So I really think video is the way to go while we ride...I will try to remember my video camera this time...here is a sweet taste of how it could look. Minus the mountains, minus the bike, minus the riding...crap that took all the cool out of it.

If this doesn't get you pumped then you don't like biking!

Pbville day 2--Back for more!

The bikes loaded up again, heading back to mecca.

For the last 2 years or so, I have been following the LT 100 forum on yahoo. I have come to realize the advice offered by one Charles "Art" Fleming always seems to be spot on. So when Big Dave and I finished up our ride on Saturday, we went on a mission to find him. I remembered from the forum that he stays at the Leadville Hostel, so we stopped by to see if he was in. Big Dave thought this was a little weird, so he stayed in the truck until he was sure that the weirdness had passed.  Sure enough, Art was in and he couldn't have been any nicer.  He invited us to sit on the porch and we talked about everything Leadville for about an hour or so.  He is an absolute wealth of knowledge.  We ended our chat by making plans for us to join him on his regular 9 am Leadville ride, or shall I call it an information-fest? 

 

The lower part of the Powerline is a real monster--unless you are Mr. Weins or Mr. Armstrong, it is much more efficient to walk.  Art shared with us his technique of short quick steps that doesn't torture the legs any more than necessary.  It works, try it.

Art and Big Dave practicing the "quick steps"

Art working Big Dave near the top of the second false summit. 

With the exception of the section I mentioned above, the rest of the climb is rideable, at least today it was--we'll see how it goes on race day with 80 miles in our legs.

This is at the top of St. Kevins after we turned off the paved road.  I believe it was nearing the first little steep section--again Art is putting the wood to Big Dave. I'm not going to tell you how old Art is, I'll let him do that, but he is a beast compared to someone half his age--we were so impressed with his fitness and skill .

At the top of St. Kevin's--I do believe this is one of Big Dave's "No Talk Zones."

We finished up as it was getting ready to storm--a prime example of how fickle the weather up here can be.  

Aerial view--click on it.  We rode this route counterclockwise on Saturday and clockwise on Sunday.

This is today's ride profile--reverse it for yesterday's profile.  If the weather is cooperative, the plan is to ride an out-and-back of this route on Tuesday.

We were pretty darn psyched to get into town.

Before we got out to ride, we made a stop at Cycles of Life for a tune up on Big Dave's bike--he was going to need a granny gear today.

Rolling down 6th street.

Big Dave finishing the tough part of St. Kevin's climb--I think I heard him say he was not going to do Leadville after this little stretch--it was a bit steeper than I remember. It was also very different riding without hundreds of other riders handlebar to handlebar.

Just before we topped out on St. Kevins.

Heading up Powerline outbound--just before the road turns up on the double track.

Turquoise Lake about 1200 ft below.

Almost to the top of Sugarloaf.

Big Dave was in a "no-talk zone"

Over the top--I forgot how sketchy the Powerline decent is--loose and steep. The brain-dead ATVers who refused to move from the center of the trail, or lay off the gas for that matter, did not help the cause either--Big Dave took a little digger and they never even stopped.

The "Boulevard" is a steep little stretch of a 100 yards or so that is covered with baby heads.  It would not be so bad except it comes at about the 97 mile mark.

Dave's first look at the the finish line.

A little inspiration in the window of the LT 100 office--hopefully I can go a touch faster this year.
I do not know about great living, but there sure is great riding--starting at 10,200 ft, that's kinda crazy for a couple of flatlanders.

June 26 PM ride

We went out for a short easy PM ride and found some sweet single track and learned about geocaching from the nice couple who took the photo of us--thanks!

Look what the cat dragged in. Yelp--Big Dave got here last night. We actually got up early and went over to Safeway to pick up some breakfast--oatmeal, raisins, milk and bananas. To my great pleasure, there was a Starbucks in the store so I added a latte to the short shopping list---good cup! I mean by real standards, not low grade Starbucks standards.

We decided to do a reasonable, mellow loop which went up the east side of the mountain and across the top before heading down the west side.

Big Dave is still smiling--we are about 2 miles and 300 ft of climbing into our ride.

An absolutely perfect road to train on--nice surface, 6-8% grade and beautiful views.

Love the aspen trees--I was taking this photo as the biggin started his required complaining--it took 22 mins and 49 secs. Not bad.

Dave is normally pretty positive but there is something about climbing that turns him into a little girly bitch. I pointed this out to him and we had a good laugh--not all that easy at altitude. 

He was actually hung over the handlebars dying, but managed to stand up before I could snap the photo. See for yourself--1:01, 9819 ft and 1637 ft of climbing. It's fun to give the big man a hard time. In all fairness though, he did this entire ride without a small front chainring--I was pretty impressed.

The view from Dave's place of rest. We went up another 400 ft or so to find some not so good weather.

The rain was coming fast and getting pretty heavy just as we turned downhill--I must say 55 degrees and 25 mph + heavy rain all clad in spandex make for some cold decending.

Luckily it did not last long.

Here's what it looked like as we finished up.

If you click on this photo, you can see where we went--pretty cool.

In my never-ending battle to add more calories to my rides, I've been trying these shot bloks-6x30 cals-- they work like a charm as long as I'm going downhill--i.e. I can't breathe through  my mouth while chewing on them.

Today I got in 430 cals in 1hr 45 mins.-- short of the 500-600 goal. 

I found a new recovery drink--tasty!

Big Dave not looking so big-- you know who--beware.

You can really get a lot done if you get up early and have nothing to do--up at 5:15 am for an early ride. I went to the top--11,200 ft--just about 3,000 ft of gain in 7 miles.

Going pretty well--here at about 10,900 ft--the road is very well-surfaced and has great views.

This photo does not do justice -- 17-21% grade at 11,000 ft--not going to be so much fun.

Okay, I lied--it was fun. Just how much? Here's the answer to my last post--hypoxia. You should be able to make out the data-- 18% grade, 11,151 ft alt., 233 watts and hr 135 bpm. What you cannot see is that I'm in my granny gear, my cadence is about 20 and that's 233 watts--not going to last very long! It was so steep at the top, I literally almost fell 3x --try riding 18% super loose gravel with one hand on the bars, all while trying to frame and focus a camera--probably not the smartest thing I have ever done on a bike.

These are the views of the road coming up.

This is looking over the back of the mountain--I believe that's Mt. of the Holy Cross which is one of the 54 14ers at 14,005 ft.

Altitude?

Diet?

Glasses too small?

Moose milk?

3w/kg?

No coffee?

Day 2 up early--sorta. You sure can get a lot done when you have nothing else to do.

I got in about 2:45 on the bike, walked for about an hour, blogged (as you can see) and got to the conference on time.

I know--you need proof.

So I went--had to leave early--the view after 500 ft of climbing.

Can't ask for much better than that.

Who's the farmer?  Nice tan line.

The view after 1500 ft of climbing!

The top--2000 ft of climbing.

Pretty cool area at the top--guess who would love those trampolines?

This is what today's ride looks like.

Big Dave wants a profile--here you go.

I thought this was a cool view.

Post-ride self portrait.

I was going to go back out for some climbing--it looked like this all afternoon, thunderstorm?--so I went for a walk.

Pretty cool--found this hockey game on my walk about.

Signing off--the power of the toe tokens!

Big Dave, we just got off the phone--do it, do it.....

See you soon.