Saturday I was riding in Colorado. Stiff winds (ie. 30 mph blasts) out of the west..which of course is the direction I'm heading. I drove from Thornton to a hiking trailhead just west of Lafayette on Baseline and unloaded the Bianchi there.
It was a little chilly but I knew the cool "breeze" would be much appreciated once I started riding into it down the road. I saw a couple other roadies in a draft go by the lot so I figured if they can do it I can do it. I looked west and had my sights set on Flagstaff Mountain...somewhere on the backside of which is where I had my "accident" last year in the trees.
The climb really starts about 5 miles into the ride just after crossing the busy Broadway intersection in Boulder. The wind took a little more out of me than I would have liked at this point but whatever, I need to climb that mountain! As I got to the top of Baseline and it turns into Flagstaff road the grades become much more more significant and much longer. Having a lowest gear setting of 34x25 was barely enough for this ride...actually it wasnt enough...a few riders passed me on their way to the top (grrrrrrr....) and they definitely had some steeper gears to spin in. Getting towards the top, I had to stop twice. I started thinking about it, and I've never actually ridin to the top on the road bike. Today was not going to be it either.
It started to get real cold. There was still a good amount of snow everywhere around the road and I wasn't spinning fast enough to keep myself warmed up. I stopped briefly, walked to the edge of the road to see the amazing view overlooking Boulder and straight east over the plains leading up to the foothills. I love the Colorado!!!
I knew I wasn't too far from the top but I knew I needed to make it back down...without hypothermia. I turned and started back down, only to realize later that I was only about 1/2 mile from the top but oh well. the ride down was fun and scary...too much sand! It got better about halfway down...the I could start passing cars :D Thats always fun! I did get passed by two Subaru STi's that were having some fun on this twisting winding mountain road. I tried to keep up, and without sand I think I could've held my own ;)
Total round trip: about 22 miles, 2hrs, and 2,600ft of climbing (~2,100 ft of which is in the 5 miles constant climb up Flagstaff). Good stuff for spring training! I have to say I'm surprised with my leg strength so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment