Day 7 - Trail Ridge Rd. to Boulder

Getting Ready to Ride at Granby Lake

On this, the final day of our tour (most of us are flying home tomorrow & will miss the final time trial in Denver), Lizard Head Cycling Guides had planned a magnificent ride for us through the Rocky Mountain National Park including Trail Ridge Rd., which climbs for about 22 miles then snakes along a ridge at elevations of around 12,000 ft for several miles before descending to Estes Park.  The map, provile & other data from the Garmin are linked here for this amazing day of biking. We started at Granby Lake and rode a long flattish section before passing through the entrance gate of the National Park where the road turned into a beautiful smooth blacktop with stunning views in every direction.

Through the gates of the National Park

The beginning of the climb started innocently enough, cruising along this nice smooth road at slight grades of 2% - 4%.  As the photos show, it was a clear, sunny day, but I was keeping my layers on for the cold ride along the summit.  Along this stretch of road there was very little traffic, but when the serious climbing started, there seemed to be a pretty steady stream of cars and campers going uphill with us.  Strangely enough, I don't think we saw any other cyclists, either going up or down, other than our group.

John & Louise chatting before the big climb begins

A bit of grazing wildlife on the way up

Trail Ridge Rd. crossed the Continental Divide
at Milner Pass, just a bit over 10,000' high

Actually, the climb, while incredibly long, wasn't that steep, with grades never more than 7 or 8%.  And after a week of riding at such high altitudes, I honestly can't say that I felt the thin air either.  It was a hard climb, no doubt, with steady climbing for about 2-1/2 hours (about comparable to my 2010 ride up Mt. Ventoux), and certainly one of the longest continuous climbs that I've ever done.  I'm not sure exactly where the tree line was, but we were way above it for several miles as we neared the top.

At a turnout above the tree line.  Cold & Windy.



Rodney up ahead of me above the tree line



Finally, we reached the vans in a parking lot near the top at the Alpine Visitor Center.  There was still some climbing to do before reaching the absolute maximum elevations of the ride, but this signified the end of the really hard climbing.  We stopped for some hydration & food, but the views were too stunning to spend much time in the parking lot, and I wanted to see just how high the road would go.  For the first time on the trip, the elevation reading on my GPS exactly matched the signage along the road!

I figured this was the highest elevation reached on the
trip - 12,205' - although the Park Service website says
12,183' is the highest point.  Anyway, it's HIGH. Note my
average speed - 9.6 mph - for the first 32 miles!

 

It was so windy along the top that it was hard
to stop for photos

 

My bike, pretty much at the top of the world 

3 New Orleanians, Rodney, David & Scott,
along the top of Trail Ridge Rd.

The road travelled for several miles along the ridge, dipping up and down, sometimes protected by rocks on either side, sometimes like an asphalt saddle, dropping off on either side into steep precipices, a cold wind whipping across the road and making the bike feel pretty unsteady.  Because of the amount of car traffic that was (very politely, for the most part) sharing the road with us, it was impossible to take photos along that stretch.  In spots, I was riding at car-speed between two cars & concentrating hard on the road rather than the views.

Finally, we arrived at one of the vans that had parked alongside the road at the Rainbow Curve for lunch, just before the beginning of a big descent down into Estes Park.  I was famished, and shoveled a peanut butter & nutella sandwich down, plus some fresh pineapple, chips & hummus, some "real" Coke (there's nothing like an injection of high fructose corn syrup on a long bike ride) and anything else that hadn't been left behind by the others (we were the last group to arrive, some of the others having ridden faster or started farther along the road than we did.)

Lunching at Rainbow Curve

View from our lunch stop

Another lunchtime vista

We made the fast descent down to Estes Park on a full stomach. . . wide winding roads, getting up some nice speeds.  Again, my new bike felt solid and smooth, and the electronic shifters are such a delight to have on a ride like this where there is so much gear-shifting.  The landscape changed quickly, and I experienced that familiar feeling of the temperature getting warmer and warmer as the miles clipped by.  Finally, one of the vans came by and I waved it down and stripped off all my layers save for my shorts & jersey.

Through the rocks somewhere south of Estes Park

Tani & others on the road

The last photo of the trip. . .after this the
descents were too steep for any more picture-taking!

After about 75 miles of riding, Scott, Rodney & I were laboring up a long steady climb when the van flagged us down and said that we'd have to get in and drive for a few miles, otherwise we wouldn't make to Boulder in time for dinner.  We reluctantly climbed in, but after a few miles of steady uphill, we looked at each other & were glad for the rest.  We were dropped off at the top of Lefthand Canyon Dr. for a thrilling 17-mile descent that ended our cycling trip just outside of Boulder.  Always on these trips, I'm talking to myself on the final fast descent - "Careful, don't overcook it now, nothing left to prove, don't crash & ruin it all" - and made it to the bottom exhilarated, heart racing, hot, sweaty & happy.  I wish that we could have accomplished another 100 mile ride just 4 days after the 100-miler into Aspen, but 90+ miles is close enough given the conditions we rode under!

We never encountered the peleton on this day, but they arrived in Boulder a few hours before we did, having ridden some of the same roads.  We heard that the National Park Service refused to allow the race use any of the parkland, or Trail Ridge Rd., for the day's stage.

After arriving at our last hotel, I packed up my bike, showered & changed, and then we all drove into Boulder for a final celebratory feast upstairs at The Kitchen Cafe in Boulder, which was lively and loud.  The food was plentiful and delicious, and we enjoyed reliving the events of the last week and saying goodbye to our newfound friends from Atlanta, Ohio & California.

The following day (Sunday), we flew out of Denver in the morning, eschewing the final time trial.  After having seen time trials at the Tour de France, I knew this was one day that I could miss, and there would have been no riding for us anyway!