Rolling up the dirt roads to Gold Hill, CO. Roads are good...all things considered. Could be an ice rink this time of year!
Jason and I split ways after this pic in the booming metropolis that is Gold Hill, CO.
The plan was to keep riding west to Peak-to-Peak Hwy....then over to Ward, CO. But, the further west I went the more windy it got! I was being blasted in the mug by sand and snow....mostly sand.About 1/2 mile from the pavement of Peak-to-Peak Hwy, the wind was in full-on jet blasting mode. How windy? Unsure? 40 mph!? 50 mph!? More? You be the judge, as I about got blew off the bike....so I stopped to shoot this clip of the wind.
I decided to brave the wind and push over to Ward. I last about 10 minutes on the highway before I about got blew off the road....knocked off my bike.....and was asked by 2 passing cars if I needed a ride back down to lower elevations. One car pulled off the road and this little lady got out of her car....she about got blew to the ground. Classic!
I turned around and rode back to Sawmill Rd, where I would ride down and up twice. You can see the very angry winter storm going on in the background. On a clear day you would see some big mountains in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.
Then it was back to Boulder to finish up the ride by doing a nice tempo up Flagstaff. This would be my second time up Flagstaff in my life. The last time I was bleeding out my eyes chasing this guy on one of his training rides.By the end of the day it was 4 hrs and 45 minutes in the saddle and just shy of 9,000 ft of climbing put into the legs.
All pictures from the day posted here.
Ride data posted on Movescount.