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54 mph on 1″ of rubber
Finding my form
Saturday I joined great buddies Jonathan, Val, and Lew in Summit County for the Copper Triangle. This is a big ride that benefits the Davis Phinney Parkinson’s Foundation. The Copper is only 6 years old, but it has gained huge momentum in its participation due in large part to the beauty of the ride. It’s also very well supported with volunteers at the aid stations, which really helps.
We started early from Lew’s house in Frisco and rode the 7 miles to Copper for the official start. The ride from Frisco is a gradual uphill the entire way so we were able to get nice and warm (except for my fingers, thanks to the fingerless gloves!) before we started the first real climb of the Copper Triangle.
From Copper Mountain resort we headed straight up Fremont Pass. This is a great climb several miles long, and tops out at over 11,300 feet. Since we had a nice warmup from Frisco, we all climbed pretty well. I was feeling great despite a nasty bout of what I think is gastritis. I slept horribly the previous night and had experienced acute stomach cramps for days before the ride. (I’m still having some, actually.) But on the ride I felt strong and my stomach was fine, so I climbed better than ever before.
I stopped at Fremont Pass and waited for my friends to join me. Fremont descends nicely before a climb up toward Leadville, and on that downhill I hit one of my highest speeds ever. I clocked slightly over 54 mph on my little bike computer. I was fully tucked into an aerodynamic position, butt back, belly resting on the bike saddle, hands in, neck down, and looking up just enough to make sure the bike was pointed in the right direction. WHAT A RUSH!!
I connected with some really strong riders and we rode together for the next 60 miles or so. Up and over Tennessee Pass, then over the highway near Red Cliff and into a really fun, twisty, and fast descent into Minturm (which, by the way, is a really cute town if you’re visiting). We stayed together all the way to the first rest stop in Vail, and I think I took off before they did because I didn’t see them again for quite a while.
I had burned a lot of energy because by the time I god to Vail I was feeling pretty cooked, and I still had the nasty side of Vail Pass to climb. (The hardest side is the west side; it’s longer and steeper.) I pulled off at the last Vail rest stop before the climb and reloaded bottles, grabbed a fistful of Oreos, and stretched a while. Slightly recharged, I began the arduous slog up Vail Pass.
The climb uses recreational paths, which is a bit of a mixed blessing. We’re isolated from the much faster moving auto traffic, but the paths are pretty narrow and two-way. As we climb up the 7 miles or so from base to summit – often at grades between 9-12% – there are fast-moving cyclists coming downhill from the opposite direction. There is a yellow line that separates the lanes, but you have to be alert and know when to pass slower riders (or ride far right to let the faster riders pass you).
I had already ridden the west side of Vail Pass twice before in less than a month, so I knew the layout pretty well. I remembered that the climbs really break up into four sections, so I just picked my easiest gear (34 x 27) and just kept grinding away. At the end of each of those sections there is a part that levels off (by which I mean that the gradient drops from 9-12% down to around 5-7%. Still steep, but it feels like a respite). I counted down those sections and finally found myself atop Vail Pass. I knew that it was “all downhill from here”…literally.
Atop Vail Pass I dismounted, reloaded bottles again, ate as much as I could choke down, and stretched as I waited for my friends to join me. About 20 minutes went by before I saw my buddy Lew roll up. His legs were completely locked up with cramps that he couldn’t dismount his bike. I ran over and held him up while he kicked out of one pedal. I then had him lean on me while I extracted his bike from beneath him. He’s local to Summit County and rides Vail Pass quite a lot, but he had really pushed himself hard up that final climb. He was able to rehydrate and stretch enough to get his legs working again.
A few minutes later Jonathan and Val joined us atop Vail. After a few minutes’ rest we began the beautiful descent through the Gore Valley into Copper Mountain.
The descent is 5-6 miles long and sweeps and winds into the valley above Copper. I was still feeling strong and got on the wheel of a guy who looked like a semi-pro or continental rider and held his wheel. We descended together all the way into the Copper Mountain resort and past the finish line.
This year’s Copper Triangle was my best ride in the mountains to date. I can feel my cycling form getting better with each passing week, even though my stomach is a bit of a wreck. There is one more big organized ride I’m considering this year, which boasts that it’s the hardest century (100-mile ride) in the United States: www.deercreekchallenge.com. I’m rather intimidated by the route description but this would be a great way to learn more bike routes around Evergreen and it would be a huge achievement for me to finish off the cycling season. There will still be a lot of riding left this year for me, but I will certainly not be doing any more big, sponsored rides until spring 2012.
After a dinner of copious pizza and a few Fat Tires we headed home from Summit County and plopped into the hot tub. Exhausted, I slumped into bed before 10 PM.
Why we don’t own a lawnmower
A couple of weeks ago, Ashten came downstairs and casually suggested that we look outside the front door. She said that there were some elk nearby.
