Pikes Peak by bike

So there is a new bike event/race this year up Pikes Peak…  Of course I had to go do it.  The short of it is that it is the hardest climb I have ever done on a bike – and I have done enough hard climbs that it is quite possibly the single hardest bike climb in the world.  Starting at 6,300 feet and finishing above 14,000, it has the net vertical, the altitude as well as being quite steep at only 24 miles total.  Also really cool that the roads are completely closed to cars the whole way.  Way to go race directors!

By buddy Rob M went with me, and although I started faster, in the end he finished about 5 minutes in front of me.  He had a great day, and me only pretty good.  I could have done better with the food.  The big issue was the 40 MPH wind above the tree line with the 3 degree wind chill factor.  My hands were so numb, I couldn’t get my gel out of my back pocket.  Obviously I should have stopped and consumed some calories, but at 12,000+ feet, brain cells don’t work quite as well.  Oh well, I still did great and had a lot of fun (and the suffering is quickly being forgotten).  No complaints.

You have already been climbing for almost an hour at this point.  That high point up there is where we are heading.  It would be kind of demoralizing if it weren’t so beautiful.	11,000 ft and climbing.  Only 3,100 ft to go!  There is about 2.5 miles of dirt here, which really wasn’t too bad on the way up, but was a pain on the way down.
Getting to the tree line.  You can see the road up above.	Rob & I in the restaurant on the summit trying to get warm.
One of many amazing views from the summit.	Looking down at the biggest set of switch backs.  There was a LOT of climbing above and below these, but this was the spot that really hurt.
Rob leaving the summit (in a lot more clothes) heading down.  The race officials carry a bag to the summit so you can pack lots of stuff for the way down.	Rob laughing at the switchbacks on the way down.  They can’t cause any more damage than they already have.

 

 

 

Mt Evans Bike Race 2010

Once again, the Mt Evans race has come and gone. I have been feeling pretty good about my training this year, but it is always hard knowing how you are going to perform on race day. I wanted to at least come under 2 hours 30 minutes, but I still have this goal of beating my time from 1997 of 2:25 and change. Kate keeps telling me that I’m not getting any younger and maybe that isn’t reasonable. Anyway, I clocked in a 2:27:56 today, so I more than met my minimum goal and I’m getting closer to my old time. I beat last year by about 4 minutes, and 2 years ago by more than 10, so I like the progression. When you are my age and still getting faster from year to year, it can’t be all bad. The other cool thing is that I beat the pros this year! Granted I had a 40 minute head start, but it still felt kind of cool seeing them come in 2 minutes after me.

For all the times I have been up Mt Evans on a bike, I have never actually made it to the summit. The summit is a few hundred feet above the end of the road. This year after the race I decided to go. The only problem was the bike shoes – not exactly the best for scrambling up a talus field. Undeterred, I headed off in bare feet to the top. It was a little bit of suffering, but totally worth it. It’s a very pretty summit – and besides, it was fun looking down at the finish line.

The weather was very good. The reports sure looked questionable and it was cloudy and drizzling on the drive up to Idaho Springs. It was cool but not cold at the start – by the time we got to the Echo Lake feed zone we were in the clouds and it was cold and windy and I was starting to worry. However, shortly afterwards, we got over the clouds and the wind went away. It was far and away the warmest I have ever seen on top of a 14er. I really wish I had been able to take some pictures on the way up, because seeing various peaks sticking out of the clouds like islands was truly magical.

When I pulled into the lot in the morning, there was a young man that pulled into the lot next to me. We got talking a little – and while he was very nice – I couldn’t help but notice the Garmin Felt bike he pulled out. I didn’t make much of it at the time since I left before him, but when we both came back to the car, I really could help but notice that he had the full Garmin outfit on to match his bike. I asked him how he did; the response: I won. Pretty cool. We chatted for a little while and he asked me how I did and was very complimentary. Sounds like he is heading over to a minor race in Spain in little bit. Anyway, count me a Peter Stetina fan.

Some random pictures below (taken on the way down):

Summit Lake – 12,830 feet	You have to be careful on the way down, there are some big drop-offs.

The road heading up from summit lake. Its actually not that steep, but with the altitude, it sure feels it.	Another pretty vista

Adventure Team Challenge

Once again, a duplicate post from my work blog:

1st – I want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who contributed.  Seeing the disabled athletes persevere, Clarissa in particular, it was truly a worthwhile cause.  Thank you so much, you made this possible for all of us.

