Ride the Rockies Training Update

I just got in from a beautiful 45-mile round trip to Larkspur, Colorado. What an awesome day for a ride. Sunny, blue skies, temps in the 70s. A classic spring day in Colorado (and it's only March 21!).

Above: Three miles from home I rode to the top of Tessa Mesa, a future housing development featuring 35 acre lots with amazing of the Front Range, including three 14,000 ft. peaks -- Long's Peak and Mt. Evans to the north (behind me) and Pikes Peak to the south.

My training for Ride the Rockies is right on pace with recommendations on the official RTR website. I'm up to about 70 miles per week and have logged 500 miles since January 1 -- about 300 on my CycleOps Fluid2 trainer and 200 on the road.

I'm well ahead of where I was last year at this time, which was...let's see...ZERO! Heck, I didn't even have a bike to ride. One year ago today my old Cannondale was sitting in the garage with a huge dent in the top tube and I was sitting on the couch watching March Madness with my shoulder in a sling following surgery  to repair my busted collarbone on March 18. I didn't get my new Cannondale Synapse Carbon 3 (triple) until late March and took my first ride on the trainer March 30.

Speaking of my surgery, I had my one year followup appointment with Dr. Loucks yesterday morning and everything is looking pretty good. The x-ray (below) shows plenty of new bone growth (the "cloudy" mass below the titanium plate and screws).

As you can see in the x-ray below taken on March 28, 1008 (ten days after surgery), there was a large gap in the collarbone (below the hole with no screw).

I have a lingering issue with tingling up and down my right arm that he says I will likely have for the rest of my life. The nerve that runs along my right collarbone gone hung up on a bone spur after the accident and was causing big problems before the surgery (couldn't use my thumb to grip). It got better after the surgery but at this point he doesn't think it will get any better...fortunately he doesn't think it will get any worse either.

The bottomline is that I'm able to get back out on my bike and enjoy the amazing views. And for that I am thankful. Today's ride was a little windy, as you can tell in the following video I took along Hwy 105 (Perry Park Road).

From this point I rode south (into the wind) on Hwy. 105 to Fox Farm Road, where I turned east towards Larkspur. I stopped at the Larkspur Corner Market to load up on water and Power Bars before cutting back across to Hwy 105 and heading home.

The tailwind was indeed a welcome boost as my legs began to tire. It was my longest ride since last fall but I felt good. I'm looking forward to many more training rides in this area as I prepare for my strongest RTR ever!

Ride on...

Daren