Ride Through Colorado National Monument

November 8th, 2007


I intended to write about my ride through the Colorado National Monument last week but didn’t get it done. Things were hectic with Halloween, a dinner for work and replacing my personal computer. My computer was 9 years old and I was having too much trouble running new software on it. Oh and I spent the beautiful weekend working on my garage. There’s been something else big but I can’t post about it just yet.

On a related my stuff is too old note, a new cell phone showed up a couple weeks ago in the mail because my current one isn’t going to be supported. It’s the only cell phone I’ve had because I just don’t use it very much. The good news is the new one is smaller and won’t take up so much room in my jersey pocket.

We decided to go over to Grand Junction to see my aunt and uncle almost 2 weeks ago. Mountain biking in Fruita as appealing but I hadn’t done my monthly century yet and it was the last weekend of the month. I decided I’d ride through Colorado National Monument. I’d ridden part of it and driven through it but I’d never ridden the whole way.

We drove to Grand Junction after work on Friday and got there late. I was already pretty exhausted from a stressful week at work.

Colorado National Monument from Grand JunctionSaturday morning I got a late start but that allowed it to warm up enough to wear short sleeves and knee warmers. One thing to note about the road through Colorado National Monument is that it runs along the top of the cliffs. Whether you start from Grand Junction or Fruita, it means you have a good climb ahead of you.

Tunnel in Colorado National MonumentI started from Grand Junction and had a bit of an easy spin before I hit the climb. Along the Colorado River, the cottonwood trees were still really pretty. I knew I had a long climb ahead of me so I just settled into a nice, steady pace. The views are really cool as you climb up to the cliffs and then go through a tunnel.

Glade ParkSince my uncle was working at the post office trailer up in Glade Park, I rode up there which added about another 1,000 feet of climbing. The turn off is about the top of the main climb on the main Monument road. There’s really not much to see up there other than the hills around.

Grand Junction from Glade Park RoadAfter getting a tour of the post office trailer, I had a fun descent back to the main road. There’s one sharp left corner where you’re just looking at the valley far below. I took a picture but it doesn’t show it the best. At least at 40+ mph, it looked like if you didn’t make the curve you’d launch into free fall.

Colorado National MonumentBack on the main road, the road follows the tops of the canyons. Although there’s no big climbs, there’s still a lot of up and down. Riding on a bike, I realized the road is closer to the edge than I had thought when I drove it. There’s one spot near the Fruita end where the wall for the road starts on the top of the cliff before it gets totally vertical. I normally like heights but I felt safer riding in the middle of the lane through that section.

Once I got to the Fruita end, I had a great descent down. That end has 2 tunnels. In a couple minutes I was done what had taken me an hour to climb on the other end.

From Fruita back to Grand Junction is ever so slightly uphill but seems flat. Since the loop from my aunt and uncle’s house was only about 65 miles, I was going to ride at least an extra 25 files on Highway 50 towards Montrose. That would have given me the minimum 90 miles to count as a century for the UMCA Year Rounder.

I got thinking about it. I was really tired. Partly from the ride and partly from the week. About the last hour of riding would be after dark, although I had my lights with me so it didn’t really matter. I still decided riding almost a century wasn’t that important and there was no reason to turn a great ride into something I didn’t enjoy. Of course once I turned around and was about a mile from the end of my ride some rednecks had to throw a pop bottle at me.

Colorado National Monument Bike Ride ProfileI ended up doing 71.3 miles with 3937 feet of climbing in 5:11 of ride time. It wasn’t as much as I had planned but Highway 50 is pretty boring and hanging out at the house as more enjoyable.

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Flat and Windy

October 5th, 2007

Riding South of Ellicott, CO

Last Saturday I headed out for my long September ride. I really wished I was in shape to ride up to Cripple Creek since the aspen are turned now. Up to Cripple Creek and back hurts even when I’m in shape.

Instead I did the Ellicott/Hanover loop. It’s a ride I do in the winter since it stays low and is generally warmer. It’s certainly not what I call scenic.

Normally I go down to Fountain, go out to Hanover and then ride up to Ellicott. This time I did it in the opposite direction since possible rain showers were forecast for the afternoon there’s no place to get shelter between Hanover and Ellicott and from Ellicott back into town.

It turned out I only got a few rain drops so rain wasn’t a factor. My choice of direction left me battling a fierce headwind up to 65 mph the whole way down the Peyton highway where there’s absolutely nothing to block it. From that point it would have been better to go my normal direction. Although if I had gone my normal direction, I may have been breathing smoke from a grass fire that broke out around Squirrel Creek when a hay truck caught on fire. I saw the plume of smoke when I looked back at one point but I hadn’t seen anything when I went through that area.

