Category: Cycling

143 miles (7000 ft climbing), 11:30 hours 15.5mph

Today started with a fast descent from Ouray down to the “plains” before heading over to our “bump for the day”. A single ~30mile climb up to 11,000ft en route to Grand Junction.

We made good time to the first sag stop (averaging 22+mph) and then shed some layers before heading on at a more controlled pace to the start of our climb. That said Greg was crushing it on the County, Town and River sign sprints which somehow we’ve gotten caught up in going for. At least with 3 of us you always podium.

The climb went on for a long time and started in 100F heat again. Fortunately it got cooler as we got up to the snow level and there were some stunning half frozen lakes to see as we got higher. Thunder storms were threatening around us and we just got to the top before some serious wind gust came along (nearly taking off the canopy on the lunch truck while we huddled inside it).

Once it died down a little we started the descent. I hung back a bit as the pavement was a bit dodgy and there was a serious cattle guard in bad condition near the top that wasn’t much fun going over. We regrouped at the bottom and rode down a great river canyon to the next sag. The wind was really picking up by now and some serious gusts were catching us. We reached the sag stop at the bottom to find that it had been destroyed by the last major gust (table with food picked up and blown into the side area).

We were just about to start a 5 mile highway stretch with a narrow shoulder and raging river on the other side of the barrier and Susan determined that it was unsafe to ride in the current wind conditions and shuttled us past it before we got back on our bikes and rode the last 14 miles in. The right call in the conditions. As it was a safety ruling Bob and my “elite” status of riding every mile is still intact.

Reached Grand Junction in time for a proper dinner. Hopefully will get a better night’s sleep tonight as it’s been touch sleeping at the higher altitudes of our last overnight stops. Tomorrow we head to Vernal.

134 miles (10942 ft climbing), 11:45 hours 13.3mph

Stunning day riding in Colorado today with extensive climbing and multiple passes over 10,000ft (the highest was the last one at 11k). Probably one of the the most scenic days I’ve ever spent on a bike!

Bob, Greg and I rode together for most of the day, stopping to admire the scenery at multiple points. I made it to Ouray in time to get a massage to set me up for tomorrow.

153 miles (7644ft climbing), 12 hours 14.8mph

Today was our last day in New Mexico and was challenging primarily due to the elevation gain. It’s tough doing sustained climbing at 8000ft when you’re not acclimatized. That said, tomorrow we start the really high days and get up close to 12,000ft on Red Mountain so that should be interesting!

Some stunning landscape in New Mexico and Colorado ranging from desert dry expanses to high country pastoral meadows.

The three of us (Bob, Greg and I) stuck together for the whole day except for a brief stretch in the middle before we regrouped. Greg was riding strong and took the brunt of the strong headwind into the lunch stop. My energy was at a low point then but a hot lunch 115 miles into the ride helped revitalize me.

Great descents off the Colorado climbs and looking forward to more to come tomorrow. Now time to eat and recover from today’s efforts.

178 miles (9600ft climbing), 14 hours 14.4mph

A longer day time wise today with twice as much climbing as yesterday and brutal headwinds to start the day off. Took it at an easier pace than yesterday to keep easing into the Tour. 

Some great riding in exposed desert like landscape (reminiscent of Borrego Springs area). 

I ended up riding the last 50 miles in by myself after Greg opted to sag in and Bob was climbing at a slightly slower pace in a group behind. Finished at 7:55 (5 minutes before the threatened cut off for sunset) though there was a bit of leeway as Bob’s group came in 20 minutes later and were still OK.

Of the 16 riders who started only 8 remain who have ridden the entirety of each day. Gives some idea of how tough this is as these are all strong riders.

192 miles (5100ft climbing), 12 hours 18.3mph

Absolutely incredible tour! 1900 miles with 90k of climbing over 12 days. 

PacTour have been running supported tours for the past 30+ years and are organized by Lon Haldeman and Susan Notorangelo, both former RAAM winners i.e. they know just about everything about ultra riding. Their elite tours are harder versions of their normal tours, typically coast to coast crossings. This was their first time running this route along the Rockies as an elite tour, normally it takes an extra 7 days, and by the end they said it was the toughest tour they had ever run. This was due to a combination of long days, elevation gain and extreme weather conditions.

It was really well run with 16 riders (a 17th, a former RAAM finisher, joined us half way through) supported by nearly as many support crew. Their model is to have a very regimented, repeatable pattern each day so that all you need to focus on is riding and recovery. A typical day would be up at 5 am, breakfast in the car park at 5:30am, load trailers at 5:50 and roll at 6am. Everything would run on time. Often ~12 hours of riding and then prep the bike and recover for the next day.

Stunning landscape and a wide variety of weather conditions. The first day was ~200miles in 100 degree heat to “ease” us in to the ride. 

The first day of the tour was a relatively flat stage though heat was a challenge. We started from El Paso at 6am and by noon it was 100 degrees! 

Lon and Susan run a tight ship and everything is very well organized from years of successfully running tours. I am actually the only first timer on one of their tours so it’s a good indicator when so many people are repeat customers. Their goal is to have repeatable patterns and full support so all us riders need to focus on is riding, eating and recovering so we can do it all again the next day. Support starts with breakfast before the ride and goes on through the day with sag stops every 25-30 miles. It makes for a nice rhythm to the day.

We rolled out last from the hotel park (thanks Bob 🙂 ) but the three of us ended up riding through the rest of the pack and ending up in a small group at the front. Not quite our plan of starting easy and then backing off. We ended up averaging 20mph for the first 100 miles and probably pushed it a bit long once it started heating up.

Had to back off the pace for the second half of the ride but fortunately had a bit of a tail wind and some cloud cover so the temperatures got a bit more manageable. Bob, Greg and I ended up splitting up on some hills 50 miles out so rode in at our own paces. All in all I felt I controlled my effort pretty well so ended the day feeling pretty good leading into another big day tomorrow. Forecast is for it to be a bit cooler so fingers crossed.