The team consisted of myself, Catherine Shenk (from Marketing), Nino Pozgaj (inside sales), Nino’s daughter Clarissa who is in a wheelchair and has limited use of her body.  Jeff from World TEAM Sports connected us with Matt Nyman, a “disabled” ex Army Ranger missing one leg below the knee and limited function in the other.  I put disabled in quotes because he climbed Denali a few weeks ago.  He is one tough hombre.

 

Long story short, we did awesome.  Not only did we finish, we finished 3rd out of 7 teams!  We functioned as a team incredibly well.  I can’t begin to pick out a strongest member of the team, because everyone was so strong.  Nino and a friend constructed a bike trailer/chariot for Clarissa that mostly worked awesomely, although it was very heavy.  None of us knew the difficulty of terrain we would be travelling through.  Incredibly tough trails that were much narrower than our wheelbase.  It was a ton of work, but totally worth it.  The race consisted of rafting (up to class IV), biking, hiking, a zip line, navigating, route finding, etc.  It was a huge challenge. 

One of the best aspects of the race was our support crew.  Nathalie, Maureen, Chad, Peter & Wayne all came out with us and we couldn’t have done it without them.  From making dinner, to fixing the chariot, to meeting us in totally unexpected places with cowbells, they kept us going.  We could not have done it without them.  A huge THANK YOU to them.

In many ways, this event has changed how I think about Alteryx (the company.)  Being able to be there for Clarissa & Matt and support them, us and the entire World TEAM Sports community makes me feel like we are really doing something worth while.  It was only 5 of us in the race, but we really did feel the whole company behind us.  Thank you.

Happy Earth Day

Elizabeth had to meet her friend Liam to ride our bikes together for Earth day.  We just missed the rain, so it was a fun ride for all.

 

Here they are in front of Liam’s Garage.

Giving Back and a Shameless Request

Today I am going to mix some business with pleasure.  This is the 1st time that I am posting the same thing on my work and personal blogs, But I think this is a worthy cause.  The original post on my work blog can be found here.  Below is the full text from there:

At our Extend conference this year, Erik Weihenmayer was our keynote speaker.  I think I can speak for most everyone there to say that we were all very moved listening to him speak.  I can’t even fathom climbing Mt Everest, let alone doing it blind.  Erik is an amazing individual and left all of us wondering how we could do more for the world.

After the conference, we got an email from Erik inviting us to participate in his Adventure Team Challenge.  It is an adventure race involving a mixed team of able and disabled athletes in the mountains of Colorado.  Of course we had to say yes, even before we knew what we were getting in to.  Take 5 minutes out of you day to watch the video from last years race.  This really is an amazing event with some amazing people.

So now we get to the request.  You knew it was coming, didn’t you.  Putting on an event of this kind takes a lot of money.  World TEAM Sports is doing an amazing job bringing people who thought their athletic lives were over into the wilderness.  We have to raise a bunch of money to participate in this event.  So, I am looking for donations to World TEAM Sports to support our team.  Any donations over $75, I will send you a really cool Alteryx bike jersey.  I’ll even give you a jersey for a $65 donation if you pledge it by April 19th – please tell me your size.  Contact me at ned@alteryx.com to make your pledge.  WTS is a non profit, so all your donations are tax deductable.   I am sure for donations large enough, we could arrange free seats of Alteryx or just about anything else.  ;-)  Really anything will help for this great cause that I really believe in.

To Make a donation:

Email me at ned@alteryx.com to pledge and we can work out the details, or:

Make out a check to World TEAM Sports and mail it to:

Ned Harding
Alteryx, LLC
3825 Iris Ave Suit 150
Boulder, CO 80301

Don’t forget to include your Jersey size:  Women's or Men's S-XL

Random Thoughts about Maui

1. Fresh Mint in Paia is a really amazing restaurant.  I ended up eating there every night I was here and ate a different meal every time and enjoyed every one.  All Vegan Vietnamese.  Highly recommended.
2. A 10,000 ft mountain in Colorado is not very big.  When you start at sea level on a bike though, it is really big.  Probably not the best idea to do it in the winter when you are out of shape, but really, when else would you come to Maui?  Again, highly recommended.
3. Riding past Kulu to the wine country and then the desert is really cool, but we have plenty of desert a lot closer to Boulder.   Also, riding it from Paia adds up to more than 7,000 ft of vertical, probably not the best plan the day after riding Haleakala.
4. When VeloNews says the road is rough, trust them.  I was thinking of riding past Kulu all the way to Hana.  I have never seen such a rough road that could still claim to be paved.  I imagine 5,000 people each with a bucket of tar dropping it on the road and smoothing it with their boots.  I turned around after a mile or so.
5. 6 foot waves don’t look like that much, especially when you drove to the sheltered side of the island after seeing the waves twice as big.  As soon as you try to body surf one you realize just how much power there is in the ocean.
6. The road to Hana is really cool.  An awesome ride.  Hana itself though is pretty boring.  Also, once you are there you realize you have to ride the 45 miles back.  Lots of little hills and some not so little ones make it really hurt.
7. 4 days on Maui is either to long or way to short.  I came here for riding, but I can’t do these rides day after day.  I’m thinking a month would be a good amount of time.
8. Paia is a really cool town.  It is however on the rainy side of the island. Cool health food store, vegan restaurant (see #1), lots of other cool shops.

