It was a cool start in Woodland Park but we got nice and warm riding up the first climb to Rampart Range Road.
There was a grand total of 4 riders at the start in front of Gold Hill Coffee.
Three of us local to the Colorado Front Range, and one Peter Martin from Canada. We were all surprised to see Peter show up, he had made an inquiry about bike and gear selection on the website. But normally there are many people who sign-up for these events and never show. Well good job Peter, he toed the line with us.
Craig and Eric are two young and fit guys that looked to be ready for anything and ready to roll.
After the first climb up to Rampart rd Craig, Eric and Peter left me behind. My gear selection on the singlespeed was such that I had to walk the really steep section but that's ok.
After a few miles of rollers I was able to catch up on Peter and descend past him. It really helps to have good descending skills for this type of gravel road. The surface is constantly changing from stutter bumps to hard pack or lots of soft washed out gravel that will grab your wheel out from under you if your not paying attention.
We climb up over 9,000 ft going across the Rampart Range, then started descending down into Pine Creek. Once we made it to Buffalo Creek the altitude really drops, down to 6,800 ft. There are some exciting descents from Pine Creek to the Platte River. But once down to the river it's a very beautiful and a flat ride over to Buffalo Creek.
Along the way our ride host Shane DeMars stopped and took pictures and made sure everyone was okay. When I got to the Buffalo Creek store it was Lunch time and Shane was there waiting with his bike. After I got a refill on water and Rowdy's Root Beer it was time to start the climb up to Wellington Lake.
Shane wanted to get some riding in and to scout out a section of trail up at the lake so he rode with me to the top.
It was nice to ride with Shane and talk about these endurance events, normally when I'm riding an event or training it's solo.
And once up at Wellington Lake I was back to solitude. After climbing to the lake there's more climbing up to Goose Creek rd and the south west side of the Hayman fire burn area. The views up there are amazing and it is the highest point on the course at about 9,400 ft.
The Goose Creek section is long and desolate with lots of rolling climbs that make you wonder if it will ever end.
Since I'm using this ride as a warm-up for Ring the Peak I had to be careful not to over work myself. So my plan was to either ride the short route of 136 miles or cut the ride short somehow.
Well after the Goose Creek section I was really anxious to get to Lake George and decide what to do from there.
When I got to Lake George I was really not looking forward to the next climbing section and the 25 miles back to Woodland Park.
After riding 111 miles in about 12 hours I was feeling like I could push the rest of the way if I refueled.
I went into the little store there and got a bean and cheese burrito another Root Beer (Shane got me on this Root Beer kick) and talked to the store owner a bit.
He said that two guys had come through ahead of me. One was two hours up the road and the second one was about an hour ahead.
At this point I had to make decision and also to remember that I'm just warming up for RTP. I called Julie for a ride back to Woodland Park. She had just ordered a beer at the brewery where the ride ends so I had a little wait in Lake George. But it was not a long one and I had just finish my snack and she was there.
Back in Woodland Park I called Shane to let him know I had got a ride from Julie and we would be at the brewery.
I was really curious how the other three riders were doing, and Julie had not seen anyone when she was there before.
Well Shane and Peter were at the brewery enjoying a beer, Craig must have gone home and Eric had not made it in yet.
We settled in with a beer and some pizza, then got the lowdown on Peter and Craig's ride. Peter had gone off course and ended up in Deckers about 40 miles from the finish. He asked for directions back to Woodland Park and then came across Craig who was having some mechanical problems. So much for the store owner's story, Craig had multiple flats and no spares left and never made the rest of the ride. Fortunately Peter had everything to get him riding and they made it back to Woodland Park.
At about 9:00 pm Eric the only finisher of the first R2G2 walk through the door of the brewery. If anyone was going to finish this ride it would be Eric, after all the guy finished the Tour Divide race this year in tenth place.
We all greeted Eric, got him a beer, some food and cheered his success. Great job Eric!
By the way Eric chose the long route at 168 miles and rode for over two hours in the dark.
We closed down the brewery and had some wonderful conversations about endurance racing and general bike riding.
Thank you Shane for putting together a great ride and good job everyone. See you next year.
Now time to recover and get rocking on the Ring the Peak event.
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