March 28, 2004

  • I arrive in the lot to find the whole passe already there.  Peter,
    Geoff, Dave, Kent, Glenn, Paul and Jim for whom it will be the 1st ride
    with the boyz this year.  A most excellent turnout!. We
    decide to the Risk Counter clockwise since there was a possibility of
    meeting up with Adam.  Without much adieu we are off.

    The stroll down Horsetooth was almost leisurely.  I was up front
    with Peter who as we already know has a different Idea of what slow
    should be.  I could see my HR creep into the 150’s which is way to
    high for a proper warm-up.   I tried my best to not follow
    his lead, but with the group contageon  I had to compromise a
    bit.  I remember how it was in the old dayz when the Cat III’s etc
    would take it really easy for warm-up.  I guess I need to command
    more respect before everyone in the group follows my lead here.
      Nuff about that.

    So we go make it to Stover and then to Swallow and we made a left on
    the road in front of the County Cork.  The light was red so Peter
    and I decided to be bad boyz and take the sidewalk over to the next
    light.  Well, nobody followed our lead and I hindsight they did
    the right thing.  Hmmm ..wonder if anyone would like to do a
    reality TV show about cycling, say something like “American Cyclist”…..

    We are now happily strolling down Drake.  Life is good until 
    A large piece of Gas tank Strap wasn’t called/pointed out as well as it
    could have been.  I manage to see it in time but Kent’s  GP
    3000 tire fell victim to this hazard. As I passed this thing I
    was praying that everyone would see it.   The rider up front
    passed very close to this thing and so I didn’t see it until really
    late.   Anyway we had to put a tire boot on this one. 
    His tire was slashed pretty good and he considered calling his “Good
    Natured” wife to come and bring some aide.  Luckily the group was
    prepared with tire boots and we made the repair and all was
    good.   I am really happy that no one went down.  That
    was my real fear.  Glenn mentioned that piece of metal flipped up
    in the air!   This just a well could have ended up in
    someone’s spokes etc. and a pileup would have ensured.  I guess we
    really were pretty lucky here…”Gentlemen,  The rules here at Top
    Gun exist for your safety, they are not flexible, nor am I”  I
    like the quote,….. Nuff said on this one.

    As we turned North onto Overland Trail the winds were fierce.
      We were doing a double paceline at about 14 – 15 mph. 
    It was quite a lot of work.  Some of us were taking monster pull
    when it would have been better to take shorter ones but it will only
    just make them stronger so no harm here, but it can fatigue one
    unnecessarily so this may have been a questionable practice.

    We make the turn onto Bingham Hill and Dave is up front taking the some
    valuable KOM points.  Peter was in rare form after being humbled
    earlier in the week and was not contesting any of this yet.  Jim
    was at the rear with Glenn and just happy to be getting in some
    miles.  At Bellevue, Jim’s plan was to do the flats and Geoff was
    decided to keep him company.

    Now it’s on to Rist,  Peter, Glenn and I were a bit behind and we
    took our time bridging up to Kent’s civil pace.  We finally
    stopped to adjust clothing etc at the bottom or Rist and were off to
    suffer!  Dave took the lead and was still keeping a good brisk
    pace.  Peter  decided to just sit in with the boyz and not
    make us suffer. I was feeling pretty tired from doing too much
    the week before and my legs were pretty tired. My HR was OK but my legs
    were complaining.  Peter too the reigns from Dave and the pace
    quickened a bit.  Enough to send Kent to the back of the
    bus.   It was pretty much uncomfortable when Dave was at the
    front but when Peter took over it the real ™ suffering began. 
    Good thing he sorta realized this and we didn’t have to suffer for too
    long.  It was enough to take the spark “What little I had” from my
    legs in any case.  

    Paul, Peter and Dave were the only ones to set tempo on this climb.
    Normally I would have at least gone to the front once but this was not
    my day.  It’s better not to engage and posture unnecessarily since
    it would have only lead to my own demise, maybe some other time in a
    poker game maybe…..  

    Anyway as we ascended it was starting to get really cold.  It
    began to snow and  my thermometer on the polar 710 showed 35
    degrees and we had 800 more vertical to do. we ended up stopping at
    this little firehouse to decide what to do. We talked about turning
    back but Kent pointed out that we are always only a few minutes from
    the bottom so we might as well continue.  Dave’s hands were pretty
    cold at this point and I think we all realized that we could have
    dressed warmer.   Paul was up the road at this point so he
    missed this pow wow.  

    We are off again and life pretty much could be a lot better.  My
    legs are really tired and all I can do is turn the pedals
    slowly.   We find Paul who had turned about to find us and we
    are all together for once if only a brief period.  Peter decides
    to increase the pace and we get strung out.   Looks like
    Peter, Paul, Kent, Dave, Glenn and me.  As I reach the 1st
    switchback Peter is coming down and informs me that he is heading for
    the hard deck since he was cold.  I see Paul heading down too and
    says he will wait further down where it was warmer.

