...on the road bike in the mountains of Colorado between Boulder, Longs Peak, and Lyons. Longest ride to date! It was pretty spectacular though. I've always wanted to ride from Boulder to the Longs Peak trailhead and this past Sunday I finally could check that one off.Starting in Boulder I headed up 36 to Lefthand Canyon Dr. then off through Jamestown. It was pretty mild grades climbing until then. It was here that I was glad I kept my own pace with the bigger picture of the ride in mind, cause this was tough! A few riders that passed me earlier stalled out only a few miles past Jamestown. One lady that stopped was still catching her breath when I went back by her and she was able to muster the words to me “This is one helluva hill!” I was in 2nd gear for most of it.
Once I crested the climb I kept going to reach the Peak-to-Peak. This meant a few miles on dirt roads…on the road bike. “Whoa! This is new!” There were several shorter power climbs and descents which can be a little sketchy with tires at 100psi and about a 1/8th inch contact patch! I finally made it to the highway and that was rolling ups and downs until Hwy 7. Left is Longs Peak…right is Lyons and a different way back to Boulder. I go left and start climbing again. I passed by the awesome old church and grabbed a couple pics.
Eight miles and lots of lower gear climbs later I finally reached Longs Peak Road. This was toughest because the grades get very large again and I’m above 9,000 feet. Keeping a smooth steady cadence I was able to power up it and reach the parking lot and ranger station. YES! …I had a strange urge to want to start hiking…as exhausted as I was I really wanted to and if I had some hiking boots I probably would have.
After a short conversation with the ranger about climbing LP, I headed back. Mostly downhill, I headed back going through Lyons this time. Highway 7 was mostly wide open big ring 25 – 45 mph, awesome awesome stuff ;) I also got into a draft with a couple other riders that kept us going very high speeds for a long time. Once I got back to the car…I was spent, feeling really good about the ride but being in the saddle that long takes its toll. Nothing but smiles on my face after that though, it was absolutely amazing.
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