Colorado Biking

Colorado Biking

This year we took a trip to Durango, CO for vacation.  Although technically a family vacation I couldn't pass up the chance to take my bikes.  We didn't want to take the truck and I didn't want both bikes strapped on the trunk.  I decided to give myself the father day gift of adding a receiver hitch to the Camry.  My 2" bike rack wouldn't fit so I had to borrow one.  Thanks Keith!

On our way to Colorado

Day One: Taking it to the road


Since this was a family vacation I could really only bike when everybody was asleep.  Our first morning I got on my road bike and headed toward Silverton.  We were about 20 miles and a few mountains away from Silverton.

Runaway truck ramp sign

I climbed for 6 miles at 6-8% grade.  I maintained about 160 Heart Rate I just took my time and climbed and climbed.  I was surprised that the altitude didn't seem to affect me more than it did.

I stopped fairly often to snap a picture and enjoy the view

There was a bit of snow at the top of the pass.  The snow is holding my bike up.  

There was one more higher pass after this one.  I decided with the clouds coming in and this being my first day here I would save that for another day.

I thought this was going to be awesome

What would be better than going 6 miles downhill?  Apparently anything. :-s  This was a very white knuckle ride where I kept the brakes on the whole way!  The wind, drop-offs, and 30+ mph were quite scary when combined.

At the bottom of the 6 mile downhill.  Happy to be alive.

Here are the elevation profiles up my climb & descent.

climb profile by distance. 

climb profile by time.  It didn't take me near as long to get down.

The elevation that first day didn't seem to bug me too much until a few hours after my ride.  The rest of the day I had NO ENERGY.  After that first day I got winded easy but it didn't take too long to recover.

Day Three:  Off to single track

I didn't ride on the second day.  The third day of our trip was scheduled for a family mountain bike ride.

The family: Kelsey, Hayden, Scott, Jocelyn, Sean, Ethan, Randy.  Not riding are Kelly, Vivian, & Tracie.

going up in the lift.  bike following

Top of the mountain.  Ready to begin the first trail

We had a couple of wet crossings.  Got some nice mud on my brand new Tulsa Tough jersey.

Love the scenery

A bit of Vitamin M on the bottle.  It's good for you.

Day Five: Last day to ride

We leave tomorrow.  I had to make a choice.  Road or Mountain.  The Mountain won out.

Several trails finished here at the base of the mountain.  The 1990 World Cup Trail started here as well.

Beginning to descent the World Cup trail.

Trail map. One of the trails isn't on here but came down the black trail a few times plus a loop at the top.

Here is my mountain bike garmin data.  The first climb is mine.  One mile up the World Cup trail for about 500' of climb.  The second two climbs were on the ski lift.  The second descent is the World Cup trail.  I didn't know my heart rate could be that high going downhill.

Can't wait to go back to Colorado someday. 

Tulsa Tough '11

I participated in the Tulsa Tough Gran Fondos this year. Several have asked me what Gran Fondo means. Best I can tell it is a fancy term for a large organized bike ride. Last year I rode 2 x 100 miles. This year they offered something new, a 200k called the Molte Gran Fondo on Saturday. I figured why not. The farthest I had ridden previously was 110 miles. This would be about 124 miles.

Day One Saturday - Molte Gran Fondo


The ride was to start at 7:30. A train through downtown Tulsa delayed the start about 15 minutes. It doesn't seem like much but every minute means more heat to ride in. The start was great, the route headed South down Riverside Drive. Riverside is closed down and it is a blast to ride down the road in a large group. I kept up with the large pace group through Kiefer which is about mile 26. This is the first significant hill on the ride. I wasn't far behind but I lost the main group on that hill. A small group of us stayed together for while after this hill. We were actually catching the lead group when we came to a four way stop with traffic. Stopping for traffic put the lead group way out of reach.  Even if I would have stayed with the lead group I would have never stuck with them on Teal Rd Hill. 


My first rest stop was Kellyville.  After this rest stop was the optional 200k extra loop.  That was a lonely extra 20 miles.  It did turn out to have a benefit I never thought about.  The 200k loop eventually rejoined the main route.  I started seeing people again.  That was great.  What wasn't great was my second trip up Teal Rd.  I might have cussed a bit.  Or a lot.  At the top of that hill I ran saw some Team Superior including Mike & TJ.  A bit after that I saw Marsha for a bit.  Had a brief stop in Kellyville again and then off with a few riders.  At the mile 50 stop I saw Susan & more Superior including Dan.  Taking that extra loop was great for seeing people.  I ran into Nita several times throughout the day as well as she was providing support for Jared.


The last person I ran into that I knew was Paul.  Paul and some girl that called him Scott :-).  I forgot her name.  Paul decided for this to be his first century!  A tough century indeed.  I think the century riders actually got 106 this day!  I rode off/on with Paul over the last 40 miles.  I did make one mistake.  I left the last rest stop just as Paul pulled in.  I did not enjoy that last 10 miles.  It was hot and lonely.  I was quite happy to finally finish.


Almost forgot, about mile 100 I help a guy named Danny change his flat tire.  Well, I changed it for him since he didn't know how :-s.  Come on people....  Then just as we got it completely changed the SAG vehicle pulled up.  Timing is everything.


