Family Pictures

Pikes Peak Ride (Take 2)

I took work off today to ride up to the top of Pikes Peak again...this time with my parents! My Dad brought his e-bike and my Mom drove the car to the summit and acted as the group driver, photographer, and aid station!  Unfortunately, today was much harder than a couple of weeks ago. The wind was howling near the top, so it took me 15% more time to make it to the finish on the Hill Climb route. The battery died on my Dad's bike about a mile or two from the summit, but he'll be back to finish the job soon.

This time we started from the toll gate, which is located about 18 miles and 6,600 feet from the summit. I wanted to ride the entire length of the highway at least once since the Hill Climb "race" only covered the final 2/3 of the highway. I also rode down from the summit and recorded a pretty nice video on my new GoPro.

Near the top some people driving by started to give me encouragement from their windows. In fact, three people yelled "you got this" or "you're almost there", which was very nice. A couple of people at the summit gave me a pat on the back, or said I was crazy, or wanted to strike up a conversation with me and ask a few questions. A lot of the cars that passed me along the way had Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska plates. I can imagine seeing some people riding to the top on a bike was somewhat mind-blowing for them.

After the ride my parents and I went out to lunch together and then I stayed at their place for about an hour. It was really nice to hang out with them and enjoy a fun adventure and their company. That's a rare occurrence these days (1:1 time), since we're both busy and I am usually competing with the kids for air time. I also think it's pretty cool that they were willing and able to do this together. For the vast majority of families even the thought of doing something like this is laughable all the way around!

First Day of School

Happy 6th Birthday Freckles!

Pikes Peak Hill Climb

After the Courage Classic I was looking for a ride to do in August. I had seen and considered the Pikes Peak Hill Climb a few months ago, but had forgotten about it until now. I decided to sign up for the non-competitive ride about three weeks before it happened. There were concurrent races happening at the same time, including a few professional riders that were participating. The course followed the same route as the Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb, which is about 12 miles and 4,800 feet up to the summit at 14,115 feet. It took me 1:58, and I finished 30th out of about 110 males of all ages in the non-competitive category.

The event itself was a first for me. I had a lot of fun even though I had to get up early to make the 6:18 a.m. start. I made sure I stayed within my limits since I wasn't familiar with the course and hadn't done any riding before at this elevation. It was pretty much a solid hill straight up with no real breaks. I didn't stop once, which was one of my goals. We had perfect weather...not too hot or cold and no wind. The views were great. There was a roaming motorcycle photographer along the course and some of his pictures are included below. Some are of me and some are just my favorites of the bunch. I'm wearing a black helmet and a blue jersey with white sun sleeves.

There were a couple uni cyclists that made it to the top as well! After hanging out at the top for a little bit I grabbed my backpack that has been shuttled up to the summit and cruised back to my car. The descent was great, but not the best I've done due to the many switchbacks and hairpin turns. Long, sweeping turns are ideal for fun.