Springs.
We headed west up the Midland trail and on into Manitou Springs. A left turn up Ruxton ave headed to the cog railway station. Just past the station we took a right turn onto what we thought was the Ute Pass Trail. Come to find out we missed the trail and climbed a nasty hike a bike. Though it did end up at the UPT and we got to ride some nice single track. Once I started doing the steeper climbs I realized that my gearing on the single speed was not quite right.
Next time I'll put at least a 20 tooth cog in the back. Running an 32x18 just was not enough for that much climbing.
Again we missed a turn and finally ended up about 3 miles up the pass from where we wanted to come out. At this point Bob's back was really killing him and he decided to head back down the pass.
Now solo I decided I would continue on and see how far I could make it. So on up the pass to Chipita Park and the steep climb up Picabo rd to find the Mt. Esther trail head. At the top of Picabo the road turns into Mountain rd and heads west. As I made it to the top I spotted a friend of mine's house. Now I remember that the trail is just east of his house so I turnaround and there it is off to the right on a short dirt road.
It's a 30 minute hike a bike up Mt Esther trail to the top and a right turn onto single track. Once on the single track I'm reminded that I should have put a 20 tooth cog on. Sort of became my mantra for the day "32x20" next time.
Lots of climbing up to the Catamount connector and then on across the dam more climbing on fire roads with lots of soft washed out surface. Although the view was great with vistas of Pikes Peak that not many people will see. Riding around to the south side of Catamount I see the RTP sign point to more single track. This section was really nice and some fun downhill on it.
I passed a group Seniors hiking up the trail with packs on, good for them.
The single track dead ended on another fire road with yet more climbing and more mantra. It slowly turned into a single track but continued to climb. My stomach was letting me know that it was time to stop and have a bite to eat. I didn't take very much time to eat as I wanted to get as far as possible so I saved some time and head back to climbing.
As I got closer to the Crags I notice clouds building from the west, this only means one thing, thunderstorms. When I got to the Crags campground I made the decision to bail down to the highway and back home. Unfortunately I didn't make it to far past Divide before the clouds started dumping rain and hail. I found some shelter and waited out the storm, then got back on the road only to catch the storm again. More shelter and wait it out some more, then this time I was able to get down the pass and to the brewery for a cold beer and glass of water.
Bob came down to have a beer with me and recap ride rest of my ride. So 68 miles and close to 8 hours with over 5k of climbing on the bike.
We hoped he could make it as far as the Crags then bail out down to hwy67 and back to the Springs.
We headed west up the Midland trail and on into Manitou Springs. A left turn up Ruxton ave headed to the cog railway station. Just past the station we took a right turn onto what we thought was the Ute Pass Trail. Come to find out we missed the trail and climbed a nasty hike a bike. Though it did end up at the UPT and we got to ride some nice single track. Once I started doing the steeper climbs I realized that my gearing on the single speed was not quite right.
Next time I'll put at least a 20 tooth cog in the back. Running an 32x18 just was not enough for that much climbing.
Again we missed a turn and finally ended up about 3 miles up the pass from where we wanted to come out. At this point Bob's back was really killing him and he decided to head back down the pass.
Now solo I decided I would continue on and see how far I could make it. So on up the pass to Chipita Park and the steep climb up Picabo rd to find the Mt. Esther trail head. At the top of Picabo the road turns into Mountain rd and heads west. As I made it to the top I spotted a friend of mine's house. Now I remember that the trail is just east of his house so I turnaround and there it is off to the right on a short dirt road.
It's a 30 minute hike a bike up Mt Esther trail to the top and a right turn onto single track. Once on the single track I'm reminded that I should have put a 20 tooth cog on. Sort of became my mantra for the day "32x20" next time.
Lots of climbing up to the Catamount connector and then on across the dam more climbing on fire roads with lots of soft washed out surface. Although the view was great with vistas of Pikes Peak that not many people will see. Riding around to the south side of Catamount I see the RTP sign point to more single track. This section was really nice and some fun downhill on it.
I passed a group Seniors hiking up the trail with packs on, good for them.
The single track dead ended on another fire road with yet more climbing and more mantra. It slowly turned into a single track but continued to climb. My stomach was letting me know that it was time to stop and have a bite to eat. I didn't take very much time to eat as I wanted to get as far as possible so I saved some time and head back to climbing.
As I got closer to the Crags I notice clouds building from the west, this only means one thing, thunderstorms. When I got to the Crags campground I made the decision to bail down to the highway and back home. Unfortunately I didn't make it to far past Divide before the clouds started dumping rain and hail. I found some shelter and waited out the storm, then got back on the road only to catch the storm again. More shelter and wait it out some more, then this time I was able to get down the pass and to the brewery for a cold beer and glass of water.
Bob came down to have a beer with me and recap ride rest of my ride. So 68 miles and close to 8 hours with over 5k of climbing on the bike.
More recon rides in a couple of weeks.
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Heading up Mt Esther trail
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Time for gear change
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At Catamont
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Mt Esther trail
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Thursday, August 4, 2011
A look at the cockpit
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My current adventure setup and some changes
So far the 32 x 16 is working ok for most climbs I've been riding, if it gets to steep I walk. On the flats I'd like a little more top speed without working so hard but that's the trade off when single speeding.
The main problem I'm having with this bike is that the frame is harsh after about 30 miles. My lower back is taking the most beating so I'm thinking about changing over to a steel frame and a dingle setup. Something like 34 x 16 and 32 x 18 or 20 just need to experiment with chain length to see what matches up ok. I'll run a skewer in the rear axle so all I need to do is release the skewer and move the chain over. Go fast gear for the long road sections and a good climbing gear for the steep.
I plan to keep the drop bars and On One steel fork. Currently running V brakes but will change over to BB7 disc.
I should have everything changed over by the weekend then out for some test rides.
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Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Colorado Endurance Series
RingThePeak 100(ish)k epic ride around Pikes Peak
So I'm not much for racing these days mostly because of the high entry fees and how crowded the events get. I'm used to the old days when everyone knew each other and it cost you $25 to get in.
Well I've found a new interest in the Endurance race format, first off it's free, second is that there is usually a limit of under 100 riders.
And you ride self supported and no officials to muck stuff up.
So I threw my hat into the race back in June and have been training a little bit for it. It will be an all day adventure on familiar trails and right in my back yard with people I know.
I'm planning to race ala single speed and have been dialing in the right setup for this one. The route is about 72 miles with close to 12'000 ft of climbing and lots of hike a bike. It will be held the first of October so day light will be a premium and require and very early start. I hope to finish under 10 hours and possibly closer to 9 hours.
I've been training with my friend Ron in support of his Leadville 100 race coming up soon so that has helped a lot. A couple of weeks ago I did a solo ride over to Salida on a modified route from the one Ron and I did for his training. I chose to go single speed and all in one day, that turned out to be a 106 mile 8k of climbing route that took me 9 hours to finish with about 20 minute lunch stop mid way.
I felt pretty good after the ride and have been riding strong since so I think I can do alright if all goes well. I have a few more training rides to do and iron out my gear, as well as doing some pre-rides of some sections that I have not been on.
Then the end of September Julie and I are planning a trip to Arizona to see her Mom. This will give me a chance to get some quality low land spinning in, always a good way to taper for a race or event.
I've been following the Tour of the Divde race and the CTR that is happening right now and I'm getting the bug for this Endurance race thing. If all goes well I my try a few more races next year.
