Sunday July 12th, 2009

Today, Nanci and I headed up to Evergreen again to tackle Sqauw Pass. I'm very impressed with myself for the first major climb of this ride. As stated on Bicycling.com, the climb to the top of Squaw pass is 18 miles with a net elevation change of 2895 ft. This makes for a very steady, but looong climb! I kept a great pace and was able to make it to the top with only one brief break to snack on a plum. The views on the way up and at the top were quite incredible!! The best was on the down side heading in to the Echo Lake area where there is a turn off that overlooks a HUGE valley... still, after living in Colorado for 3 years, some things still make me say "Holy, shit... look at that" (which I did say out loud... even though there was no one else around).


The cruise down the other side of the pass was a ton of fun! A very nicely paved road without tight switchback turns. This allowed for only minor slowing around the turns and I was able to cruise around them pretty quickly. Ended up in a really cool canyon that I haven't been in yet. This road is a very touristy road and it is fun to see people's heads turn as you wizz by at 35-40 mph on your bike down a mountain!

We headed in to Idaho Springs and had a short break for refueling. Then, we headed back to Evergreen... this is where the pain begins... we had to climb Floyd Hill! If you've been out here to Colorado and have driven west into the mountains on I-70, you have driven over Floyd Hill. The only catch is that the Frontage road is MUCH steaper than I-70 and it kicked my ass!!! Our climbing wasn't done there, either... we ended up climbing all the way back to Evergreen where Nanci's car was parked. I was sufficiently pooped!!!

I will agree with Nanci that I am a little disappointed that we only did 42 miles today (we had hoped to do 60) considering our Aug 1 ride is 78 miles! I keep reminding myself that our only goal for Aug 1 is to finish the ride... and let me tell you... I'm going to be pretty damn stoked when we do!!

Ride Stats:

Miles: 42

Time: I really don't know...

Elevation change: 2895ft for the Sqauw Pass climb... not sure of total change for the whole ride

Challenge: Making it up Floyd Hill without feeling like I was going to die... had to stay slow and steady (make that really slow and steady).

Goal: To stay positive for Aug 1. I got my jersey this week and that is excited. I know I can do it... just have to remind myself of that!

Map:
We didn't do the little off shoot on the right hand side of the map... just made a mistake when making the map.

Thursday July 9th, 2009

So I hit the road after work for a quick ride up Lookout Mountain. I suppose I should use the term "quick" loosely, but I did do the climb in 41 minutes, which is less than the last time I did it!

August 1st is quickly approaching, and I won't lie, I'm getting nervous. Gotta get on the bike more during the week otherwise I think I'm really going to regret it!

Sunday July 5th, 2009

This morning I headed out for a long ride. I actually didn't do as many miles as I thought I would, but nonetheless, it was a good ride. Last weekend I did a loop around the southeast suburbs, so today I did a loop around the southwest suburbs. Good ride... good cruising... a few good climbs. All-in-all, a good ride.

Ride Stats:

Distance: 43-ish miles

Time: 3 hours

Challenge: None really comes to mind... just a good ride in general

Goal: To bike 3 times a week from now through the end of the month... wait... haven't I said this before?

Map:

Friday July 3rd, 2009

Just a quick ride down to Treads, a bike shop a little south of where we live. I had planned to go for a real ride, but just wasn't feeling up to it. So, instead of completely wasting the ride, I picked up a spare tube from the bike shop. Don't know the mileage for sure... probably 8-10... really quite pathetic!!