Sunday - Luisa, Al & I did Independence Pass. This is the second highest continuous paved road in the US and will be featured in the USA Pro Challange(Quiznos) race in August. We set out from the "town" of Twin Lakes around 9:45. The ride pretty much starts climbing right away. Nothing to bad but it goes up and up. At about 10,000 feet we start seeing snow on the side of the road, by the top it is all snow except for the road. Lots of back country skiers still out.
The last 3 miles of the climb are steady but not too steep, the main factor is the Altitude. You just can't go too hard...
Al kept jumping ahead of us and got a lot of good pictures - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2073112028053.2128085.1252473467
17 Miles Down, 57 to go...
We bundled up and headed down to Aspen. It was pretty chilly the first 5 miles, but then warmed up quite nicely. This road is in good to pretty bad shape. You always had to be aware of bumps, dips, potholes, gravel, water, etc. Hopefully it will be worked on before the pros head down it in August. Below 10,000 feet it started warming up and we cruised into Aspen for a Sandwich with the rich folks.
37 Miles Down, 37 to go, of which 20 was uphill. The Aspen side is 1000 feet more climbing.
The first 4 miles where rolling then we started climbing on a open, hot, sunny section of road. This was the hardest part of the ride for me.
At about 10000 ft we made it back into the trees and in the snow banks, which cooled us down a bit. The climb on this side was not to steep either, just long, grinding at high altitude.
With 2 miles to the top, I had to take off from Al and Luisa, so I could hammer over the top and down to call the Kennel by 5:00. I went a little faster up and then bombed down the decent. I had to bunny hop a few holes and dips. I made it back just in time and called the kennel for a later pickup. I went to the store to get some water and fudge sickles for us. Al and Luisa, got down just in time before the fudge melted and I would have been force to eat them...
7500 ft. of Climbing, 74 Miles and 6 Hours Ride time...
Worse part was that I had to rush to get the mutts and had to stop by a gas stations to some hot dogs for dinner... At least they had some good beer...
*Yesterday I did a lap around Turquoise Lake in Leadville. A beautiful 14 mile loop at 10000ft. Thinking of doing a High Altitude Training Camp up there in mid- July. Camp and ride for a few days. Do CopperMtn Loop.
Ciao,
Stefano
(what is Stephen in French? Almost Tour time. Get your Rooster ready)
