I'm happy to be reporting on the first day of our Bicycle Tour of Colorado. I'm joined on the ride this year by Jerry Edelbrock and Jeri Howland from Marin County, CA and Ken Kruse from Steamboat Springs, CO (he built our house!). And, as usual, we couldn't possibly make it without our support driver and massage therapist, Rochelle Tepper from Santa Monica.
We started our week-long ride today with a spectacular day. We unloaded our bikes and gear in the little mining town of Black Hawk, just outside of Central City and were all excited to get get going. The temperature was in the high 40's at 7am so we had to dress pretty warmly.
We proceeded to ride about 56 miles along the "Peak to Peak Highway" which rolls constantly up and down hills all the way to Estes Park. We climbed over 4600ft in elevation during the day but started and ended the day at around 8,000 ft so were going up and down all the way. The ride was unbelievably beautiful-- pine forests, alpine lakes, rushing rivers, and the nearly constant backdrop of the high mountains of Rocky Mountain National Park, where we are going tomorrow.
Here's an example of the typical scenery on the road:
And here I am in front of Longs Peak, over 14,200 ft high.
We all finished the day in a little under 4 hours, feeling pretty fresh, and have had a nice relaxing afternoon in Estes Park.
Our new "mother ship" in the background is Ken's custom outfitted Sprinter van which is proving to be an ideal support vehicle for this type of ride.
Please send us all of your best hopes and wishes for good weather tonight because tomorrow we are scheduled to ride over Trail Ridge Pass at 12,250 ft in Rocky Mountain National Park and the forecast is calling for 6-10 in of new snow up there tonight. We've got a loud thunderstorm right now.
I'll report again tomorrow!!
Location:Central City to Estes Park, CO
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