I trained for the climbs in Hawaii by riding our little ‘bumps’ in the middle of the Pacific over and over again. I tried to train for the effects of altitude by riding in the heat of the Hawaiian day (makes your body work harder to cool you down). And yes, Haleakala is in Hawaii, but it’s also on a … Read More
My buddies are laughing this morning – but sure as Hell weren’t after Sunday’s epic “Blizzard Day” at Berthoud Pass. After surviving that — and the wet freezing night in Winter Park — my buddies have given me a new nickname: “Piece of Cake”. We had trained so very hard for Ride The Rockies. We were on our bikes at … Read More
“How can the best bike ride of my life be proceeded by the worst bike ride of my life?” my husband asked Monday night. We knew Sunday would be hard as hell. We had serious concerns about the altitude and had no idea how we’d react. But we never, ever, EVER could have guessed it would be the day it … Read More
As I write this, the town of South Fork has been emptied of its 400 residents, the wildfire is approaching fast, and officials say there is little hope of saving the town. By the time you read it, the town may well be gone. Just a week ago, all of us rode our bikes through South Fork. We were sailing … Read More
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
The bride wore Lycra. So did the groom. And no sooner was the ceremony over and the honeymoon begun than the newlyweds ran into difficulty. But then, so did the other 2,000 Ride The Rockies cyclists who began the 2013 tour Sunday at Telluride High School. Only a few miles out of Telluride, we started the first big climb of … Read More
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