    The snow was coming down pretty good and it was getting cold. :ad: The
    thermometer says 30 now and I know that it must be colder than that
    since it is pretty slow to react.  I reach the summit to find
    Kent, Dave and Glenn.  We head down as soon as I arrive.

    Dam it’s cold on the descent.   Kent is a Madman and takes
    off with “Reckless Abandon” IMHO but that’s Kent.  I  have to
    stop after the upper switchbacks to adjust my Buff to cover more of my
    forehead which was freezing!  Glenn and Paul are in front of me
    and we are moving.  Glenn use to have fear descending but we are
    hitting 40+ and Glenn doesn’t slow too much when hitting the corners.
    Somewhere a couple of “A$#holes” in trucks came blowing by us way to
    close since we were at 40+ mph (in a 30 zone) already.  Dave also
    had to stop and put on his helmet. His hands were so cold that he
    couldn't find his helmet strap buckle!  We  get that taken
    care of and we are off again. ..

    .At some point I passed Dave who was shivering so much that his bike
    was shaking (“Been there done that and it sucks”).  Those 18mm
    tires I put on feel pretty squirrelly so I am reluctant to go into the
    corners as hot as Glenn but I am able to maintain contact.  We
    catch Paul near the bottom and we both go by him.  We all regroup
    at the bottom.  Kent says something about Verns and Hot Coffee so
    we are off to get warm.  Paul decided he needs to get home so it’s
    just the 4 of us.  

    Verns was excellent.  Dave and I were probably the coldest and I
    was really shivering while sitting.   We all had hot
    chocolate, but it could have been hotter.  We split 2 of Vern’s
    famous cinnamon rolls.  They went down so well.  Glenn
    offered us some of this big cookie that he was saving to share with us
    at the summit of Rist but it was too cold up there to want to stay for
    more that 2.3 milliseconds.  (Kent & Glenn,  Dave and I) at Verns

    We depart Verns and Dave has the lead and is on fire.   I
    hang on until a little bit down Overland and in the words of the
    Roberto Duran, “No Mas”.  I let Dave and Kent know that I am
    taking it easy.   Glenn also drops out of Warp and we have a
    nice stroll back home.   A good Epic ride!
     
     Dave writes.....


    It was cool this morning at 8, but not as bad as last week. On my way
    over to FCHS, I saw a trio of recumbents, including one with a full
    fabric fairing. I was thinking that would help keep you warm, but it
    might be a bit touchy in a crosswind. I came into the parking lot the
    back way, and found Paul already there. He was circling the lot to stay
    warm, and I joined him. Glen joined us soon after, and then in short
    order, Jim, Geoff, Kent, and Steve. It was cloudy but not too windy,
    and it felt a bit warmer than the previous week. Steve got us on the
    road in short order, and led out with Peter as we wandered across town
    toward the west side so we could climb Rist Canyon.

    After a bit, I found myself on the front with Peter. We were headed
    west on Drake (I think). I pointed out a strip of metal flashing on the
    ground as we passed it, but not two seconds later heard a rapidly
    deflating tire. It turned out that Kent hadn't been able to avoid the
    debris, and it made a small cut in his tire and tube. Peter offered a
    tire boot, and someone offered a tube, and Kent was soon ready to roll
    again, after much debate about whether this setup would suffice for
    Kent's Meteor imitation on the descent from Rist Canyon. While we were
    standing around watching Kent change his tire, the wind suddenly picked
    up. I put on a jacket that I had been carrying in my fanny pack, 'cause
    it felt cold!

    I now found myself on the front with Geoff, and the others drifted back
    for reasons we didn't understand. We looked at each other at about the
    same time and said "what's up with that, it's not like we're riding
    hard?!" Perhaps Steve's report will clarify. Once we turned to the
    north, we were riding into the wind, and it was definitely harder. The
    wind was gusty out of the northwest, and it was blowing me around quite
    a bit. Wiser heads than mine rightfully encouraged short pulls.

    When we approached the turn to Bingham Hill, I was on the front. Due to
    oncoming traffic, I paused to wait for the car to go by on the
    assumption that if I wasn't sure the whole group could make the turn
    together, it was better to wait. But some folks thought I was being a
    nervous nelly, and turned in front of the car. They soft-pedalled, and
    once I got up to speed after the turn, I didn't feel like slowing down
    again, so I kept going and got a small gap. I kind of figured that
    Peter would come exploding out of the group as I approached the top of
    Bingham Hill, and sure enough he did. The surprise was that Paul was
    right there with him. Paul said his new Asthma medication appeared to
    be doing some good, and he felt strong in spite of just getting over a
    cold.

    We continued on in the wind, hoping that once we got into the canyon,
    the wind would die down a bit. At the foot of Rist, where we heeded
    Nature's Call, it was indeed out of the wind and it felt a bit warmer.
    Jim and Geoff had turned back at Bellvue, and so it was just 6 of us at
    the foot of the climb. There was much talk of staying together, but I
    knew that this was just talk. There's just no way a group can stay
    together on a long climb like that. Sure enough, things splintered as
    we approached the big set of mailboxes. The temperatures also started
    to drop noticeably at this point. My hands started to get cold, and I
    started to wish I had made some different clothing choices. We also
    started to notice a few snowflakes. Farther up the canyon, as I was
    starting to worry about the weather, some of us paused at the Fire
    Station to evaluate. I was in favor of turning back at that point, but
    I was convinced to continue by Kent's point that even if we went all
    the way to the top, we were only 15 minutes from the bottom.

