Mt Evans

The ride up Mt Evans was pretty sweet. As planned, I started in Idaho Springs and climbed 7,000 feet over 28 miles to the top. It was a fairly mellow climb with very little traffic and beautiful scenery. On the way up I saw a small glacier where someone had left some fresh snowboarded tracks and multiple people had carved their names. I also saw the real Billy Goat Gruff and we had a little chat while I took his picture. With about two miles to go you could see the top, and it seemed so close, but there were at least 10 switch backs in the way so it felt like forever. Maybe it was the altitude making my legs feel weak. A little less than three hours from when I started, I reached the top, 14,264 feet. There were at least a dozen people on top who had passed me in their cars and each of them came over to talk to me. It’s funny; some of the things people say when they know nothing about cycling. The descent down Mt Evans defiantly requires your A-game if you’re going fast. There are lots of cracks, camouflaged pot-holes, really rough sections and corners with the highest of consequences. Those of you, who know me, know I like to go really fast down hill and usually try to scare myself at least once. I had a close call on a switch back which was steeper than it appeared and got sharper the further into it I went. With two fistfuls of break, I damn near filled my pants when I was close enough to the edge to see a solid 500-1000 foot drop. I slowed down a little after that but still made it down in less than 50-minutes. Not bad, 3-hours up, 50-minutes down. Pretty much the same ratio as going to Six Flags.