Estes Park Ride

Saturday, Christine and I met up with John and Annette for a ride up to Estes Park. This would be the first serious test of my new double chainring, and I guess I passed.

We rode from Loveland to Drake (mostly along US 34), stopping frequently to regroup and take a quick break from the climbing. At the town of Drake, we turned onto Devils Gulch Road and headed off alone towards Glenn Haven for a harder workout. The road from Drake to Estes Park includes an 8 mile climb with two seriously step sets of switchbacks at the end. I made pretty good time the whole way, and managed to push up the switchbacks with my new (harder) low gear. I waited for a few minutes and then went back down the road to wait for the others. The second time up the switchbacks was a little harder than the first, but I'm glad I forced myself to do them twice.

One rolling descent later, we arrived in Estes Park and found an eatery for some ice cream, bagels, and soda. Fizzy soda tastes sooo good on a day like that. Fortunately for our tired legs, the reverse ride back to Fort Collins is signifigantly easier because it's almost entirely downhill. I still worked pretty hard, though, because I had to keep up with John, who descends like crazy.

Last year I did the same ride, and I remember Christine saying that she wishes she were in shape enough to ride to Estes. I knew I could turn her into a cyclist. :) We celebreated with venti iced soy chai's from Starbucks. Yum.