The wheels on the bike go round and round (and round and round and round)

Last year riding a century was sort of a lofty goal, this year it's more like a training ride (almost). I went on a 93 mile team ride yesterday through the mountains, and although it wasn't quite a century, it was definitely harder than the century I did last year. I think it had something to do with the 7000 feet of climbing.

Our trip started yesterday with a ride from Loveland to Estes Park via Glen Haven. It's about 26 miles of nothing but up-up-up, finishing with a brutal pair of switchbacks. I haven't done this ride since last year, and at the time I was riding with a couple people that were considerably slower than me. This time, we pushed a pretty hard pace the whole time, but I still felt pretty strong going up the switchbacks. It's good to know that all this training crap isn't a waste of time.

After a stop in a coffee shop for some chow (one can only eat gels for so long), we headed up the Peak To Peak Highway (CO Highway 7). The scenery is pretty amazing; what a great place to suffer. Riding a climb for the first time is difficult for me, because I'm never quite sure how hard to push. I really don't want to blow up on the way up by trying to go too fast. I did alright on this one, and managed to drop one of the cat 3 guys who was really hurting.

The tough climb was followed by 15-20 miles of descent through Allens Park and into Lyons. John and I were off the back of the group, and did a pretty good job of working together in a 2-man paceline to fly down the mountain. It was quite fun, even if a couple cars were really annoying and passed by us too closely. We sat in the grass and took a breather in Lyons, while Louis walked over to the police station to report a particularly dangerous driver.

From there I started my slow fade back to Loveland. I've ridden between Loveland and Lyons a ton of times, so that part of the trip always drags for me. (especially when I exhausted). Once we got off the main highway I told them I was going to drop and cruise home at a more leisurely pace. Even so, they only beat me back by a few minutes, so I guess I wasn't the only one hurting.