In the shadows of 14ers

Sonya and I spent the weekend getting in some higher altitude training for those up coming 'A' races in July. After getting some BETA from a local in the Salida, Sonya and I decided to head up to about 9,100 ft to set up camp for the weekend. Camping at the base of Mt Shavano, this left us with plenty of trail options....including the Colorado Trail....which was about 300 yards from our campsite. This section of the CO Trail happens to also be the opening miles of the Vapor Trail 125....something I have ridden twice....but only in the dark of night. I was excited to see what it looked like in the day light. The pictures below tell the story of the Saturday ride of roughly 35 miles and 5,500 ft of climbing.















Sunday, we packed up camp to head home....but first we had one more day of training to get it. This time we head a few miles south of Mt Shavano to ride in reverse the final miles of the Vapor Trail 125 course....the Silver Creek Trail. This is a solid climb from 8,600 ft up to 11,150 ft. Of course, the weather, which started with blue bird skies and temps near 70F turned violent with rain, hail, lightening, and wind. The entire route I wanted to get in was spoiled by the weather and the post holing snow at about 11,000 ft. Either way, We got in the miles and the efforts at the elevations needed. Day 2 photos below.
















Here comes the rain and hail. Time to put on more clothing!

The mountain in this picture is the same mountain seen in this photo about 4 hours earlier.



All photos from the weekend posted here.