Team Rio Grande

So yesterday I decided I wasn’t going to do another day of rollers or skate skiing at North Boulder Park but instead I was going to head up into the hills on my cross bike. I managed to sucker in Allen Kroughoff and Brian Fuentes but in the end they were happy to have been suckered in. We headed out from Boulder at 11(which probably was a mistake) and headed up the bike path toward Gold Hill. This is a pretty steep and long climb and probably took us about 2 hours. The roads were either dry or hard packed snow and the temp was in the 40’s. When we got to Gold Hill we made a quick stop or maybe not so quick of a stop at the Gold Hill Store. When there we warmed up by the fire place and snacked on pie and coffee. From there it was more climbing on more hard packed snow. Rolling hills and snow drifts to fight our way through made my already tired legs feel the burn. For some reason I decided not to change my chain rings out on my bike and was stuck with a 44t from ring, lots of grinding was done. After another 45 minutes of climbing we made it to peak to peak. This was the first time we had a chance to coast and spin out since leaving Boulder 3.5 hours earlier. By now we are figuring out that we might be getting into a bit of a time crunch and if we dont hurry up we are going to be headed down canyon in the dark. Despite our time crunch we still made a stop at the Caboose coffee shop in Nederland for another coffee warm up and a quick wardrobe change. I did this same ride last year without any extra clothes and froze so this year I was prepared with many new dry items to put on at ever stop. So with the sun setting we headed out for our last leg of the ride. A quick climb up to Magnolia Rd and then it was all rolling hills and descending. With the sun down I got my first taste of cold on the whole ride, luckily for the first time ever it was JUST my feet. So with some skidding around corners and some pace line riding down canyon we finally made it back home. 11AM to 5PM, lots of climbing and altitude and some good company…might have been my best ride of the year. Below are a few photos from the ride. No pics from Nederland or beyond due to time constraints and lack of day light.

Headed Up, Allen and Brian having fun.

Just Below Gold Hill

Inside the Gold Hill Store, pie all gone and jackets almost dry.

Really almost stripped down all the way, luckly there wasnt a No Shirt, No Shoes rule here.

Getting ready to head out.