Day 3 - Telluride to Montrose: Pics Have Arrived

As promised here the pics from yesterday's ride:

Hammer & Coach - Sitting @ Top of the Dallas Divide

San Juan Mountains (Mount Sneffels, 14,150 ft. is Tallest Right of Center)

Ralph Lauren's Ranch (Front Gate)

Same Pic (with Coach's Backside & Back Wheel)

Princess Corner Makes Its Debut

The Halloween costumes are out, the sounds of hundreds of bicycle shoe clips are heard, my schedule now revolves around bikes, eating, rehydrating, sleeping (repeat process daily). It must be that time of year again! Yes folks, Ride the Rockies 2008 has arrived!

The Coach and Hammer have it made with their support represented by myself, Nancy and Wendy (the Hammer's mom and sister). Of course, we all get to enjoy the beauty of Colorado together so I do believe that we are all winners.

The boys can update you with all of those pesky details, facts, and figures of their bicycle rides. I, on the other hand, like to give updates to the non-bike-knerds out there about the other world - the non bicycle world.

The ladies and I visited Mesa Verde outside of Cortez although we did our visits on separate days. I was there to enjoy the amazing construction of the ancient Pueblo's cliff dwellings. I was hoping to even pick up some of the Indian spirit vibes while there. It was a bit difficult to do that with the crowds also visiting but I managed to find some areas off of the beaten path. The picture below shows one of these cliff dwellings out of the many in the area. It was just me and the park ranger due to the mile walk to get to this one. Unfortunately, no Indian vibes were picked up. There was just a lot of huffing and puffing (due to the altitude - clearly not due to my fitness level), intense glistening because I DO NOT sweat, and many of Gods creatures either flying in my face, into my mouth, or scurrying in front of me and scaring the bejesus out of me.

Here is an example of Xero-scaping, aka xeriscaping in the wild. It is amazing to see beautiful flowers growing out of the conditions that were there - dry heat, rocks, and a bit of sand for soil.

Onto Telluride where it was blessedly cooler. I caught a picture of the traveling bike camp on the way into town. Not a bad camping site really.

A beautiful river flowing rapidly through town from the snow melting from the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately our time was short-lived here in Telluride. Today we traveled onto Montrose where it was HOT! I'm very happy to have our time short-lived here. The official temperature here was mid-90's although my temperature reading from my car was at 100. I did not drive that long drive from Dallas for these temperatures! Tomorrow we are going to Crested Butte which is expected to have a high tomorrow of 74 - much more like it! We will be there over the next two days with the boys having a day off while there. I'm sure they will still manage to get a ride in on that day or at the very least lovingly stroke their babies which have got them to this point - with the help of months of training and strong-like-bull tree trunk legs.

More updates soon! Love to all,

Lisa (Princess)

Day 3 - Telluride to Montrose: The Worm Turns!

Finally....some downhill!  Today's ride started with a very fast decent from Telluride (9,000 ft.) to Placerville (7,300 ft.) which was exhilarating and scary.  Scary from all of the traffic, generally large trucks and buses that were passing us on the way down!

Today was a first for Team Bizzo, a flat tire!  Just as we were heading out from the rest/aid station, my rear tire had a blowout.  There was actually a lot of good news from this development:

1. It didn't happen while I was going 40 mph on the descent from Telluride;
2. It was in front of the rest area which means that I had access to a bike pump (you really don't know how hard and time-consuming it is to pump up a tire to 120 psi with a hand pump)?!
3. It was from a blowout and not a puncture.  Punctures can be notorius to diagnose.

It's all good.  From there we started the 12 mile grind up to the Dallas Divide, back up to

 ~9,200 ft.  But how about this for a view:

You are looking at a small portion of the San Juan mountains.  I haven't gotten pics from the Hammer yet, but will post those either later or tomorrow.

After the 12 miles of climbing, we settled down for about 36 miles of downhill all of the way to Montrose.  On the way down, we saw the Double RL Ranch (aka Ralph Lauren Ranch) and headed into the beautiful valley which is Ridgway.  The pics will tell the story.  All in all, there was about 12 miles of climbing and 53 miles of downhill.  Now that is a nice turn of the tables from yesterday.

It got hot today!  Almost 95 degrees in Montrose.  Hammer and I finished up at about 1:30p.  Here are the stats for today:

• Distance:  65.83 miles
• Duration:  4:27:45
• Elevation Gained:  2,089
• Calories Burned:  3,941

Tomorrow's 92 mile jaunt is sure to cause another big hurt on the legs with 5,500 feet of climbing in addition to the punishing length.  My hope is that it will cool down.  We'll see.  Stay tuned....

Chuck "The Coach"

Quote Of The Day

"You better rest up for tomorrow....this ride could get serial!" -

    The Coach

Day 2 - Cortez to Telluride: The Yin and the Yang...

Today's ride was everything that I thought it would be and everything that I didn't think it would be?!  The range of emotions ran the gamut!!!  Lightness/darkness; happiness/sadness; thrill of victory/agony of defeat.  Choose one. 

 

For starters, this route could very easily be one of the most beautiful roads in Colorado....if you're driving.  For bike riding, the almost 65 miles of climbing of 5,273 feet of elevation makes you feel a little different - maybe not so happy at times and unable/incapable of taking in some

of this stunning beauty.  It starts in non-descript Cortez and ends in stunning Telluride.  Like I said...the yin and the yang.

Here's some comparative stats on today's ride for Coach/Hammer for some rider yin/yang, respectively:

• Ride Time:  6:33:13/No official time from Hammer, probably about 20 minutes shorter
  
• Distance:  74.56 miles/74.55 miles
  
• