Elephant Rock, 2016

Sunday, June 5, 2016;


After one afternoon and one full day of riding for 57 miles worth of high elevation training .... I was feeling pretty good about the elevation difference between Oklahoma and the Front Range of Colorado. And this was true, I really had no ill effects from the elevation difference at all. Felt pretty good, actually. Should have trained much, much harder in big hill country though, as that was what proved to be my nemesis on this ride. I had signed up for the 62 mile (100k) ride, but with the ride from my hotel to the start and back from the end, I ended up with 65.4 miles total. A good distance, one that makes me happy,  I can still say ..... "a Century this year .... why yes ..... I did a Century this year" (100 kilometers) .... Grin .... 

Sunday dawned early, and I was planning to be gone by the crack of dawn ...... well ..... I was close.... dawn cracked at 5:25, I left the hotel at 5:45 got in line at the start and left right at 6am sharp. 

 Right out of the gate .... one of the toughest hills on the route, at least it seemed that way before the legs got warm and the lungs got working. If you look just over the top of the red helmet in front of me, you can see the riders going over and through the cut. At this time, I didn't realize, this wasn't the top, it just looked that-a-way. It got a bit steeper and further yet after I made it over that first little hill before finally summiting.  There were a number of riders walking the last 1/4 mile or so, but the old guy wasn't one of them. It was a plod, but one stroke after a painful other ..... I finally rolled over the top. I was rewarded by a nice fast smooth downhill, only to start up another climb, fortunately not as tough as the first one. This seemed to set a precedent for the rest of the 62 miles. There were a lot of hills, some up, some down, some fun, some ..... not so much.

 Throughout most of the first half or so of the ride, Pikes Peak was the dominant feature, always beckoning ...

 The first rest stop, just off Highway 83, and a little bit of gravel getting to it. It was a welcome rest. The uphill tailwind I was hoping for became an all day headwind. Every time the route would turn, the wind would turn. Starting out from the south, it traversed to the west and then northwest, then finally on the last "easy" part back into Castle Rock, it was straight out of the north right in our faces again. I thought for sure the ride promoters planned it that way so none of us would get overheated on the climbs. 
The first rest stop was welcome. They had the rest stops at just the right intervals, not too close, but not so far you were hurting for food or drink before you got there. Most were about 15 to 18 miles apart. 

 Gravel route into the rest stop.

 The highway 83 southbound leg was all uphill, gradual, but noticeable. It kept me at 8 to 10 mph most of the way up.... into the wind, of course ....

 Finally, we turned west, and into a bit of piney country.

 Topping out the little hill on Highway 105

 Roller Coaster Road! This was the most fun part of the whole ride! A series of fast downhills with the wind at our backs, (I was so fast, the wind hadn't caught on yet that I had changed direction), followed by big uphill rollers, and another fast downhill, and repeat. ... It was fun!! I could have just gone back and done that part several times.

 Kept seeing this nice young lady on the road on almost every climb. Finally we just decided to ride together for a while while we chatted, enjoyed her company for a while. She was a great photographer as well, as she got me in this nice touristy pose with Pikes Peak in the background.

 Slow .....well yes ...... what else did you expect? Just topping out one of the steeper hills, before another fast descent.

 Pretty wildflowers coming into Palmer Lake. Up in the hills in the background, just to the south and west of Palmer Lake a bit was where one might find the namesake of our ride.

 Elephant Rock .... A natural sandstone arch, just to the west of Palmer Lake. Not visible from the ride, it's off a gravel road, and I believe on private property. I did manage to find a picture on-line, however, just to show you what it looked like.

 More gravel road, this time around 1/4 mile long going into the Palmer Lake rest stop. 1/4 mile in,  1/4 mile out. I didn't think it was bad at all, but a lot of riders parked their wheeled steeds right off the pavement and walked in. I rode ..... it was better gravel than I have around my place.

 Palmer Lake rest stop

 Palmer Lake. You can make out just the seat and the stem bag of my bike just inside the fence to the right of the post.

 Live entertainment at a rest stop .... COOL! These guys were really quite good!

 Some pretty scenery after leaving Palmer Lake.

After Palmer Lake and the big crowd, I never saw my photographer/riding companion again, but this young lady rides up next to me, and started a conversation, and stayed with me for most of the rest of the ride. This first hill, she out pulled me a bit, but I think she shot herself in the foot, as I out pulled her on all the rest. She waited for me at the top, and we raced down the long downhill. She was fun company. She was also next to me when they took the professional ride photo .... haven't seen it yet.

 Long downhill from Palmer Lake. Not steep, just a good 38mph or so downhill. Not sure where I got my max speed for the day of 47mph at, but I can guarantee I wasn't looking at the speedometer, only the road ahead at that speed.

 I felt really wasted at Palmer Lake, legs were sore, I was really tired out, but on the last 15 miles or so, even into the wind, I felt much stronger, and passed a lot of the riders who had previously passed me up. I actually felt better at the end of the ride than I did at the halfway point, and we still had several more uphills after Palmer Lake. I guess I'm like an old plow horse ... smell the barn, and I get really fast! Post ride lunch was spaghetti and meatballs and salad, and ice cold Fat Tire Ale. OOooohh, Heaven!!

 Look at all the bikes! This was only a small portion of the more than 6,000 riders attending. They had a commercial area where they had vendors from everywhere, live music, and fun.

 I had to admit, before the ride, I was a bit intimidated by the sheer number of riders and the size of the ride. With the staggered starting times and each group starting anywhere within their 2 hour bracket, the number of riders was never an issue. As with most rides like this, I kept seeing the same faces over and over throughout the ride. This was a super, excellently supported ride. Many, many hard working sheriff deputies and highway patrol officers keeping the motorists and the bicyclists all safe and happy. Great rest stops, great sag service, great entertainment, wonderful glass smooth roads, nice cooling breeze in our faces ..... yes ..... it was Great! A fun ride, a challenging ride,  and one I would do again someday. 

The ride jersey was from last year ..... one of my two bargain jerseys, the tee was this year's. 

 Really enjoyed the ride and the fun riding for the entire weekend, and I have some great things and photos to remind me of the awesome times.