It always takes a day or two to decompress from Ride The Rockies. My body’s a little beat up, my brain’s a little scrambled, and I usually spend a day or two wedged into the couch in a semi-coma, watching bad TV and waiting for feeling to return to my lower body. Then, I’ll look back through my pictures and … Read More
Learning from pace lines
If there’s anything we’ve learned in the past week, it’s that there’s nothing like a good wind to make everyone go a little paceline-crazy. And it has become a treasured concept to me, the idea of sharing among people who may not even know each other. It’s no longer about the lone cyclist — it turns a group of strangers … Read More
Why, hello beautiful…
There’s something about looking at a ridiculously expensive bike leaning against the wall of a dingy, cut-rate motel room that just feels a little dirty. I was sitting in a tiny, dark, airless room in Cortez, wondering whether I should put the bike in the bed and just take the floor for myself. After all, I didn’t want to ding … Read More
Climate Control and Team Cortez
So 64 miles isn’t considered a long day by Ride The Rockies standards. And 3,000-feet-plus of climbing isn’t a huge climb. But if people were expecting an easy day on Monday’s route from Cortez to Durango, they were in for a nasty surprise. Because with temperatures reaching high into the 90s, any climb can become a tough climb, and a … Read More
Insider’s tips to camping comfortably
Camping during Ride The Rockies takes a lot of effort, smart packing and a really good set of earplugs. I didn’t understand this when I did my first tour in 2005; I thought all I needed was a tent and I could just wing the rest. Not so, young grasshopper. In my case, it takes a few rough patches to … Read More
People, pancakes and portos, oh my.
The season’s organized rides are kicking into gear, filling the roads around Colorado with huge masses of cyclists and support staff. As I’ve picked up my own training efforts and mileage, often joining some of these groups, I’ve been reminded why I love some organized rides…and why they also make me crazy. You get to experience the best of the … Read More
A new beginning through cycling
Take a look at past articles about Ride The Rockies, and you’ll find there are common themes among many of the cyclists: overcoming odds, celebrating life, improving health, discovering hidden strengths. Extraordinary events have a way of bringing out the best in human nature, and Ride The Rockies is one of those extraordinary events. It demands rigorous training, strong resolve, … Read More
Get dirty: Why messy training is good training
Anyone who lives in Colorado knows the weather can change on a dime — sunny and 70 degrees one day, blizzard and 20 degrees the next. We received more than 50 inches of snow in April alone. It makes training a little … inconsistent, if you’re not an indoor-trainer sort of cyclist. Which I’m not. My fluid trainer is now … Read More
Introducing: The Prodigal Blogger
My name is Ingrid Muller, and I’m a freelance graphic and web designer living in Boulder, CO. This will be my eighth Ride The Rockies tour; I’ve also been blogging and reporting from the tour for my former employer, The Denver Post, for the past five of them. I began road cycling back in 2004, just a year after moving … Read More