Turns out there were close to 50 of them wandering our neighborhood, with 25 or so of them right in our front lawn grazing on the flowers and grasses! Just another reason why this is a special place.
93 miles in Summit County
Yesterday (Monday) I took a day off and hit the road with my buddy and mentor, Lew. He and I are scheduled to ride the “Copper Triangle” ride in a couple of weeks with my other buddies, Jonathan and Val, and so we wanted to pre-ride the route just to get the miles in. We rode from Lew’s home in Frisco, past Copper Mountain, over Fremont Pass at Climax, and just outside of Leadville.
From Leadville we went over Tennessee Pass, through Minturn, and into Vail. The final push was up and over Vail Pass in pretty intense sun, and finally back into Frisco. Here is a link to my buddy Lew’s ride data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/101791645 (I’m hoping to get a comparable unit soon to track and upload my own ride data.)
The ride took us through some gorgeous countryside. It’s a must-do drive for anyone visiting Summit County.
America’s highest sunrise, and big days for the girls
Today started very early for me. As I posted in the BMW pages, I got up a few hours before sunrise so I could drive to the top of Mt. Evans to see the sun come up. Here is the link to the writeup on that trip. It was an amazing drive with views that must be experienced!
Welcome to Colorado…early!
After a hot breakfast and some much-needed coffee, I headed back home to grab Lauren and take her downtown for the Rodeo Day parade here in Evergreen. She and the pom girls were greeted like celebrities and received loud cheers of support from the large crowd of spectators.
Man, can they strut!
Megan had to do a round trip to DIA (Denver International Airport) to see Ashten off to gymnastics camp. Her torn MCL notwithstanding, Ashten was cleared by her doctor to attend camp and workout, provided she complied with his written limitations. Megan and the camp directors spoke at length about Ashten’s restrictions, and discussed post-workout recovery and therapy to keep her knee moving toward a full recovery.
Tomorrow we will head to Greeley to leave Lauren at camp and Megan and I will explore Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ve wanted to go there for years and never made it a priority, but I suspect the views are going to be phenomenal.
Chalk art and pine cone basketball
Got up and headed “down the hill” – local vernacular for “going into Denver metro. Ashten had a few hours’ worth of gymnastics practice to do, so we killed a little time in and around Littleton.
Megan and Lauren had found a local beauty college and got haircuts and manicures (on the cheap!) while I explored the area. Colorado enforces pretty significant emissions controls before you can transfer title & tag, so I headed to the local testing center to get the Toyota checked out.
The emissions process was quick but pretty thorough. They connected a massive funnel and tube to the truck’s tailpipe, connected a computer to the truck’s OBC, engaged 4-wheel drive, and put the truck on a front & rear wheel dyno. They ran it through several different speeds up to highway speeds, and then checked the pressurization capacity of the gas cap. The whole process lasted fewer than 10 minutes, but sure seemed to be involved! The truck got a clean bill of health, so we’re cleared to get it transferred over. (We’re doing the process now because we just bought it and have to transfer the title to us. And rather than get an Oklahoma title and pay Oklahoma’s 8.375% sales tax, we’ll pay Colorado’s 4.1%, thank you very much!)
After our morning projects we headed into Larimer Square in downtown Denver for a big chalk art festival. Lots of great local artists working in this really cool section of downtown Denver. Each piece is sponsored by a local shop or vendor, and a local artist chalks the image they and the vendor select.
“Costs more for a smaller space. Lame.”
As we worked our way back home we stopped by Red Rocks in Morrison. This was a CCC project completed in 1938 and is a legendary music venue. We didn’t have a lot of access because Dispatch is on stage tonight. Apparently the show-goers start early, so traffic was already starting to pick up in the area. We did get to a visitor station and take a quick walk to snap a few photos.
“Queen of the world!” pose
Back in Evergreen we grabbed the dog and went for a quick walk along Elk Meadow. We then went back to the house for Highlander burgers on the grill.
This house we’re staying in for the month of June has a lot of beautiful, old pine trees around that tend to drop pine cones on the deck. Ashten started picking them up and throwing them off the deck in an attempt to nail the trashcan across the driveway. Not satisfied with this level of challenge, we put a laundry basket across the driveway and tried tossing the pine cones from the deck and into the basket. Because the shape of the pine cone makes it bounce awkwardly, and because the basket and pine cones are both fairly hard, this proved to be more difficult than it first appeared.
Gathering the ammo
Lauren sank the first basket, and then went up 2-0 against Ashten and me. I tied it 2-2, and then proceeded to thrash the girls by a score of 7 (me) – 2 (Lauren) – 1 (Ashten). When you’re old and pathetic, you have to take great pride in small victories.
Launching salvos
Celebrating the spoils
Highlanders 