Ride the Rockies 2013 Training Update: It's all downhill from here!

Every time I run a race I figure out the halfway point before I start (for a half marathon, it's at 6.55 miles, 5K is 1.55, etc.) so I'll know when I'm halfway there. There's something about the halfway point that get's me fired up. I get a little shot of adrenaline, like a horse riding back to the barn.

On a typical day on Ride the Rockies the halfway point isn't the mileage. It's the top of the big climb, the highest point on the ride. As we always say at that point, "It's all downhill from here" (although it rarely truly is).


My and Big T at Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Today I crossed the halfway point towards my training goal to ride 2,000 miles before June 8, the start of Ride the Rockies 2013. It was a great training ride for RTR, a 56.29 mi loop with a total ascent of 3,992.78 ft. and a maximum elevation of 7,887.14 ft. (minimum 5,453). We started near Chatfield Reservoir, road up Deer Creek Canyon, through World Famous Tiny Town, Indian Hills, Evergreen, Red Rocks, Morrison, Bear Creek Lake Regional Park and back to Chatfield on the C470 trail.

As we took off on our ride around 7:00 a.m. there were a bunch of hot air balloons taking off from Chatfield Reservoir

After today's ride, I have ridden 1,021 miles since January 1 (most of them on my Cyclops Fluid2 indoor trainer). But that means I still have 980 miles to ride in the next 6 weeks. That's an average of 163.33 miles per week, more than I have ridden any week so far this year.

So, it's definitely not all downhill from here! I definitely need a shot of adrenaline to get me going and maybe reaching the halfway mark will be it. So, how's your training going? Leave a comment. I'd love to hear from fellow RTR riders around the country.

Ride on!

Daren