The last part of my ride was to pick my girls up. I rode 7 miles with an empty trailer and 7 miles with them in it. Even with it empty, it’s noticeable that it’s more work. With both of them in it, I think it’s close to 90 lbs so I really feel it.

I felt much better than I did on my long August Ride but was slightly slower even before I picked the girls up. I think it was because of the wind. I was out in the open when I had a headwind and cross wind and was more protected by trees when I did have a tailwind. Once I picked up the trailer, my average speed dropped even more.

Bike Ride Profile of Ellicott/Hanover LoopOnce didn’t get a full 100 miles in but I got in the required 90 miles to count toward the UMCA Year Rounder. I got in 92.2 miles with 27.17 feet of climbing. It took me 7:09 of ride time.

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Doing a Long Ride on Empty

August 31st, 2007

Cycling near Larkspur, CO

Last Saturday I headed out to do my century ride for August. Although I did a little better in July, once again for August this would be about as much riding as I had done the whole rest of the month.

Larkspur Renaissance FestivalIt had been a few months since I had ridden to Sedalia so I was thinking of going there. Once I got to Palmer Lake, I thought it was late enough in the summer that the Renaissance Festival would be over so I could take a little different route and go through Larkspur instead of just going out and back on 105. I’ve never been in Larkspur during the Renaissance Festival but I’ve seen traffic jams on I-25 from traffic backing up at the off ramps so I can only imagine what it’s like. Fortunately I was right about it being over and it was just a small quiet town.

Last week was very stressful at work which had left me drained. It had affected me enough physically that I felt drained even on the bike but it was good to be riding. I’ve also been on antibiotics for 2 weeks for a sinus infection. The antibiotics were really messing my stomach up which also didn’t help energy levels. Since then I came to my senses and finished up the bottle of iFlora that I had and I’m taking Digest Caps until my order of more iFlora comes. My stomach and energy has been better the last few days.

I was moving slow and I needed to be back to meet my family on the north end of town so I didn’t make it all the way to Sedalia. There’s no where to get water along 105 so I usually need to make it to Sedalia. Since I had gone through Larkspur, I had filled up with water there so I was fine turning around.

Ride Elevation ProfileI didn’t get a full 100 miles in but I got in the required 90 miles to count toward the UMCA Year Rounder. I got in 90.3 miles with 3960 feet of climbing. It took me 6:17 of ride time. I did finish my ride a few hundred feet higher than I started but it was still slower than it should have been. It was still better than not riding.

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July Century Ride

July 30th, 2007

Farm Land Near Elbert, CO

Since the month is nearly over and I hadn’t done a century ride yet this month for the UMCA Year Rounder, I headed out yesterday to get a long ride in. Since I was ready about the time the Acacia Ride comes by my house, I decided I’d try riding with them at least up to the Air Force Academy. I was still tying the our new dog up when I head the whirl of bikes. I rushed to grab my stuff and start riding. By then they were out of sight. I knew my only change of riding with the group was if the timing of light at Garden of the Gods Road was just right. Sure enough as I got close I could see the group waiting. The light turned green just before I got there and I was able to catch onto the back of the group.

I was debating about going into the Air Force Academy and riding up to the bomber at least with other OTB riders. When we cut through the neighborhood behind the retail on Academy, I was having trouble staying on the back of the pack. I decided my best option was to go ride by myself.

Haystack near Elbert, COI headed out across the south edge of the Black Forest. Even though it was before noon, there was an ugly thunderstorm to the south near Falcon. I headed north to Elbert and was a bit concerned about the weather. I enjoyed partly cloudy skies and hoped that I wouldn’t get caught in lightning later in the ride. Even after the hot weather the last couple weeks, it’s still green and looked like there’s been a lot of hay making.

I took a break at the convenience store in Elbert and then headed back south. Once I got back near the Palmer Divide, I could see there were still storms to the south. Once I got to the top of the hill, it looked good to the west and the thunderstorms appeared to be south of my planned route back on US 24. Although there were a few wet spots near Falcon, the sun was shinning.

Century Ride ProfileFrom my house out to Elbert and back is just over 80 miles. I generally add some extra miles out on the plains but I wanted to get back close to home since clouds were building again to the west. I rode through Manitou and did a loop around my neighborhood to bring my ride to 100.4 miles. I did 3570 feet of climbing. My ride time was 6:42 for an average speed of 15.0 mph.

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Long Ride for June

June 25th, 2007

Bomber at the Air Force Academy

Ride ProfileUnfortunately this month I’ve continued to make my ride for the UMCA Year-Rounder Challenge half my time on the bike for the month. I was partly to blame this month for spending too much time thinking about the Race Across America. Saturday I got out for 95 miles with 3540 feet of climbing.

