BVBF

This weekend Bill, Mel, Scott and I went down to Buena Vista to participate in the Buena Vista Bike Fest. Mel and Scott stayed down there Friday night, and lucky Bill and I got up at 3:45 Saturday morning to head down. Due to some miscommunication, Mel and Scott weren’t planning on heading out until 8ish, and Bill and I were pumped and ready to go at 7. (well, kinda) So unfortunately we did not all ride together. Bill and I took off from the park a little after 7. The course started out with 30 miles along highway 24 from Buena Vista to Leadville. Only about 3 miles into the ride I was already feeling sore! I haven’t ridden this bike very much, so was not at all used to the seat! I was worried thinking that I still had 97 miles to go! I wasn’t so sure I could do it at that time. We kept pedaling, though.

The first rest stop was 17 miles in. We did it in about 1.5 hours, so a slow pace, but we wanted to make sure we had enough energy to finish. (or at least I did…) They stocked the rest stop very well with anything from fruit to bagels to M&M’s to Goldfish. They treated us well. After a nice long rest, we headed out again. Lucky me, Bill was willing to let me draft behind him. I thought it was nice, but he must have had one too many M&M’s because he just took off. It was hard to keep on his back tire let alone just keep up with him at all! But we made really good time to the next stop, only 45 minutes or so to mile 30. Another rest stop fully stocked, including a poop deck! Yes, a poop deck. The theme of the ride was pirates, or something, so many of the volunteers were dressed as pirates, and they made the row of port-a-potties into the back of a ship, hence the poop deck. Kinda funny.

We are about to head out for the long stretch up to Tennessee pass when I heard someone calling my name. After much confused looks around me, I saw that it was a good family friend, Susan! It was so exciting to see her, she is such a good person and has a way of making people laugh with her goofiness, so it was a nice surprise.

After some hugs, pictures and a brief catch-up, they took off and we shortly followed (although we never caught up to them). The next stretch was fairly long, and had the most climbing up to Tennessee pass. I love climbing, and Bill loves it even more, so we jammed up it, passing people left and right. Even though it wasn’t a race, it still felt good. The summit was beautiful, right on the Continental Divide. We took some pictures, chatted with some strange guy, and headed down. I am not a fan of downhill, especially on this bike, but the road was well maintained, and we cruised down getting up to a speed of 35ish, which is really fast for me!!

This part of the road did not have a shoulder, or not much of one. We had a fairly scary encounter with a semi. Bill and I are just cruising along, when we see a semi trying to pass someone in front of us. So no shoulder, with a huge semi coming right at us. I slowed down, thinking of what to do if it does come down to chicken with the semi, while all I hear is Bill bitching at the driver. The semi gets passed the car, going probably 80mph, and does some nice fishtailing getting back into the lane. He looked out of control, and it definitely got my heart racing, but I could not stop laughing. Bill bitched at the guy the whole time this was happening, and it just made me laugh at how riled up he got. If you know Bill, this doesn’t happen very often. It was awesome. Another good laugh.

We continued into Leadville where lunch was served. More food. Sweet. I told Bill that I could totally live like this. Ride all day, and make stops where people feed you. Perfect. We made it a relaxing stop, not to worried about the time. Once we got back on the bikes, though, I regretted it! I swear I felt every joint in my body. It was getting hard to pedal! And of course, it went right into a decent uphill. Oh well, we like climbing, right? It actually wasn’t too bad, we just took it slow, and a steady pace that was great for me, probably unbearably slow for Bill. We cut off onto the Mineral Belt trail, which was probably my favorite part of the ride. Mostly downhill on this paved bike path that went by old mines and wound through trees. Also had a great view of the Collegiate peaks. The trail came back into Leadville before we turned off onto another road that lead back to the second rest stop. At this point it was 2:30, and our “goal” was to be back by 4. So that meant 30 miles in 90 minutes. At first we thought it could be challenging, but when we took off, we realized it was very much downhill! Averaging over 30mph fast downhill. Top speed at 43.3, another record for me! It was fun, and a great way to blast out the last 30 miles. We got to the park by 3:35, all ending with a spectacular move from Bill…

I am in front of Bill heading toward the park. It is a right turn into the dirt lot, and right after I turned I heard some commotion and turned around just in time to see Bill go flying over his bike, landing on his feet and running about 20 feet to finally come to a stop. Very graceful, especially since it was in front of a bunch of people!! I guess he was wanting to get a picture of me “crossing the finish line,” when he hit the gravel. Of course, one of the first things anyone said to him was “Did you get the picture?” Which he didn’t, but got a good one of me laughing at him. What a great way to end my first Century, Bill’s first road Century. The picture proves how much fun it was, from start to finish.

We hung out at the after party with Mel and Scott, they did 62 miles, which for having not ridden much at all this year is pretty amazing! They treated us good afterwards, with glasses, beer and dinner. As well as quite a few other free drink coupons from all the non-drinkers… Great time, and the weather couldn’t have been better. Other than some wind on the ride, it was gorgeous.

Thankfully, we did not have to drive home after the ride. Bill was so nice to get us a B&B. It was so nice, overlooking the Collegiate Peaks, a really nice home, and great owners. We didn’t do much that night, I think we were both beat! It was a great way to end a great day. Couldn’t have written it any better.

 

 

 

 

Lookout Mountain

Since I have officially signed up for the Buena Vista Bike Fest, I thought, better start training! I would love to be able to finish the full 100 miles and get my first century ride! With all the climbing there will be at the BVBF, thought that would be a good place to start. So what better way than Lookout Mountain? I have never done it before, just seen the riders struggling up while I am nice and comphy burning calories driving my car up… Never thought it really looked like fun, a lot of the riders I have seen seemed to have a look on their faces like ‘what the hell am I doing? Is this really supposed to be fun??’

So, today, Bill and I met up at the bottom and attempted the climb. I had no idea what to expect, I wasn’t sure how far it was, nor how long it would take me. I have heard people doing it in 20 minutes, but they are pretty nutty, so I am thinking…. an  hour…. If I survive long enough to make it to the top…

I have not used my new road bike a whole lot, and have never climbed on it, nor descended on terrain like this. I am so much more used to my precious mountain bike, that my road bike felt very uncomfortable and unstable. It didn’t take long for that to pass, and for us to get into a nice (very slow) rhythm. The spinning felt good, legs felt great, and we were making it up the mountain a lot faster than I thought we would. It never got too steep that caused the legs to burn, or the breathing to get too labored. Then, all of a sudden we were at the top. That was it. Easy enough. We did it in 35 minutes, which is by no means fast, but wasn’t out of energy at all, and now what I know what to expect, I can push myself harder next time. Hopefully by the end of the season I can get it under 30. J

The descent was a different story. I am not really a downhiller to begin with, but on that bike, that position, the sharp turns in the road, the other cars, I was scared. I think I almost went faster up than I did down… my shoulder and my hands were so sore by the time we got down from being so tense, and squeezing the breaks. I am surprised I have any break pads left!!

Overall, lots of fun, will definitely continue to do that, and get better on the downhill!