Brrr, it was a chilly night. We woke up to some frost on our tent so we were in no hurry to leave. We waited until the sun came up over Swan Mountain and started to warm us up.
I wanted to start the last day with Christine, and we both rode up and over Swam Mountain Road together. It was a nice way to start our final day. After our descent, we split up to ride our own pace for the climb up to Loveland Pass. I ended up catching a couple friends and settling into a comfortable groove while we chatted. As we neared Arapahoe Basin ski resort, I ramped up the pace a little and climbed on my own. There were still people skiing at A-Basin, by the way. June 25th, and people are still skiing.
Over Loveland Pass it was a fun descent down to Loveland ski resort. And that's where things got hairy for a while. The original plan for the tour was for us to ride a bike trail from there, but I think someone at the BTC dropped the ball on securing the right permits. There was a running race happening on that trail and we weren't allowed to use it. There was talk of us having to be bussed down the road, but at the last minute CDOT allowed us to ride on the I70 shoulder.
I'm not sure if that was a good or a bad thing. When I got to Loveland Ski resort, the state patrol was there and letting groups of 50 or so riders go at a time to try to make things safer. My experience was that it had the opposite effect because it forced larger groups of people to be on the road together instead of what could have been smaller groups or singles on the road. It essentially created several mass start events for people have no experience or business being in a mass start event. For racers - Think of the scariest, sketchiest race you've ever been in. Now make it downhill at speeds 30-40 MPH. Now add cars and semis buzzing the group. Now add in some random cones that your fellow riders don't point out because they're not comfortable enough to take their hands off the bars because they also need their hands on the brakes to jam on them any time they see the slightest bit of gravel. I think you get the point. It was frightening, and I was pretty happy to get off the highway and onto frontage roads around Dumont.
At those speeds the miles melt away and before I knew it we were in Idaho Springs getting ready to head up the final climb of the trip. From the final aid station it was about 10 miles to Central City via a 8 mile climb up the Central City Parkway. The sun was blazing, but that last climb felt great. I turned on A Tribe Called Quest and got into a good climbing groove. After a short downhill there was a demoralizing 12% climb to the parking area. It was short, but the descent prior was just enough to make your legs feel like they were filled with lead.
The finish line festivities were down the road in downtown Central City. Seemed like a bad idea to me. The last thing I wanted to do was wait for another shuttle bus, so I loaded our bags into the car and drove to Longmont where our good friends let me take a shower and play with their new puppy for a couple hours.
It's so fun to get out and ride for week. I wasn't going to do it this year, but Christine talked me into it and I'm glad.
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