Fortunately/Unfortunately, I live with two guys, Aaron and Sam, that have biked across the country, are training for an Ironman, and are younger than me. This means, there is always an outdoor activity that is going on at the house. That also means that when it involves being in shape, I am usually struggling to keep up, which never really matters anyways.
After our Friday night grill out party, which resulted in wasting away Saturday, we decided to do something bigger on Sunday; we were going to bike Mt. Evans. This road is the highest paved road in North America, and goes to the top of Mt. Evans, another 14,000 feet peak. Luckily Kristen decided to join as well, so I would have someone to start with.
We left at 6:30 am this morning, and headed up to Idaho Springs. There, we would drop off Aaron and Sam, so they could do the full 27 miles/over 6000 vertical feet bike ride. Kristen and I headed up to Echo Lake to start our trek. We "only had 16-17 miles of all uphill. Unfortunately, since I only have a mountain bike, I had to use that. For those that don't bike, this is a huge difference. Mountain bikes lose a lot of energy in their shocks, and although sturdier, the tires need a lot more energy (These are just the beginnings of my excuses!).
We started up. Luckily, the first 1/4 mile was pretty level, but then it started up. Luckily, it was not too steep, but it never got less steep. The road we were biking on is called Mount Evans Road and starts at around 10,000 feet above sea level. After around an hour, I was only about 5 miles in, with three necessary stops under my belt. Kristen left me mile marker 2, which I was glad about. I knew just the difference in bikes, I would not be able to keep up with her.
At this point, it actually started to get cold. The weather called for a high in the upper 60's, but the wind was blowing like crazy. It seemed like not matter what side of the ridge I were on, or which way the switchbacks were headed, I was biking directly into the wind. It wasn't as rough as the hike last week, but there were some good 30 mile an hour gusts. My breaks got more frequent and the miles slowed. The goal was to average 5-6 mph, which doesn't seems like a lot, but with the wind and steepness, it was all I could do. As I was getting passed by other bikers, I would always have a nice little chat with them. Many spewed words of encourage. Most complained about the wind. I definitely stood out. I was the only one without a road bike or bike shorts. My Trek 4500 and mesh shorts stood out.
Quickly the motto of "go one mile then break", turned into a half mile, then a quarter mile. As the miles slowly passed, I actually became more confident. I thought I was done at mile 4, and I was still going "strong" at mile 8. My legs started shaking uncontrollably around mile 5-6 because of fatigue, but I just keep pushing on. Aaron and Sam actually passed me at mile 12. At that point, they had gone 23 miles, while I had just gone 12. I knew at that point, I was not going to make it to the top. I set the goal of two more miles, which would put me around 13500 feet. The switchback turns on the road became more frequent, the wind stronger, and my legs weaker. I would be able to go around .1-.25 miles before I needed to stop for a couple minutes. Aaron, Sam, and Kristen headed down from the top and met me struggling up.
It was a relief to see them. It meant that uphill was done and I could turn around and enjoy the downhill. I had gone up 14.3 miles and gone up almost exactly 3000 vertical feet. The downhill was amazing. We average around 30-35 miles an hour, actually passing cars, once we got used to the switchbacks. The road is on a cliff for around 5 miles of the ride. A cliff that if you misjudged a turn just a little, that would definitely be the last mistake you ever made. It dropped at least 400 feet in most places. Of course the wind was still howling and pushing the bikes around quite a bit. Because of this, we had to ride the yellow line for most of the ride. We made it back to the car. Kristen sacrificed for the team, and loaded up the car with her bike. Aaron, Sam, and I biked down the rest of the downhill to Idaho Springs.
After all was said and done, I had the most intense 39 mile bike ride I have ever had. We of course had to go to Beau Jo's again for some massive pizza. I posted a couple pictures below that I took, then a couple screen shots from Google Street View to try to show the intensity of the cliffs we were biking on. Of course, nothing does it justice.
For those people that have been out here, I biked over 3 times farther than Loveland Pass, and climbed over 1800 feet higher than Loveland Pass, while actually being about 2000 feet in altitude higher than Loveland Pass. Basically, I'm just trying to make it sound as hard as possible. Although I was sort of upset I didn't make it to the top, I realized that I'm not living in Colorado to cross things off my bucket list. I'm out here to try these things. With that said, I will bike up Mt. Evans by the end of this summer.
