2 day training ride

Yes, 2 days.  The plan was 8 hours on Saturday.....sleep on route....then another 8 hours on Sunday.  The route I drew out on the GPS was a bit tougher than I anticipated.  Tough and long hike-a-bikes, plus a 2 hour block where mother nature unleashed some hail and rain while I was hovering around 12,000-13,000 ft above Montezuma, CO.  So, my pace slowed quite a bit.  At the 8 hour mark I was sitting at 9,800 ft....which right now in CO is prime mosquito territory.  So, I pushed on up to Georgia Pass (11,585 ft) to get above the treeline.  As anticipated, no bugs what so ever.  But there was frost.  The ride had big views and a great mixture of terrain.  Here are some select photos from the training ride:

Singletrack in the early hours of the day on the CT.


Making my way up to the Divide.


Heading up....as the weather still looks good.



This hike-a-bike took a ton of time out of my day. Also took a lot of my energy.  Gasp!


Finally reached the top...with weather moving in....and it came in fast. Lucky for me, there was no lightning. Only cold rain and hail. I found a road that appeared to head 'down'. In a hurry, I took it. Only to have it drop about 1,000 ft in elevation....and then dead end. So, I had to ride back up and got over Saints John Rd back down to Montezuma.



Light rain begins to fall.


Here come the 'real deal' rain.


MontBell Outpace Parka rain gear doing its job.


Skies finally clear after about 1 hour. Clouds cling to the mnts for 1 hour post rain.


I made my way up to Webster Pass as the rain ended and skies cleared. This image looks directly west.


Directly behind me in the image above is 'Red Cone'. I took this road back down to 9,000 ft to then connect to the CT to get to Georgia Pass before dark.  This road got stupid rocky at the tree line.


Ride. Eat. Drink. Filter water.


On the Colorado Trail (CT) and heading west for Georgia Pass after some dirt/rock road riding and some minor route finding.


Georgia Pass....my Holiday Inn Express for the night.


The view out the 'bedroom window'


Good morning!


While it was cold, I did not have a bad nights sleep.....got in about 7 hours of off/on shut eye. All my gear kept me warm. Other than myself, everything was covered in frost.  The first few pedal strokes of the morning were 'brisk' to say the least.


Heading to Breckenridge on the CT as the sun works its way up.



This confirms that I am on the CT from Georgia Pass to Breckenridge. Love riding this stuff!


The shadows start to recede as the sun gets higher.



Off the CT and climbing myself silly at Breckenridge Ski Resort. Switch back after switch back after switch back.

Nutrition for the weekend looked like this:
- About 250-300 oz of filtered water with ELETE added. (no powder drink mixes)
- Mix of solid PowerBar products. (Triple Threat bars, Protein bars, Gel blasts, Bites, etc)
- 5 ProBars (assort flavors, high calorie for the size)
- Recovery drink (Power Bar Recovery & Glutamine.  Mixed in bottle....just added water.)

Overall, the plan was 50 miles each day. I didn't hit that....as the terrain dictated a slower pace. I did though end up with close to 18,000 ft of climbing for the 2 days. I'll take it! Things are looking good for the CTR. Few more specific training runs still on tap prior to the Aug 2 start.

All of the photos from the weekend are here.

Finally, an overview of the weekend route.....