Stardate 2015.521

MS 150

Thank you MS 150 donators! You're all awesome!

Each year Snowcatcher and I receive very generous amounts of money for Multiple Sclerosis. A large portion of the money comes from blog readers. The donations allow us to take part in a fundraiser bike ride known as the MS 150. The bike ride is an overnight out and back from the asphalt and concrete of Denver suburb Westminster, through rolling farmlands, ending for the evening at Colorado State University in Fort Collins – my undergrad alma mater. The following Sunday, we ride back to the Denver metro area.

This year's ride was hot and dry. I especially enjoyed the steep grades around Horsetooth Reservoir, just west of Fort Collins. As a student, I logged many miles on these roads, and I always enjoy visiting them for another ride.



Saturday's water stop just before tackling the hills around Horsetooth Reservoir. At this point, ambient Fahrenheits were getting excited as well.



Horsetooth Reservoir



Horsetooth Reservoir sits between a hogback and the foothills of the Front Range. It took 4-earthen dams to build the reservoir. Above is the southernmost dam. You also can see the road ramp-up 12 to 15 percent. The road onto each dam is similar. The steep grades are not overly long. Yet, when you already have 70-miles on your legs for the day, the climbs kind of hurt. Back in the late 90s, I set the fastest speed I've ever attained on a bike down the northernmost dam. I clocked 63 miles per hour.



The Colorado State University campus is center to left center of the photo.



The MS 150 bike corral is for parking bikes overnight. Supposedly, they're babysat throughout the evening. However, when we arrived early Sunday morning, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Sorry, I couldn't resist.



It's been another busy spring and summer for my steed. Over the last handful of years, she's logged 16,265 miles.



Sunday's lunch stop provided a short respite from the sun. At the height of the day's ride, this stop will be standing room only.



Colorado's northern Front Range rises high above a small sampling of America's breadbasket.



How about one more hill, just for fun?



How about one more downhill, just for fun? This little coast deposited us at the finish line.

That's it for now. I think I'll put the road bike out to pasture for awhile and saddle up the mountain bike. Alpine flowers will be coming on shortly; there's a hint of down the road.

Thanks again to all of you who contributed to our cause!

Later gator!

Adios

Stardate 2014.907

Oregon

Oregon has numerous beautiful landscapes. There are mountains, an ocean, rivers, a desert and lots of forest land. While attending graduate school at Oregon State University, I had the opportunity to summit Oregon's highest peak, Mount Hood, twice. I also had a failed attempt on Oregon's second highest, Mount Jefferson. Top to bottom in the above photo: Mount Adams (residing in the state of Washington), Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson and Three Fingered Jack.

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Snowcatcher and I are off to Oregon to attend my nephews wedding. It's a cold Friday afternoon at Denver International, and we're happy to be in the concourse. All in all things went well. We didn't wait too long to clear security, although my hat got stuck after passing through the x-ray, and I got in trouble for being on the wrong side of the conveyor to retrieve it. After check-in, we ate some food and took a stroll to our gate. We settled in for an hour or so of airplane and people watching.


Soon our ride taxied up to the gate. It's an Airbus 319. In short, it's a flying aluminum culvert with two engines hanging on the wings.


The tail section of each Frontier airliner sports a picture of some type of wildlife. We were storks today.


After leaving the gate, we rolled-up next to another Frontier jet. Then we had a drag race to the runway taxi lane. We won!


A Southwest airliner, and a Frontier airliner, line up behind us for take-off.


Our flight flew over the suburban sprawl of Westminster, Broomfield and Boulder.


A popular climbing area, the Boulder Flatirons caught late afternoon sun directly below us.


Longs Peak is Colorado's 15th tallest mountain at 14,255 feet. The peak is hiding under clouds and most likely creating its own weather (center top).


The weather deteriorated as we flew over Colorado's front range...


...however, we popped into the wide blue yonder fairly quickly


As we flew across eastern Oregon, heavier, rain-laden clouds floated below us.


As the airplane descended for landing, it pierced several cloud layers.


Just as we broke out of the clouds, the pilot hit the throttle, propelling us back up through the clouds for another go-around. It was kind of exciting. The cabin became quite silent.


Banking left for another final approach.


We dropped out of the clouds again and landed according to plan.


After a little air brake action, we taxied right up to the gate of Oregon's Eugene Airport.

More Oregon to come.

Adios

Stardate 2014.458

A Triple Bypass & Chasing Fitness

There's a big ride coming mid-July called the Double Triple Bypass. It's a two-day event with which I like to torture myself. Yet, I'm not ready and harboring too much winter fat. I need to train harder. During the week, I try to get out in the evenings for an hour or two; it's better than nothing. However, I haven't been very consistent.

On the bright side, Snowcatcher and I got some good training in recently with the help of the MS 150 High Rollers training ride and the annual Elephant Rock Cycling Festival. The high country is defrosting and we'll soon be in those areas as well. The High Roller ride traversed through rolling farmlands between Longmont, Boulder and Loveland, Colorado. It's been wet, and everything is spectacularly green now.


Elephant Rock is an annual (27 years) event hosting 7,000 cyclists of all abilities. The ride has 8, 27, 32, 62 and 100-mile courses to choose from, followed by food and a vendor expo. The rolling terrain is more pronounced and difficult in this region of Front Range prairie. The rollers are long and steep, and your legs don't hesitate to voice about it. Normally, I'm ready to tackle the century ride. However, I was skeptical of my spring fitness and opted for the 62-mile ride. In hindsight, I probably had the legs for the longer ride. On the other hand, I had enough energy to pluck some weeds later in the day. Snowcatcher said given the current popular and newly legal "recreational" activity in our state, that sentence could be taken very wrong. So I will clarity. I took up residence with the dandelions while I waited for Snowcatcher to cross the finish line.




Another training ride we do a lot is Vail Pass. It's a ride at elevation and very scenic. The west side is long and steep, and we try to begin on the that side. The bike path meanders up and over Vail Pass, and you don't have to worry about busy I-70. In fact, the bike path hooks up with the myriad bike paths in Frisco and Breckenridge for some longer riding. The view from the 10,666-foot summit is a good one.



Back to the Double Triple Bypass. The ride entails three mountain passes, all over 10,000 feet in elevation, and two of them are well over 11,000 feet in elevation. Ride length is 120 miles with 10,000 feet of vertical climbing. The second day is the same as the first, only reverse direction. The second day is more difficult because at mile 90 you hit the low elevation point of the ride (7,500 feet) and immediately climb to 11,140 feet. For me, each day will be an eight-hour grind, which is why it's hard to train for – eight hour rides require five, six, eight- hour training rides. Time constraints and weather can limit this

Adios!