Ride the Rockies 2014 Day Three: The Three Bitches

Day Three of Ride the Rockies 2014 was billed as a "false recovery ride" by tour officials, according to the Denver Post. Many riders viewed it as an optional day and that might have been a good idea for me. But my goal is always to ride every mile and this day was only 54. How hard could it be? Well, at 3,831 feet of elevation gain, only 400 ft. less than Day Two, which was 41 miles longer, I should have known that would mean a lot of climbing. In fact, I later learned the ride included what the locals call "The Three Bitches -- a series of steep climbs with sections exceeding 10% grade.


Riding the beautiful ranchland around Steamboat Springs was worth the pain of RTR Day Three.

I am a big guy. At 6'4" and 215 lbs. I have a lot of weight to haul up these mountains! Let's just say climbing isn't my  specialty. I prefer pulling on the flats or cruising up 2-4% grade slopes. Once the grade goes over 6% I have to drop into the little ring on my triple crankset. Over 8% I have a hard time keeping a good spin going and have to start mashing on the pedals, which creates a variety of issues including "hot foot" -- when pressure on the ball of your foot pinches the nerves in the metatarsal joint causing a painful burning sensation in your toes.

Hot foot is quite possibly the most severe pain (9 on a scale of 10) I have ever felt. Coming in a close second is the stabbing nerve pain that has developed between my shoulder blades, on the right side of my back, extending down to my lower back. The pain, which feels like someone stabbing a knife in your back, began developing on Day One. I'm not sure if I was tense because of the weather or what caused it to flare up but this is an issue I have had on days 4-6 on previous RTRs.

Waking up this morning I immediately felt the burning between my shoulder blades. I'm going to try and get it to loosen up before we start riding. My foot feels pretty good but I have yet to put on my cycling shoes for the real test. I just hope I am able to get through today's 82-mile course from Steamboat to Avon, with 5,139 ft. of elevation gain. Another climbing day. Seems to be the theme of RTR 2014.

Ride on!

Daren

Ride the Rockies 2014 Day Two: From Snow to Steam (from the Hot Springs!)

Day Two of Ride the Rockies 2014 was another challenging day in a very different way than Day One. After the weather on Day One we were rewarded with a beautiful, cool but sunny day on the ride from Winter Park to Steamboat Springs. Best of all, we woke up to snow on the ground and ended up soaking in the sun in Steamboat.

Woody always says if we have to wear a jacket we're leaving too early but with a 95-mile day ahead we had no choice but to hit the road in Winter Park with temps in the 30s.

The ride from WP to Kremmling was brisk, both in pace and temperature. We were averaging 19 mph into Aid Station Three (45 miles in). But knowing the downhill start would soon turn into a climb, I knew I needed some real food. While the rest of the guys went for the loaded baked potatoes for $5 in the park, I walked across the street to the Rocky Mountain Bar and Grill for a burger.

In spite of the cool weather it was a beautiful day in the Fraser Valley, leaving Winter Park.

While sitting at the bar with several other cyclists waiting for my burger I ordered a wheat beer (believe it or not, beer is actually a good way to hydrate and get some carbs -- I call it liquid carbo-loading). Anyway, the guy next to me orders a second beer so I call him out. "You're going for two?" His response became a new Team Bar2Bar slogan today: "You can't fly with just one wing, can you?" So I ordered another beer and saved half my burger for later (it made a great protein snack when we arrived in Steamboat!).


No, I'm not saying, "I'm number one." I'm pointing at the rock formation they call "Rabbit arks," after which the pass is named. Can you see it?

I'm not sure my climb up Rabbit Ears Pass could be called flying, but I made it. And at one point near the top the was a blessed tail wind, which I think of as flying on Angelo's wings. It was the only tailwind we had all day and it was wonderful. All that time riding into the headwind all I could think was, "wind blows!"

The Old Town Pub was a welcome site at the end of the ride. After a few beers and some food we rode back up to our hotels, completing a century (100 mile) ride.

We turned the 95-mile ride into a full century riding to and from the Old Town Pub in Steamboat to our hotels. I lucked out and ended up booking a room at the Steamboat Grand hotel, right across the street from the luggage trucks and beer garden. Accutonic, the band that played tonight was an amazing reggae ensemble. I think dancing to their music helped loosen up my shoulders!