The route I took going up.
The cliff I was talking about.
One of the many switchbacks.
After our Friday night grill out party, which resulted in wasting away Saturday, we decided to do something bigger on Sunday; we were going to bike Mt. Evans. This road is the highest paved road in North America, and goes to the top of Mt. Evans, another 14,000 feet peak. Luckily Kristen decided to join as well, so I would have someone to start with.
We left at 6:30 am this morning, and headed up to Idaho Springs. There, we would drop off Aaron and Sam, so they could do the full 27 miles/over 6000 vertical feet bike ride. Kristen and I headed up to Echo Lake to start our trek. We "only had 16-17 miles of all uphill. Unfortunately, since I only have a mountain bike, I had to use that. For those that don't bike, this is a huge difference. Mountain bikes lose a lot of energy in their shocks, and although sturdier, the tires need a lot more energy (These are just the beginnings of my excuses!).
We started up. Luckily, the first 1/4 mile was pretty level, but then it started up. Luckily, it was not too steep, but it never got less steep. The road we were biking on is called Mount Evans Road and starts at around 10,000 feet above sea level. After around an hour, I was only about 5 miles in, with three necessary stops under my belt. Kristen left me mile marker 2, which I was glad about. I knew just the difference in bikes, I would not be able to keep up with her.
At this point, it actually started to get cold. The weather called for a high in the upper 60's, but the wind was blowing like crazy. It seemed like not matter what side of the ridge I were on, or which way the switchbacks were headed, I was biking directly into the wind. It wasn't as rough as the hike last week, but there were some good 30 mile an hour gusts. My breaks got more frequent and the miles slowed. The goal was to average 5-6 mph, which doesn't seems like a lot, but with the wind and steepness, it was all I could do. As I was getting passed by other bikers, I would always have a nice little chat with them. Many spewed words of encourage. Most complained about the wind. I definitely stood out. I was the only one without a road bike or bike shorts. My Trek 4500 and mesh shorts stood out.
Quickly the motto of "go one mile then break", turned into a half mile, then a quarter mile. As the miles slowly passed, I actually became more confident. I thought I was done at mile 4, and I was still going "strong" at mile 8. My legs started shaking uncontrollably around mile 5-6 because of fatigue, but I just keep pushing on. Aaron and Sam actually passed me at mile 12. At that point, they had gone 23 miles, while I had just gone 12. I knew at that point, I was not going to make it to the top. I set the goal of two more miles, which would put me around 13500 feet. The switchback turns on the road became more frequent, the wind stronger, and my legs weaker. I would be able to go around .1-.25 miles before I needed to stop for a couple minutes. Aaron, Sam, and Kristen headed down from the top and met me struggling up.
It was a relief to see them. It meant that uphill was done and I could turn around and enjoy the downhill. I had gone up 14.3 miles and gone up almost exactly 3000 vertical feet. The downhill was amazing. We average around 30-35 miles an hour, actually passing cars, once we got used to the switchbacks. The road is on a cliff for around 5 miles of the ride. A cliff that if you misjudged a turn just a little, that would definitely be the last mistake you ever made. It dropped at least 400 feet in most places. Of course the wind was still howling and pushing the bikes around quite a bit. Because of this, we had to ride the yellow line for most of the ride. We made it back to the car. Kristen sacrificed for the team, and loaded up the car with her bike. Aaron, Sam, and I biked down the rest of the downhill to Idaho Springs.
After all was said and done, I had the most intense 39 mile bike ride I have ever had. We of course had to go to Beau Jo's again for some massive pizza. I posted a couple pictures below that I took, then a couple screen shots from Google Street View to try to show the intensity of the cliffs we were biking on. Of course, nothing does it justice.
For those people that have been out here, I biked over 3 times farther than Loveland Pass, and climbed over 1800 feet higher than Loveland Pass, while actually being about 2000 feet in altitude higher than Loveland Pass. Basically, I'm just trying to make it sound as hard as possible. Although I was sort of upset I didn't make it to the top, I realized that I'm not living in Colorado to cross things off my bucket list. I'm out here to try these things. With that said, I will bike up Mt. Evans by the end of this summer.
The route I took going up.
The cliff I was talking about.
One of the many switchbacks.
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