Estes Ride

Every year I have to ride to Estes Park. Its one of my favorite rides for a lot of reasons. One, I love riding through Big Thompson Canyon with the river less than 50 feet away. Just the sound of the river rushing by is enough to make me want to ride there everyday.

Second, I almost always see wildlife. One time I saw two big horn sheep way up on the steep rocky face of the canyon wall ran their heads together, making a loud clacking noise that echoed against the canyon walls.

This time I saw a young goat on the side of the road (with the usual paparrazi of tourists surrounding it taking photos. This is one time I did NOT take a photo!).

Third, I love the view from the top. I always take the Glen Haven route (more on that below) and it dumps you at the top of a hill with a breathtaking view of Longs Peak.

But the final reason is all about training (of course).  The Glen Haven route departs highway 34 at Drake and meanders along for 9 miles or so, gradually going up to the town of Glen Haven. This part of the ride is a breath of fresh air because there's very little traffic and the road gently twists and turns through trees and meadows. Lovely.

Then all hell breaks loose. After leaving Glen Haven, the road suddenly starts going up, up, and UP. No more nice and easy pedaling listening to yourself sing Sunshine on My Shoulder. Nooooo...it's one heart-crushing push to the top.

There are two switchbacks near the top of this climb. I don't know the percent grade but I know that when I drive it in my car, I have to downshift to 1st gear to make it. It's that steep.

Quite simply, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. This section of the ride is not long, but in terms of sheer effort, it's excruciating. My heart pounds so hard and I sweat so much just getting up those switchbacks, that I honestly think I'm going to just fall over and die.

I made it to the top - thank God - and will keep doing this every year until I can't do it anymore.

Another nice thing about the ride this year is that I rode with Scott Taylor, a friend of mine who is training for Florida Ironman. Sarah and Brenda would normally be with us but they were doing the Boulder Peak triathlon that day. I really enjoyed riding with Scott because he's a really nice guy and well, because he's really fast and I knew I would have to push myself to keep up with him. Fortunately, we rode at a leisurely pace and chatted all the way up (he went ahead of me at the point where it started getting steep, handily climbing the switchbacks in record time) and on the way down, his front tire was about to blow so we took it easy. It finally blew about a mile from our cars. Whew!

Here's Scott at the top:

Here's a few photos of a group of us a few years ago and the view as we got closer to highway 34, near the town of Estes Park (lower photo):

You can probably see why I like to do this ride every year. Its a killer doing the switchbacks but the scenery makes it totally worth it. I may just do it again this year!