Vacation in Fort Collins

It was fun to have a free day at home. Usually by the time I get a couple hours into a ride, I start thinking about all the other stuff I *should* be doing. Since we weren't even planning on being home on Saturday, it really felt like bonus time.

I went out for an early morning ride and met up with a couple teammates. The ride down to meet them was fun because I ended up on part of a triathlon course and some other charity ride course. So I had a police escort for a bit, people cheering, people stopping traffic, and even some other fast riders to chase down. Consequently, I made pretty good time down to Carter Lake.

From Carter, we rode up 34 to Estes Park via the brutal switchbacks near Glen Haven. They're hard enough on an easy day, but we we're really moving at quite a good pace. Fortunately I wasn't the only one feeling the pain, and we did end up easing up a bit. Maybe I shouldn't have had that wine the night before. :)

I hadn't really planned on being out that long, so I only grabbed a couple gels for the ride. When we started heading back home (and I was out of gels), I knew I was going to bonk. Those last 10 miles were tough, but I made it home without feeling too wacky. I rode for around 4 hours and 70+ miles, which isn't bad considering I didn't even think I'd get to ride for at least another week.