Sunday, June 15, 2008

Day 1 - Durango, CO to Cortez, CO

Well.....RTR 2008 is underway!  2/3's of Team Bizzo hit the road from Durango, CO to Cortez, CO today.  It was a wonderful morning to ride bicycles!  It started out a little brisk, 46 degrees in Durango, CO.  Here's the pre-kickoff pic with the appropriate Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso's!:












Today's ride had about a four mile warm-up and then the climbing began in ernest.  The first and major climb of the day was up to Hesperus Hill.  Went from 6500 ft. in elevation to 8500 ft. in elevation over 11 miles.  The views of the LaPlata Mountains were wonderful.  Still covered w/ snow.  Here's a view of blue wildflowers with the LaPlatas in the background:


The rest of the ride was a combination of mostly downhill with two short ~500 elevation gain climbs.  One of the cool things to see along the ride was Mesa Verde (Spanish for Green Mesa). It is one of the few Mesa's in this part of the country that has lots of trees growing from the sides and it does appear green!


Here was the breakdown on Today's ride:

Total Distance:  49.3 miles
Total Elevation Gained:  2,986 ft.
Total Calories Burned:  2,916

I was able to shoot some video today and have in fact edited it, but the bandwith from the B&B just won't support the uploading of it.  I'll put it out there tomorrow.  Tomorrow's ride is a butt kicker and another 7:00 am start-time.  Signing off until then,

Chuck "The Coach"

1 comment:

Ellen said...

Hey Guys, How was the first morning after the first hill climbing day? Did 7:00 a.m. come around pretty early today?
Chuck, hope you had a great Father's Day yesterday -- I was thinking about you spending your Father's Day in the saddle -- and thought that was prob the best place for you to be, eh?
Lisa, how goes the start from the princess' view?

Keep the pictures coming...
Ride Safely!