I wanted to get up high today to train, above 9,000 ft would have been great. But this past week...and even today it is dumping snow in the mountains. So, I started from Fort Collins and rode up Poudre Canyon.
Getting started in the AM by filling 2 bottle with PowerBar Endurance and the rest of the bottles with regular water and ELETE. Other calories would come from a variety of PowerBar product.
Poudre Canyon is pretty tame. It is not steep. It is a consistent gradient from the mouth of the canyon to a few miles before the pass.....and green this time of year!
Tunnel. Just in case you don't see it. Lots of cars parked off the road today. Lots of folks fishing and kayaking.
Still climbing...
Only 35 miles to the pass. No I didn't ride to the pass. It was 35 miles from Ft Collins to the spot where this photo was taken. Plus, Cameron Pass sits at 10,270 ft. It would be snowing and cold....I didn't have the clothes, nutrition, or time.
Instead, I opted for a little gravel road that turned off the Poudre Canyon hwy. Dirt was good! Didn't ride the dirt for long, as it got stupid steep...and put me out of my training plan for the day.The ride back down was fun! Not long after this video was taken, my legs had other ideas. They were detonated...not sure why. Felt like I had 10 hours of bike time in them already.
The remaining ride would suck! Legs had no juice to go....it was a slog back to the house, even as I took in liquid and calories. Seriously, I feel like I just race 100+ miles. Time to take in some quality food for tomorrow's training session.