you could classify my latest ride as a fail if you are unable to see the positives out of the situation. The day started with Kevin dropping me off at the Indian creek trailhead at 5:45 am for the 6:30 start. Lots of peeps out and about. Hung with the bandwagon crew, Csakany, doug, Joey, Chavez and leadville crew member John Fulton.
Day started out sweet, just pedaling along, trying not to push too hard. Felt good, was a little worried about overheating rolling through the buffalo burn area so kept my pace in check. Just mingled with some folks and snacked a bit and kept drinking fluids. Pedaled with joey for a while, just back and forth? Rolled into Bailey somewhere between 6-7 hours feeling good. Gas station was closed and the little store didn't have much. Had to roll to the next store to get some Gatorade, about 8 miles down the road. Felt good to have some cold fluids and rolled up 285 to Kenosha pass in a non-eventful manner. Stopped at the bench, lied down and had a burrito. Such a sweet place for a picnic. About 7 folks passed me here, but I reeled them all in on the climb up to Georgia pass. This is where I could tell I wasn't totally right. Thought it was temporary and pushed/slogged up to the top. John and I were back and forth up the climb until we started the descent and we rolled together for the next several hours.
Off Georgia pass the single track turns spectacular if you like tight and rocky, which I do. Passed a whole lotta folks on this, get to the bottom, grab some water and head out for some fast flowy stuff. At the next climbing section there was a cluster, trail sign said closed, dude standing there said most of the others went up anyway. So away John and I went, climbed up above keystone and then had a baller descent back down chasing the sunset.....absolutely spectacular. Stop threw on a layer, grabbed a bite, turned on the headlight and away we went. Dropping down to hwy 9 was a sweet and tight switch back delight. Got to the bottom, grabbed some water and Joey and another dude rolled up. Crossed the hwy, saw Stefan, grabbed a quick photo and headed for the top of ten mile.
John said he didn't have enough food to stop so he was rolling all night. We dropped the folks behind us and then John left me behind. By this time I was unable to put any force into my pedal stroke for the climbs and could barely sit in the saddle. Climbed for an hour or two and saw a soft spot beside the trail and decided I was sleeping right there. 17 1/2 hours of riding was good for day 1. Threw down my bag and crashed at right around midnight. A few folks rolled by through the nite, but I stayed in bed. Awoke around 4 am feeling good and started the rest of the climb.
This is when I new I was about done. Legs were fine, lungs were fine, mental component was fine, inflamed hemorrhoids were literally a pain in my ass. Couldn't sit on the saddle but even worse I couldn't put any strain into my climbs. Pushed to the top of ten mile and realized I was about to have a loooooong hike to leadvillle. So I sat down, ate some snacks and enjoyed my morning on top of the world. Stoked to be able to do this for fun, even though I had to bail due to reasons beyond my control. Called in my plans and worked out a ride home. Once I got chilled at the top I headed down to copper mtn, where I lied in the grass and chatted it up with everyone that came along. Such great people involved with this ride. No egos, no bullshit, just people riding bikes because they love riding bikes. I'll be back, for sure! Thanks Susan for picking me up.
GO RIDE!!!