Today's ride is a "short" 53-mile loop ending up back in Steamboat. I'm looking forward to sitting by the pool this afternoon and enjoying another night in Steamboat before heading out tomorrow for Avon.

Ride on!

Daren

Ride the Rockies 2014 Day One: Thunder, Lightning, Hail and Snow

I woke up this morning to see blue sky out the window on the third floor of the Viking Lodge in Winter Park. It was a welcome site after yesterday's day one debacle! One of the strangest days I have experienced on Ride the Rockies (although every day is an adventure!).

We started with beautiful weather in Boulder as we climbed Boulder Canyon. The beautiful scenery of the canyon makes the steep (8-10% grade) in the middle worth it! Rolling into Nederland I ran into my RTR friend and yoga instructor Gillian. Always good to see her.

From Nederland turned south to see ominous dark clouds in the direction we were heading. Grinding through a series of sharp, steep climbs and descents we neared Aid Station Two at Gilpin School when a lighting strike lit up the sky. I didn't even get to one second before the thunder crack shook me. It was close!

I picked up the pace with no where to shelter except the aid station ahead. Just as I arrived at Gilpin School the hail started pelting us. I made it under an eave and shelters in place for about 30 mins as the storm passed. Whew. Thinking the worst was over I got back on the bike and headed down the short, steep descent to Black Hawk. The wet roads made for a cold, tense ride.

I ran into Flip Flop Jenny in Black Hawk. She didn't look happy. Jenny rides in dime store rubber flip flops on flat pedals. I kid you not. Woody told me later that he rode that stretch with her and she was shaking.

And that's when it got crazy.



It never looks as steep in a picture but this climb was sick.

After a nasty climb out of Black Hawk/Central City we had a mostly downhill ride to Aid Station Three in Idaho Springs. I desperately needed real food and the lines were long (that's a complaint for another day) so Woody and I headed in town for lunch at Two Brothers Deli (which I HIGHLY recommend!). While there we started hearing rumors of snow on Berthoud Pass. I checked weatherundergound.com and it was showing 32F and light snow on Berthoud. At this point we were 23 miles from the summit so decided to head on to Aid Station Four in Empire and assess from there.
Arriving in Empire (after grinding 10 miles uphill into the wind) we checked again and the weather was now showing 30F and heavy thundersnow at the summit. It was then we were told by staff that we could ride to the summit but they had closed the downhill into Winter Park. Regardless, we decided to press on.

It was sleeting/snowing in Winter Park as we headed to dinner last night.

Now climbing the steep pass into a cloud of white mist and snow I began to question my sanity. But I refused to stop until there was no possible alternative. I have never had to ride in a support and gear (SAG) vehicle on Ride the Rockies and wasn't keen on the idea now. That's when a Colorado State Trooper pulled up alongside me and told me they had closed the summit and all riders had to turn back to Empire and wait for a bus ride over the pass. When we were in Empire the bus line was already an estimated two hour wait.

Woody had ridden ahead of me so when the Trooper went ahead to turn other riders back I waited for Woody. That's when, like manna from heaven, I saw a SAG vehicle coming up the pass with two empty spots on the rack. Unheard of at this point. So I loaded up and as we headed up the pass I kept a close eye out for Wordy coming down. Sure enough we spotted him and were able to give him a lift over the mountain, too. Hailing that van had saved us hours of waiting and a bus ride. We were happy, to say the least.

At dinner last night a Beefman Blodgett reader stopped me and said, "Beefman?" We had never met each other but he recognized my from these pages. Thanks, Tom from New York, for introducing yourself. Good to know somebody actual reads my blog!

Arriving in Winter Park we picked up our gear and rode to the Viking Lodge. As we got cleaned up for dinner the skies opened up and dumped a combination of rain, sleet and snow, soaking the luggage of all the riders who were waiting on busses. I can't imagine trying to camp last night. Temps dropped into the teens. There have to be a lot of cold, wet, unhappy campers this morning as I it in the Morning Grind sipping my latte after a great breakfast of biscuits and gravy :)

Today is a 95-mile ride to Steamboat Springs. The weather forecast is for sunshine all day. Hallelujah.

Ride on!

Daren