Ride the Rockies – Final Thoughts
Well, before I get too settled back into the daily grind, I thought I would post my final impressions of Ride the Rockies. Take these thoughts for what they are…my impressions. Others will obviously have different ideas.
** First, I absolutely enjoyed myself. I love Colorado, and will go back as often as I can. The scenary is magnificant, the weather is perfect, and there is no shortage of neat things to see and do. I would love to spend more time riding in the Rockies.
** At this point, I doubt if I will opt to participate in this particular ride again. There were simply too many people everywhere you turned. At the overnight camps, at the aid stations, on the roads, at the porta potties….. If you know me, you know I enjoy my solitude, and it was pretty hard to find any solitude with 2,400 of your best friends around all the time.
** The organizers had their methods down to a science. In spite of the crowds, the only time I noticed things not running smoothly was at registration on the first day. I really can’t say enough good things about the way the ride was run. I’ve been on rides where things were not well planned and executed. This one was exceptional.
** I was initially apprehensive about riding in the mountains, but I soon figured out that I’m a strong enough rider that it doesn’t really matter. Once you put yourself in the mind-set that you need to get in your granny gear and pedal for an hour or two while trying to keep your heart rate down, you eventually get to the top. Granted, I was passed by a ton of cyclists, but at the same time, I passed at least 5 times as many people as passed me. With the exception of one down-hill with a lot of wind, going down wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it might be either.
** I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I didn’t pay enough attention to the weather. I’ve got a reasonably good sleeping bag from back in the day, but the first two nights out, I was cold. I finally found an outdoor store and bought a pair of smartwool socks that helped a bunch. I think there was frost on my tent three mornings.
** Honey Stinger Waffles rock! So do fruit smoothies with protein powder!
** I seemed to ride better the days I got my breakfast from a convenience store. The biggest Honey Bun I could find, a Hostess Cherry Pie, and Chocolate Milk gave me a huge calorie boost to start the day.
** After a week of living in a tent and standing in lines for porta-potties, the cheap Motel 6 room I got on the way home sure seemed like the Hilton!
God bless…
TW
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June 20, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Tracy. We felt the same about the crowds the two years that we rode Bike Virginia. Great routes but just too many people. We would always bypass the first food stop just to get ahead of most of the masses.
So does Twin Lakes still have the cop car sitting alongside the road with a ‘dummy’ cop inside? The two times that we rode Independence Pass (westbound) that cop car was there to try to slow down cars as they entered the village.
Don
June 21, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Hostess Cherry Pie energy bar FTW!
June 21, 2012 at 1:32 pm
That’s quite a ride … and I thoroughly enjoyed reading your report! I share your enjoyment of solitude and can’t imagine riding for days with that many people around.