Day One stats
Tough Official Molte Gran Fondo results
http://www.milliseconds.com/races/detail/1437/144167
7:47:58  (1:40:31 behind the first finisher)
15.9 mph avg
15 out of 23 male finishers
17 out of 26 all finishers


My Garmin
126.58 miles
7:22:32
17.2 mph avg
45.4 mph max
8788 calories
158 heart rate average
81 average cadence
5722' ascent


Day Two Sunday - Gran Fondo Cento


Another 7:30 AM start from Riverpark West.  Today looked a bit stormy.  We were delayed about half an hour before we started.  I ran into Brett at the start line.  We've ridden some gravel in the past and we thought we would stay together if we seems compatible.  We had both ridden long rides on Saturday.  Turns out every time Brett was tired so was I.  Somewhere in the first 20 miles we started riding with a group of 5 from Highroller Cyclery out of Fayetteville, AR.  At rest stop 2 we decided to wait for this group to make the day go easier.

Rest Stop #2

The Highroller group was a good group to join for a pace group.    One other guy, Mike,  joined this group too.  I thought he looked familiar and turns out I finished Flint Hills Death Ride with Mike last year.  Eight of us rode together the rest of the day.


At the end ran into a friend, Susan.  Thanks for saying hi and taking a few pictures.

Brett & Sean at the end to two days of Tough

New this year.  A medal for finishing 2 x 100 (or more).

Day Two stats

Tough Official Gran Fondo Cento results
http://www.milliseconds.com/races/detail/1441

6:42:30  (2:06:18 behind the first finisher)

14.9 mph avg

33 out of 43 male finishers

37 out of 52 all finishers

My Garmin

106.24 miles

6:15:02

17.0 mph avg

42.8 mph max

7179 calories

136 heart rate average

78 average cadence

4305' ascent

Out of about 1000 riders only 5 did the 200k/100mi courses.  Only 10 riders did the 2 x 100 mi courses.  Fifteen "Double Tough" finishers.  I think 17 people completed the ultimate goal of the Deuce, 2 x 100 miles in under 5 hours each.

Tour de Cure '11

Had a great time at my 5th Tour de Cure.  This year I raised about $2,500 for the ADA.  About $1,500 plus another $1,000 in company matching funds.  I know wonderful generous people.  Because I raised over $1,000 I was obligated to ride my mountain bike for 75 miles.

Bartlesville Pedalers & Friends
Lori, Randy, Marsha, Sean, and Dan

We're Off!

Warp Speed

Randy leaving rest stop #3

Lori leaving rest stop #3

Dan leaving rest stop #3

In the middle of nowhere

I challenged Dan & Randy to climb the hill at Elwood Avenue.  A very steep hill and even worse after 68 miles.  This was NOT part of the course.

How far?  75.36 miles

How long?  5:12 riding time

How fast 14.5 mph (good for a mountain bike)

how many calories?  5002 (now I can eat anything I want for a day or so)

how high?  3701' of ascent

And lastly, the sound of knobbies riding 75 miles.... (by request)

requested Jeremy.  hope you like it.

Full Moon Run

The Full Moon Run sounded like a good opportunity to get a fast run with a bunch of runners.  My second timed 5k.

Sean, Kristie, & Jennifer before the race

waiting to run

I'm in there somewhere behind a few hundred people

The Stats:

bib number:	1978
age:	43
gender:	M
location:	Bartlesville, OK
overall place:	745 out of 2005
division place:	51 out of 113
gender place:	505 out of 935
time:	28:25
pace:	5:47
guntime:	28:52

Vivian and I listening to the Journey cover band after the run

Chili Bike

I just got a new mountain bike in December.  For some reason that made me think I was qualified to ride EVERY trail at Lake McMurtrey near Stillwater, OK.  Chili-bike is 28 miles of trails and 14 miles of road/gravel in 6 hours?  Sure, why not.  I was told these trails weren't technical; but then my source of information is somebody that races mountain bikes.  Our ideas of technical are probably very different.


As with many rides that I have done in the past I was asking myself before it started "What am I doing here?" I don't know anything about mountain biking.  Did a few hours at Turkey Mountain several years ago really prepare me to go 28 miles!  I must be insane.


WARNING!  There are graphic pictures below.  Those who don't like the sight of carnage please turn back now!  Okay, you've been warned.

Before the ride.  My trusty bike enjoying the lake.

Yes, rose colored lenses were perfect for the woods.

The ride is somewhat unorganized.  You just kind of start and do whatever you want in whatever order.  I met a couple of guys, Ben & Spenser.  Ran into them at the hotel and again at the ride.  I asked if I could ride with them for at least a bit.  They had the great idea to ride the farthest away sections first.  This meant we start with a 7 mile road/gravel ride.

It was a good idea until about mile 5.  I was going down a hill and the road was quite wash-boarded.  My bike started bouncing around until I went sliding through the dirt & gravel.  I believe I was going 15+ MPH.  What a great way to start the day.  Ben and Spenser were nice enough to wait for me to pick myself up and decide that I could indeed keep riding.    

Ben, Spenser, & me had been riding about the same speed until we go to the trails.  They then turned on the turbo and left me in the dust.  We did see each on the trails some and at least started every trail together.  It was good to have some company.  I have no pictures so maybe I'm making them up.  The woods can be very lonely.

The trails were awesome.  Had a great tiring day.  Occasionally remembered to look at the great scenery.  Not much time to look around while riding the trails.  Time did pass very quickly.

You can see the lake in the distance.

Ben & Spenser had only ridden a couple of the trails before.  Thankfully, we happened to do the hardest trail first.

I walked plenty of up hills and several down hills.  Very exhausting.  This is at the top of a rocky hill that I just climbed.

Didn't take time for too many pictures.  Every picture I took is here.

A view of my wounds.  I rode about 5 hours after my accident.  Yes, I am eating a hot dog.

Nasty!  I warned you!

Ouch!

Mountain biking was great!  I hope to do more in the future!