Skating in the New Year

What could be better for New Years day than a little pond skating?  The good news of the cold month that we have had is that Wonderland Lake is frozen solid.  Its pretty bumpy because of the snow and the wind, but there were more than enough clear areas to be some great skating.

At one point a Boulder open space ranger came out to tell everyone that the lake is spring fed and the ice wasn’t necessarily safe.  We all figured it was a CYA sort of thing, because he was out standing in the middle of the lake when he said it.

Unfortunately Kate doesn’t own skates right now, so she was trying to keep up on foot.  Elizabeth is really skating well.  She has been really excited about skating this year.  And for me it was great.  It brought up all the great memories of growing up in New England.  Boulder is great in so many ways, but skating on the local pond is not typically one of them. 

2010 can’t be all bad if it started this well.  More pictures can be found here.

 

Maui

I got for a ride today around the western part of Maui.  The northwest part of Maui just might be the most beautiful place I have ever been. 

Several locals warned me against riding the loop.  I think they thought it was too big a loop (60 miles) and that the road is scary.  The road is in fact a single lane for 10+ miles, but that turned out to be a blessing for cycling.  The speed limit was 15 miles an hour and cars were super careful and respectful since they didn’t know who might be around the corner. 

The Kahakili Highway winds up and down all the little canyons on the coast.    It climbs up hundreds of feet and then back down constantly.   There are a couple of very steep and 1 or two fairly long climbs and a different vista.  The only ride I could compare it to for beauty would be Trail Ridge Road, back in Colorado.  I also had a lesson on Hawaiian trade winds.  They are incredibly steady at about 20MPH.  Being a loop around the island though, I did get some very nice tailwinds, but I more than paid the price.

The little village of Kahukuloa might be as close to perfection as I have seen.  It is in this incredible little valley with a single lane road as the only way in and out.  It also has an amazingly good fruit/smoothie stand that was very welcome at the point in the ride.  Surprise, the local fruit on Maui is pretty good…

Snow

This might be a little much for October.  Not sure what the official snowfall count is, but it’s a lot.  I sure am glad we bought the ski passes this winter.

 

Oh well, I am off on my bike to head to work.

Mt Sanitas

Elizabeth climbed all the way to the summit of Mt Sanitas today! And she did it the hard way - the steep goat path up from our house and then the east ridge trail. More than 1200 feet of climbing on an exceptionally steep and rocky trail.

More pictures here.

Longs Peak

Rob and I went up to the Keyhole today... Not expecting that much winter.

Got back to Boulder and 80 degrees. Best guess is that with wind chill it was about 5 up there.

More pictures here.

It was fun though...

Buffalo Classic

It feels like summer is winding down... Margaret came back from her 10 day backpacking trip excited about her fitness and wanting to test it more. We made quick arrangements to do the Buffalo Classic bike ride.

It's the 1st time we have done a full century on the tandem - 105 miles actually. Margaret did great - nothing hurt except for some saddle pain. 6:15 hours in the saddle is hard even if you are in pretty good shape. Overall we did pretty well - but it was much more vertical than I expected. Looking at the course map, it ended up being 4308 ft of climbing! Not too much per mile, but it sure adds up.

There were some decent pictures of us from Sundance Images, here, here and here.

Hermit Park to Homestead Meadows

Hermit Park is the newest public open space in Estes Park. There is a new connector trail from there to Homestead Meadows, which is in the National Forest, that allows Mountain Bikes. Homestead Meadows has always been one of the coolest areas around Estes Park to bike, but it has been way to difficult to get in there. You could either go in through Pearson Park - which is the loosest, rockiest, not fun descent you can imagine, or you could go in via Lion's Gulch, which is an incredible difficult mostly hike-a-bike trail. Great for hiking, but not so great for biking.

