Extremes

See the full gallery on Posterous

It was 33 degrees when we started on Saturday.

It was 90 when we finished.

I averaged 6 mph up the pass.

And 37 mph down the descent (max 47+ and we rode on I-70 due to a 1/2 marathon on the bike path).

The key to surviving a week long bicycle trip is to manage the extremes. The lights go off at 9pm and on at 5 am - whether you are ready or not. So it's best you are ready.

You only have so much energy so being careful to not waste any is important. It's good to have a system - it's hard sleeping on a different gym floor every night to say it's a routine - but the closer to a "routine" the better. You need to know where everything is, how to get to it without unpacking and repacking everything, have everything you need ready for the morning (which typically entails guessing on the range of weather conditions you might experience), while maintaining some of the "comforts of home" on a gym floor in a local high school with varying shower facilities that you are sharing with 300-500 other fellow sufferers. Wasting energy looking, repacking, and fretting would make for a long week - but it's how some get by!

The last day is a cruel day. You're excited to be going home. You don't want to go home.

17 of the first 18 miles were up hill, the last 8 truly on the pass and a bit steeper. Up to the continental divide at 11,990 feet, which of course means you have to go up higher to 12,030! Trust me, the views make the work worth it!! Up through Arapahoe Basin I heard and then saw a couple snow mobilers having a blast in the remaining snow (this is the highest ski area in Colorado). The skiers weren't due out for a couple of hours, the slopes should stay open through the 4th if not for one more additional weekend.

You are exhausted and don't want to climb anymore. But you want to test one more pass.

After Loveland Pass the ride organizers just got down right cruel, and worse we had seen the climb - on our way in on the Central City Parkway. An 8+ mile steep (8% or more average) climb, after all we had just done. Heidi's parents were picking her up at the finish, he warned her about the "steep hill" at the finish. Yea, new flash, we had seen it.

So we struggled up the very last climb, with mixed emotions. At every pass a volunteer had stood, with her cowbell and distinctive WooHoo cheering us on and letting us know how much longer the suffering would last. She was always a welcome site and cheerful encourager. You knew you were close and she made sure you had the motivation to finish.

So when she said 2 more miles and it was mostly downhill it was worthy of a fist pump. We were almost done.

Until the last climb.

Now we knew what Col Marshall meant about the "steep hill".

The road up to the parking lot - that we hadn't seen nor anticipated. It was a good 13+%. Ouch. That was not nice.

So it's all about managing the extremes - even those you cannot anticipate.