I'm back from Baker City Cycling Classic (race report underway)! While you all have been sitting, patiently waiting in suspense I shall indulge you with continuing the adventure in Colorado Springs, we left off training, studying, sleeping and eating: continuing on, it's now the weekend and time for some fun. Enjoy!
Day 5: It’s Saturday and we're climbing Pikes Peak, 14,115ft. Started at about 7,000ft and climbed the rest of the way up. Costs $12 just to ride the road and the ranger had to give us a tag to put on our bike. We get there at 8:00am, the ranger told us there were 2 riders about 30 minutes ahead of us... If you know anything about me it’s that I’m competitive as shit, that's all I needed to hear and I was on the hunt. Joe was ok with me riding my own pace so I took off in search of those two poor souls up the road. I had a pretty good tempo on the way up (7-8mph), considering the altitude I was happy with that. On my ascent they were finishing test runs for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, one of two of the oldest car races in the country. Got to see some pretty amazing machines on the roads with their big roaring engines, they all waved as they passed by, it was sweet.
Day 5: It’s Saturday and we're climbing Pikes Peak, 14,115ft. Started at about 7,000ft and climbed the rest of the way up. Costs $12 just to ride the road and the ranger had to give us a tag to put on our bike. We get there at 8:00am, the ranger told us there were 2 riders about 30 minutes ahead of us... If you know anything about me it’s that I’m competitive as shit, that's all I needed to hear and I was on the hunt. Joe was ok with me riding my own pace so I took off in search of those two poor souls up the road. I had a pretty good tempo on the way up (7-8mph), considering the altitude I was happy with that. On my ascent they were finishing test runs for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, one of two of the oldest car races in the country. Got to see some pretty amazing machines on the roads with their big roaring engines, they all waved as they passed by, it was sweet.
There were some tour groups shuttling people to the top and letting them ride down. They would pass, take photos and videos and cheer me on. At about 12,000ft I caught the first rider ahead of me, ripped his legs off, threw them on the side of the road and continued on to the next poor soul. About 10 minutes later I found him plugging away on the climb, I kicked into gear, swallowed him whole, and spat him out behind me. I was now on my way to be the first rider of the day to summit Pikes Peak. At about 13,000ft it hit me, I started to get a little dizzy, as I went higher my head started pounding and it was getting tough to maintain focus. My speed dropped from 7-8 mph to 2-3mph, the grade increased and it was everything I could do to keep upright and focus on each pedal stroke. The cars would continue to cheer me on as I approached the summit and that was a huge motivation to get me to the top.
I finally made it, some guys from the class drove up and were there taking pictures of the ascent which was awesome (those also happen to be some of the guys who attend the study sessions). 1hr 51minutes from the ranger station to the top, and I was the first rider to summit that day. I made it up, completely out of breath I called my beautiful wife from the summit (thanks AT&T for having reception at 14K) I threw on my rain jacket because it was freezing up there, tooled around a little, walked into the gift shop, had some freshly made doughnuts at 14,000ft, got my picture taken by the summit sign and talked to a few people who saw me climbing up the road on that weird lookin’ bike thingy. I quickly headed back down, the sense of accomplishment and my shit eating grin spread from ear to ear was plastered to my face as I began my 162 switchback descent. On the way down, I would occasionally have to stop and wait for cars to pass because I was going significantly faster and didn’t want to drag my brakes all the way down.
Once below tree line there was a mandatory brake check station for all cars. A ranger was standing there with a heat sensor and would check every car to see if their brakes were overheating. There also happened to be a large parking lot where people were waiting for things to cool before continuing downhill. I stopped and talked to the ranger for a bit, got a picture of him checking my brakes (they were 60 degrees, which was nothing compared to the cars, aluminum has great heat displacing properties). I continued downhill for the next hour, nearly getting that Bike Friday up to 50mph, and flying through the corners. It was about the most fun I’ve ever had on a bike. After the Grand Fondo, I needed something like this; it was great confidence boost and riding my bike was pure fun again.
No study session tonight, I watched TV instead, which is a real treat when you don’t have one.
No study session tonight, I watched TV instead, which is a real treat when you don’t have one.
Day 6: Sunday, I headed out again to climb Cheyenne Canyon a couple times, the descending was fast and steep and I was feeling more confident with every corner. I climbed it twice and then went off to Garden of the Gods for some more climbing. I rounded the day out with relaxing in front of the TV and doing my own study session downstairs after making dinner.
Day 7: Monday, started up with our second week of class, super long day, after lunch I was dragging along, even drinking coffee in the afternoon trying to stay awake and attentive. In the evening I got 90 minutes of intervals and hill repeats in before the study session which all two out of 16 attended. Talking to some of the students throughout the day they’ve been going out every night to the bars, picking fights, playing pool or foosball for money, drinking, smoking and spending nearly $100 each night. They would then talk about their kids and wives bookended with a clear description of their favorite stripper’s physique last night. One student had a thing for karaoke and over the course of the 12 days in Colorado he indulged the community with his vocal prowess 9 times.
Day 7: Monday, started up with our second week of class, super long day, after lunch I was dragging along, even drinking coffee in the afternoon trying to stay awake and attentive. In the evening I got 90 minutes of intervals and hill repeats in before the study session which all two out of 16 attended. Talking to some of the students throughout the day they’ve been going out every night to the bars, picking fights, playing pool or foosball for money, drinking, smoking and spending nearly $100 each night. They would then talk about their kids and wives bookended with a clear description of their favorite stripper’s physique last night. One student had a thing for karaoke and over the course of the 12 days in Colorado he indulged the community with his vocal prowess 9 times.
Day 8: Class was another long day but I was able to stay awake and attentive for it’s entirety, that wasn’t apparently the case as some folks were perhaps a little too drunk the next day to wake up early and be there on time, so +/- an hour after the start they began to trickle in, bright eyed and bushy-tailed of course :)
That evening there were intermittent thunder storms so I tried to get a quick ride in between the clouds, made it to the top of Cheyenne Canyon and back down when I got the first bone shaking BOOM! Followed by another and another, a few white streaks across the skyline lent itself to telling me to get the hell back to the hotel. It spooked me pretty good and dropped the hammer. As soon as I got under the awning in front of the Travelodge the skies opened up with raindrops the size of gumballs. I made it. Now it was time for dinner and more studying.
What a whirlwind last few days! The next post will conclude the Colorado Spring Adventure, and I'll have my race report from Baker City Cycling Classic ready to publish by the weekend. Be sure to comment below.
Until next time!
Cheers,
-Andrew-
That evening there were intermittent thunder storms so I tried to get a quick ride in between the clouds, made it to the top of Cheyenne Canyon and back down when I got the first bone shaking BOOM! Followed by another and another, a few white streaks across the skyline lent itself to telling me to get the hell back to the hotel. It spooked me pretty good and dropped the hammer. As soon as I got under the awning in front of the Travelodge the skies opened up with raindrops the size of gumballs. I made it. Now it was time for dinner and more studying.
What a whirlwind last few days! The next post will conclude the Colorado Spring Adventure, and I'll have my race report from Baker City Cycling Classic ready to publish by the weekend. Be sure to comment below.
Until next time!
Cheers,
-Andrew-