Into the Sky

12,095 feet. 3,686 meters above sea level. The highest paved pass in the continental 48. Pikes Peak and Mt Evans may go higher, but they simply dead end. Independence Pass is one of the more famous climbs in the States. The climb itself is about 16 miles, but there are a few rolling miles from town beforehand to either sap or warm up the legs. The climb opens nastily, steadily above 5%, but again, at altitude it feels much worse. All you can do is grind away, watch the computer slowly tick off hundreths of miles, then tenths of miles, then miles and calculate in your head how much suffering you have left. The middle stretch flattens just a bit, while the upward bits are just as steep, there are some flat stretches, even a quick drop or two. The scenery is unrivaled. Peaks soar upwards from the valley which the road travels along, dense pine and birch forests populate the road up until treeline. Passing the ghost town of Independence is the first sign that respite is near. Finally the road sweeps to the left and you can see a ridge across the valley that is the serpentine road heading ever up. Problem is, you can see every one of the 800 or so feet left to climb. You can see the pitch of the road. It's a bit demoralizing, but at least you realize that you're almost at the top. After the last hard right hairpin, you realize that there is simply no air left. You breathe in, command your legs to hammer the pedals down as you rise out of the saddle and yet nothing, or very little, happens. I was plenty hydrated and yet I felt like I was constantly on the verge of cramping just from the sheer lack of oxygen at that height. The final grind is just that: a grind. You can barely rise out of the saddle, when you do, you gain maybe a mile an hour or two, only to lose it shortly when your legs give out. Finally making the last left turn, you see the finish, the famous sign, looming just above the road, and you try to attack again, try to rise out of the saddle only to be beaten back down. Practically falling off my bike, I take the requisite pictures, and gleefully take my reward: a 20 mile long, 30 mph descent with little hard braking yet sweeping turns all the way down. It's certainly worth the agony.





I did this descent (I rode up the exact same stretch of road as well, as the PRO challenge did the next day)

Hills, Hills, and More Hills in the Wet

After seeing the usa PRO challenge depart Aspen this morning (which was great, fantastic access to the teams before hand, and i was feet away from them on a turn as they were doing laps around town), I headed up a generally more rolling stretch of road a few miles from downtown. Since the area tends to be more rolling, the climbs are much steeper than in other parts; at 8-9k ft, you can also make sure to either add a few percent grade relative to sea level or imagine breathing through a straw with your nose plugged. There is little chance to settle into a rhythm, the climbs are too short and steep, you need to power over them as much as possible. I did manage to find a longish secluded stretch of road that did go straight up. After killing my legs, the rain throughout the day made the descent down more than treacherous, I almost managed to run off a few times but kept it upright and on the tarmac. Some more rolling hills home with a few false flats thrown in to suck all the life out of my legs, not to mention increasingly heavy rain made me happier than a clam to be pulling home. Check back for a quick vid of the peloton leaving Aspen.






PRO BIKE RACING

The Bells

Letters and words are coming, I'm gonna go watch some racing right now.

Update: Headed up a classic Aspen area climb, Maroon Bells. It's a long climb, not the steepest at times, but it's a slog. A steep opening slope followed by a fast downhill starts things off. Then the road keeps climbing. And climbing. The scenery makes everything more than worth it. On the way up I was passed by a small group of riders all on team issue SuperSix Evos, in mostly team kit. Seeing as I was nowhere near the race finish, before the race had even started anyways, I found this a bit peculiar. One person I did recognize in the group was Tim Johnson, cyclocrosser extraordinaire. The group ended up being a tour that was sponsored by Cannondale (they got backstage access to the PRO team too). Tim Johnson ended up being a really, really nice and cool guy; super friendly and actually struck up a conversation with me. The view at the end of the climb makes it more than worth the trip up. Catch it in the right light, and the mountains do look purple.





BIKE RACING:



VeloNews Pictures

Playtime!

Decided to go play in the hills. I'm in Colorado for the USA Pro Challenge and I rented a bike (checking your own in the states is an absurd process). Here's the little spin I did around Aspen after getting off the flight. There's plenty more to come.

Early

I actually managed to get myself out of bed this weekend to go for early morning rides. Saturday was by far the more eventful day; despite this I didn't take any pictures. It started out innocuously enough: a passing drizzle, and just some wet roads. The rain, however began to steadily increase a few miles in and just past a third of the way into it, it began to pour. And I mean rain hurting the skin pour. By the time I was wet and cold I was over halfway so I kept ploughing, or swimming really, ahead. A truck very nicely did the classic spray after hurtling through a puddle I was next to; I felt like I had dove under a wave in the ocean, the water was literally over my head. Hurried home to a long hot shower after that. Sunday morning was much more relaxing...the sun was shining, the roads were dry, all was peaceful. It was almost cold without warmers when i first threw a leg over, but after my warm up as my pace and the sun rose, the chill lifted. False flats litter roads on the eastern end of Long Island, and after rising steadily, I enjoyed a twisty descent, followed by a brutal time trial against the wind along a highly exposed isthmus. Turning back towards home I took a few gravé roads, still packed down well from the rains and just relaxed and took in my surroundings and was happy for a relatively easy ride. 




Saturday:


Sunday:

Birthday Ride -- with video!

Sorry for the long delay; I thought I would test out the camera today (results below, I'm quite happy). Pretty much a normal ride, Millstone is a very fun descent, it's quite easy to pick up speed on it. Some other quiet roads were thrown in through the woods; all in all a relaxing ride with Renée.