you can't see the wind

This time of the year for cyclists who love summer tours is one of training. Indoors for many of us where the weather makes road riding conditions less than ideal. Accompanying the training is remembering past rides and longing for future adventures.

On the CRMBT forum some of the chatter has been about an already epic day 3 featuring Lookout Mountain, Squaw Pass, and Berthoud Pass, 10,000 feet of climbing over 85 miles. Some think that passing so close to Mt Evans Road is too tempting to not add another 28 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing to the day. Others have done the math and realize that this side trip would mean 100 miles and 14,000 feet of climbing just to get to the top of Berthoud Pass. Assuming I would want to be off of Berthoud by 2:00pm at the latest in hopes of beating the afternoon rains, I would have to leave by...

 

On Facebook Ride The Rockies is celebrating the 28 days of February by asking riders to share their favorite memories from past tours.  Biking Across Kansas has announced that they've reached their 800    rider limit and have opened their waiting list to fill cancellations. And I've been remembering all the tours I've done, including the Tour de Kota, which is no more. 

This picture was taken on the first day of TdK 2012. The last 20 miles were STRAIGHT south into Beresford. It had been a pleasant morning, and the shot shows a sunny day, on a flat, straight road. What you can't see in the picture is the wind that had come up. It was blowing so hard that it was difficult to take a hand off the bars to get a drink. I had tried to talk my brother-in-law, Paul into joining me for this ride. On this first day, I was glad he had declined. The wind sapped the energy out of you. When I made it to Beresford I dragged my bags to a shady spot, lied down and slept for almost an hour. When I awoke, I set up my tent, drank some Gatorade, showered and shuffled over to the spaghetti dinner before feeling normal again. For a flat, straight road on a sunny day, it was brutal. And it was awesome!