On Friday I got my new Olympus Stylus 750 camera. I’ve been using a Stylus 410 but sometimes I want more zoom. We only have one digital camera so sometimes Julie ends up using an older film camera so it seemed like a good idea to get another digital camera. Some other endurance riders have gone with the Stylus 725 SW camera which is pretty much bomb proof but it only has a 3x optical zoom. The Stylus 750 has a 5x optical zoom. I’ve never had a problem throwing the Stylus 410 in my jersey pocket without anything to protect it so I don’t think I need the 725 SW. With both cameras you can get more zoom using digital zoom. The Stylus 780 is out but I couldn’t find any reason to spend $305 on it versus $170 for the 750.

Since I wanted to try out the new camera I took it along on a ride that I wouldn’t normally bother to carry a camera. I rode in areas where I ride fairly often and although it’s pretty, the views aren’t as spectacular as in the mountains. Here are some of the unedited pictures I took.

Bomber at the Air Force Academy

Air Force Academy from Gleneagle

Greenland Open Space where the 24 Hours of EROCK is Held

Pikes Peak from Hwy 83 just South of County Line Road

Old Barn on Hodgen Road

Rollers on Hodgen Road

Looking Out onto the Praries from Eastonville Road

Pronghorn Along US 24

Pronghorn Along US 24

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May Century Ride

May 22nd, 2007


On Sunday I got out for my May century for the UMCA Year Rounder. I left around noon and rode up to Palmer Lake. I had planned on heading across the north edge of Black Forest and dropping down Elbert Road to US 24. Thunderstorms had built along the Palmer Divide and that’s not a good place to be during a thunderstorm. I decided it would be better to drop lower and go to Sedalia. I got rained on a little but not much. It was very green along 105 with all the rain we’ve been having.

I got in 102.2 miles with 6 hours and 33 minutes of riding which gave me an average speed of 15.6 mph. I did 4065 feet of climbing.

Second Century (Almost) of the Year

May 2nd, 2007

April has come and gone. Until Sunday my longest ride for the month was barely over 20 miles. My last long ride was the end of March when I rode from Avon to Glenwood Springs and back.

I’m still trying for the Larry Schwartz award in the UMCA Year Rounder Challenge this year. Last year I achieved the Platinum level in the UMCA Year Rounder Challenge which requires at least 5,000 miles in century or longer rides. For the purposes of the challenge, rides of at least 90 miles count since some organized centuries aren’t quite the full 100 miles. I’m pretty certain I won’t even reach the Gold level this year which is a total of 3,000 miles. The Larry Schwartz award is for doing a century every month. You can miss two months and make them up in another month. I didn’t ride a century in January or February so I can’t miss any more months.

Fortunately the weather was nice on Sunday with a high of 81 degrees. Last Tuesday it had rained at my house with a little slush mixed in. At my work which is only a few hundred feet higher, it snowed all day with strong winds. Some areas to the north and east of Colorado Springs got over 2 feet of wet snow. Wet snow this time of year isn’t unusual but normally it doesn’t drift. My brother that lives east of town had 5 foot drifts in his yard on lat Wednesday morning.

With all the stress at work, I’ve had colds 3 times in the last 2 months and have been on antibiotics for over a week. was in last Friday to get my monthly Xolair shot for asthma and my blood pressure was slightly higher than a month ago. I think it’s about 30 points higher than normal.

I didn’t get out until early afternoon on Sunday for my ride. I decided to ride to Elbert and back since it’s pretty flat. I knew I needed an easy route to get in a long ride. In addition to not riding much and being sick, I spent 12 hours working on my garage Saturday.

It was a great day just to go out and spin for a while. For over the first hour, my legs were dead but they slowly came around. Even though it had been in the 60s the Thursday and Friday and almost 80 on Saturday, there was still a few feet of snow in some of the gullies near where Elbert Road crosses the Palmer Divide. The hills had white lines of snow drifts all over them. My brother lives just a couple miles from there. I got in 92 miles with only 2408 feet of climbing. My ride time was 6:12 which isn’t fast but probably not unreasonable considering everything.

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First Century of the Year

March 25th, 2007

Bike Path Through Glenwood Canyon
Until today I hadn’t done a ride over 2 hours since October. I’ve always thought I could do a century ride even if I wasn’t very fit. That doesn’t mean that I would enjoy it very much but I’d be able to finish. A lot of doing a long ride is mental even for experienced riders.

We’re staying in Avon for a few days. I’ve been doing the UMCA Year Rounder the last few years. Part of it is the Larry Schwartz award. To get it you have to do a century a month. You can make up 2 months. This was my last chance to get a ride in to get it for this year.

When I got to Glenwood Springs I was feeling really good. I figured by the time I got back I’d be really suffering. The last few miles I was really tired but never got to the point that I wasn’t enjoying the ride. I rode 109 miles and averaged 16.3 miles per hour.


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