Woke up at 5am. Still dark. Didn't get much sleep. Some bitch was barking until 1am. Why do people have dogs? Checked my voicemail to find out whether Robert fixed his bike. Alas, he did not. A spoke was too long or something like that.
I left the house at 5:45. Got to the Bingham Hill at 6:3. Too late. Missed the group. I started up the Rist Canyon alone. A bit slower than my normal pace. I passed two people, who later turned out to be part of this ride. When I got to the fire station, after the major climb, I decided to eat and drink. As I finished the peleton zoomed back down. I got on their tails and flew down the canyon. A brief regrouping in Bellvue and back through the Bingham Hill. Nice pace, not too hard. The group looked colorful and quite impressive. You could probably feed a small African nation for a month at a cost of accumulated prices of all these fancy bikes.
We get into town and the pace picks up. A long snake of riders powers down the Overland Trail and then Drake. At the intersection of Drake and Taft I get an instantaneous flat in my rear wheel. I scold myself for not replacing a tube which already had been patched three times. But as it turned out, my patches were fine. A sharp shard of glass went through kevlar and ripped a whole in the tire and the tube. The peleton does not wait, so I trade the efficiency of a group ride for the peace and solitude. I fix the flat and continue on.
I roll to "JJ's Fine Foods and Gasses", toss the ripped tube into a garbage, and continue towards the south dam on the Horsetooth. I have done this climb so many times that I don't remember anything from this stretch. I pass Masonville, fill up my water bottles from the garden hose behind the post office, and about 20 minutes later I get to the Thompson School for the Gifted. It is 9:45. I eat my second power bar and I head towards the Carter Lake.
When I get to the bottom of the climb to the Flatiron Reservoir (for some reason this climb is also called 'Rattlesnake') it is a quarter past ten and I have biked close to 60 miles (96 km) and I probably climbed at least 3000 feet (900 meters). This portion of the ride is new to me; I've never done this climb. I struggle up the first steep part, and "the crazies" zoom down after having done their climb. Paul yells - "come with us!". But I have decided that I will continue to the top.
For the next forty or so minutes I am in my lowest gear (39x26) and after a while I hear myself grunting: "I wish I had 28.. I wish I had 28".. and later "I wish I was 28..". This is a one tough hill. Four miles of a relentless climb. There is one flat spot, but right after that the road seems to be getting even steeper! I barely crawl forward; quite often standing up as it seems to be easier on my knees. Then wind gusts come and almost stop me dead. I fight for control of the bike so that I can stay on it and avoid toppling over.
The final steep curve and I come to the crest. A wonderful of the Longs Peak and Indian Peaks to the left. I sit in a hot wind, eat my third power bar and try to relax my leg muscles (so that stop quivering). Then I start down.
The descent is even more hellish than the climb. The road is so steep and winding that I do not dare to go faster than 30 mph; quite often I have to slow down even more. I brake a lot and I start worrying about overheating the rims. I stop. I can barely touch the wheels. I wait for them to cool down. I repeat this one more time. Finally the bottom.
I turn right and aim for the climb to Carter Lake. What has always been a 'serious' climb appears to be a mild bump in the road - compared with what I have just done. Half way up the climb I hear some serious huffing behind me. I look back and I see a typical female boulderite - full body swim/triathlete suit, a trick bike with three spoke wheels; quite impressive indeed. She catches up with me but she is not much faster than I am at this point. So we go together to the marina. I refuel, turn around and go back. The rest is uneventful, predictable and tiring. Through Masonville, around Horsetooth, back through the town. Total of 96 miles (154 km), probably 6000 feet of climbing (1800m) and 8 hours from start to finish.