Now with the new Hermit park trail, it is much easier to get into that great area. Don't get me wrong, the Hermit Park connector trail isn't easy, but it is almost all bike-able and it is relatively short. After 1.5 miles of single track, there is a good sized climb on a good Jeep Road. You can the take a left towards the saw mill and there is a cool looking single track behind some of the homesteads. I only rode it about 3/4 of a mile and turned around because the trail started down and Kate was waiting, but it was really nice single track. The meadow loop has a mile or so of nice single track. There is another mile or so of great single track at the top of the Lion's gulch trail. There are many miles of great double track on the forest roads exploring all the homesteads. Without trying too hard there are probably about 15 miles of great trails & jeep roads. If you are adventurous and have a generous definition of trail, there is is enough for many days of riding/exploring. One of the issues though is the area has had so little use over the last 50 years that many of the old roads and trails are disappearing.

Mostly it was really cool to be back on the mountain bike. I have been on the road bike so much this year (about 5000 miles so far) that I had forgotten about the other. I biked 30 miles or so over 2 days in the Hermit Park, Homestead Meadows & Pearson Park areas and saw 1 other mtn biker and maybe a dozen hikers total. It was also great fun biking with Kate with her new fitness. This was her 1st time on the mountain bike in a while, and the new fitness really paid off. She was doing big climbs with no issue and even riding difficult technical trails.

More pictures can be found here.

Boulder Kids Triathalon

Elizabeth did her 1st triathalon today! She did really awesome and loved it!

Here she is getting ready for the swim. It was less a swim than it was a run through the water. I think it wasn't until the 8+ year old kids that they were deap enough they had to swim.

Next was on to the bike course. She is just starting out.

On the far side of the bike course going fast...

Heading off for the run...

And finally on the run coming into the finish line!

Copper Triangle

Kate & I did the Copper Triangle today on the Tandem. After 3 major passes, and one extra climb that was much bigger than it looked on the profile we still felt OK.

Kate was amazing. Considering just a couple of years ago she struggled with asthma with even small rides, seeing her hammer up mountain passes over 11,000 feet and enjoying it was amazing. The last climb of the day was from Minturn to the top of Vail pass. bottom to top was over 3,000 feet. As we got higher and higher and the grade was getting steeper there were people all over the road massaging out cramps and revisiting their breakfast and there was Kate behind me hammer away. Not a single extra rest on any of the climbs.

The Copper Triangle was also a fantastic route. The rest stops were really well placed and well stocked with good food & drink. The roads were for the most part great. The views were amazing. The Tandem handled really well. The new disk brake held up really well. People kept telling us of their stories of high speed blow-outs from braking too hard on a tandem. It made me feel great about that disk brake on the back. We hit a high speed of 51.7 mph on the descent from Fremont pass... There was one part going up Vail pass that was probably about a 14% grade - although hearing the fearful stories of other riders it was described as 18%, 20% or even 24% - we had enough gearing to get up without too much difficulty.

More pictures can be found at here.

More from Mt Evans

The official results just got posted... I guess I didn't do too bad. 18th out of 129 in my category. I guess there is always next year...

Mt Evans!

Mt Evans! On a bike. Check it out. Always exciting, always a suffer fest. I was really bumming about this year's race because I have been training so hard, but then there was 10 days at sea level in Maine and a week of being sick and antibiotics. So I set my goals a little lower and went for it.

Good news and bad news. I beat last years time by 7 minutes+ (2:31:51 [unofficial] vs 2:39:11 last year). The bad news is that I think I didn't go out hard enough. Once I got over 12,000 ft in elevation, I just couldn't ride as hard as I wanted. I sure got my heart rate up, but the power wasn't there. I even finished thinking I could do it again - I wasn't wiped out like I was last year.

The problem was that I started kind of slow worrying too much about my condition and trying to be smarter about my pacing. I am sure I could have done better than 2:30 if I had paced better today. Maybe even 5 minutes faster than that before the 10 days in Maine.

My training was way too focused on endurance lately and not enough on speed. Largely that is from being in Maine, since it is so hard to ride long intervals with all the small rolling hills. Next year (I can't believe I am saying that already) I am going to try to focus on speed and take those next 7 minutes off. I still have a lot of room for improvement.

On a side note - Tom Danielson won the pro race in 1:42 or so. I had a 30 minute head start on him. I couldn't believe how soon he passed me and how fast he was going. I thought about jumping on his wheel, but I am sure I would have been on the side of the road puking within a few minutes. There were no other pro's with him, he had dropped everyone. Maybe he should be over in France right now.

For the geeks: Ave Power - 241. Ave HR - 164. Ave Speed - 10.8mph.