160miles In The Mountains
After a month spent in Canada visiting with family, chillin’ with friends, riding my bike and even getting in a bit of work, I turned the van around and made the 1800 mile/2900 km drive back to my mountain paradise, Salida, Colorado. It was a wonderful trip to Ontario but to be honest, I was anxious to get back in the mountains; flat terrain at near sea-level just doesn’t do it for me anymore.
Now back in Salida for two weeks, I’ve been riding regularly–both on and off road–while getting acclimated to the 7,000′ of elevation. While all has been going well since my return, I’ve been feeling really out of shape and slow the past two weeks. I’m unable to keep up with my friends on the trail and am always gasping for air on the big climbs. On both short and long rides, I’m off the back and struggling. Not cool.
Because of this, when Reilly told me of a 160mile/257kms road ride that was planned for Monday, I quickly said “pass.” I just did not want to end up riding by myself for the whole day nor did I want to burden my friends with having to wait for my sorry ass at every turn and every mountain pass. But, being the great friend that he is, Reilly wouldn’t listen to my nonsense and pretty much told me that I had to join himself, Aaron, Ryan and Wooch for Monday’s little ride. Okay, Frakes, you win, I’ll be there. A6:05am, the five of us left Salida for what would turn out to be an incredible day of riding. It also proved that I’m back!
Our route took us west out of Salida, up and over Monarch Pass and it’s 11,312′ of elevation. While I was the last to summit, I did so feeling pretty good. After a short stop to regroup, we were back on the bikes and flying down the other side of the pass. We stopped briefly to refill our water-bottles at a road-side spring then kept on flying down-hill. Once the road levelled out–well, as much as it does in Colorado–we five worked very well together keeping a tight pace-line, each taking his turn cutting a path through the warm sunny day that was unfolding before us.
After just four hours and twenty minutes, we had covered the sixty miles to Gunnison, elevation 7,770′. Once in town, we rode straight to Powerstop restaurant for burgers…damn were they good! [excellent veggie burger…enhanced with a fried egg] Filling our stomachs, refilling our bottles and emptying our bladders, we were back on the bike for the 14mile ride along the Taylor River.
It was beautiful, what road riding is all about. Smooth pavement with a sizeable shoulder, very little traffic, undulating terrain, trees, mountains, a raging river and a tail-wind. It was along this stretch that Wooch–our new friend, in town to train for his tenth Leadville Trail 100 mtb race–decided that he would try to stick with Ryan when he began to accelerate. The rest of us knew better. Oh well, there’s only one way to learn. After about twenty minutes, Reilly, Aaron and I caught Wooch….who had been dropped by The Squirrel.
Soon enough, however, we were all together at the Taylor Reservoir, filling bottles and getting ready for our second mountain pass of the day and returning back over the Continental Divide. The ride to the summit of Cottonwood Pass is about 14miles of dirt road. Ya, dirt, and I’m riding my super-stiff carbon Cervelo. It was jarring, to say the least. Reilly, however, was happy to be riding his Trek Domane with the built-in dampener. He was all smiles.
From the start, Ryan blasted off ahead, not to be seen again until we regrouped at the 12,326′ summit. Reilly was not far behind him with Wooch, Aaron and myself taking up the rear. As we climbed, however, something wonderful happened; I found my mountain legs!! Leaving Aaron and Wooch behind, I kept a smooth cadence and a pretty good pace, eventually catching up to Reilly with about two miles to go. We summitted together and gave each other a big high-five while Ryan cheered our arrival. I was feeling strong and so happy to have joined this great group of riders for the day. Within a few minutes we were again five and preparing for the fast, fast descent down Cottonwood.
Regrettably, my computer’s battery died as I was climbing Cottonwood, so I don’t have any official numbers. However, Wooch says that his computer indicated a maximum speed of 59mph. Since I passed Wooch down that hill a couple of times, I’m going to give myself a max speed of 60mph or 96.5kph. My previous top speed was 57mph or 92kph, achieved on that same road. A new personal record! Although, the elusive 100kph is still to be reached… Near the bottom, a nasty cross wind tried to push me all over the road; I really had to fight hard to stay in my lane. It would seem that while my aero frame helps me on the descents, it acts like a giant sail when the winds blow from the side.
Once at the bottom of the hill we stopped at the Cottonwood Hot Springs for more water…alas, not a soak, just cold water in our bottles. We had thirty more miles to ride back to Salida to end the day but we knew we would have a head-wind to contend with. Again, we worked together to push through the wind, despite all of us starting to feel the affects of riding all day.
After eleven hours and forty-nine minutes, after 11,200′ of climbing over 160miles/257kms we made it back to Salida all smiles. It was glorious. While Aaron continued on home, the four of us braved the cold temperatures and raging current of the Arkansas River for a therapeutic soaking of our tired legs. After showers and more water, we met up for a well earned pizza dinner at Moonlight.
For the past two weeks I’ve been feeling slow and weak; both out of shape and in need of acclimating to the elevation here in the mountains. On Monday, however, I felt strong and steady all day, even finding a second wind as I climbed Cottonwood Pass. It just reminded me that sometimes all we need to get it done is a bit of hard work, perseverance and attitude. Oh ya, a kick in the ass from a friend helps.
A huge round of thanks to Reilly, Ryan, Wooch and Aaron for making it such a triumphant day of riding. Let’s do it again soon!
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