    Onward we climbed. I think the cold definitely took more out of some
    people than others. The cold and the climb splintered the group even
    after our regrouping at the Fire Station. Peter was in front, followed
    by Paul, then Mary. Umm, no, I guess that was just a hallucination on
    my part. In my case, most everything was OK except my hands, which were
    getting a bit stiff from the cold. It was hard enough to shift and
    break that I paused again just before the little descent that leads up
    to the switchback and the final climbing. I was trying to warm my hands
    in my armpits. Glenn was kind enough to offer me his glove liners, but
    I didn't think they would fit under or over the gloves I was wearing.
    Peter, Paul, and Kent were already up the road, and Glenn, Steve and I
    were the caboose.

    As we climbed to the big switchback, Peter came bombing down and said
    it was cold and wet at the top. The snow was collecting on the arms of
    my jacket and on my gloves: that was my second clue that it was cold.
    As I summitted, Kent and Paul were getting a quick bite at the top. I
    tried again to warm my hands in my armpits, but it wasn't working well.
    Glenn and Steve came up soon after I did, and we all turned to go down
    to get out of the snow, the wind, and the cold. The descent was a bit
    slick due to the snow, but just five minutes of descending made a big
    difference in the temperature. Unfortunately, the wind child of a 35mph
    descend chilled my hands to the point where they were numb, and my
    feet, which had been ok up to then, definitely started to get cold. I
    stopped again, to put on the helmet cover that I had taken off at the
    foot of the climb.

    My hands were cold enough that I could not feel the buckle of my helmet
    well enough to undo the buckle, and then I struggled with the helmet
    cover a bit. Fortunately, Steve and Glenn helped me out a bit. We
    continued down at a high rate of speed. I was thinking about which of
    the two competing factors would have greater effect: descending into
    warmer air or the windchill associated with a fast descent. Empirically
    speaking, the windchill won. I was shaking so hard during the descent
    that at times, I could not hold the bar steady. I was worried that I
    would shake myself into a crash, so I slowed a bit. In spite of my
    caution, I was descending at better than 40mph when two white pickups
    passed. They didn't seem to be inclined to give a cyclist any extra
    room, and they were so anxious to get wherever they were going that
    they didn't care that we were already going 10mph over the speed limit.
    When Kent convinced me to continue on to the top, he forgot to mention
    that the 15 minutes of descending would be 15 minutes of hell frozen
    over. I think that's the coldest I've ever been on a bike.

    Once we got to the bottom and regrouped, Peter was nowhere to be seen.
    We assumed he had gone on home since we hadn't seen him lying in a
    ditch higher up the canyon. Kent suggested a stop at the coffee shop.
    All but Paul thought that was a great idea and headed in that
    direction. Paul chose to head for home. Kent, Glenn, Steve and I pulled
    into the coffee shop and had hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. It sure
    improved my spirits a bunch, and since I was a little worried about
    hypothermia, I think it was a wise decision. After that refreshing and
    warming pause, we headed south on Overland Trail.

    Steve and Glenn decided to soft-pedal on in from there, while Kent and
    I went on ahead. Coming out of the coffee shop, it had felt a bit cold,
    and I was anxious to use some of the calories I had just consumed to
    build up some more body heat. Kent and I traded pulls down Overland
    Trail and through town to LeMay. I decided that another couple of miles
    would be good, so I accompanied Kent down LeMay to Trilby, where we
    split. I headed home via Trilby and Timberline, and although I was
    feeling pretty good by that point, I still really enjoyed a hot shower
    and a bowl of hot soup.

    As Peter suggested in his email after the ride, the moral of the story
    is that cyclists in Colorado in Spring need to be prepared for colder
    temperatures than the weather forecasters are predicting since the
    forecasters are often wrong.

    >>Dave



    Peter writes.....

    Hope everybody made it down OK.

    Apologize that I scooted back down the
    canyon.  It was too cold and windy at the top to stay.  Sweating was complicating
    the problem.  I had serious hypothermia issues on the way down – body
    temperature dropped, chills, cramps, numb toes & fingers.   I had
    to get down to warmer temperatures once I started the descent.

    After a warm bath & warm drink, I am
    feeling better.

    I rode with Jim for a couple of blocks on
    Swallow east of College.  He & Geoff had a good ride.  After Jim
    looked at me, he was glad that they stayed near Ft Collins.

    I learned a lesson about preparing for
    spring rides in the canyon – always bring more than enough gear –
    no matter the weather report.  Need to make sure that we keep this in mind
    when we ride to Estes thru June.  (I’ve been in snowstorm in Estes
    in mid-June.)

    Regards,

    Peter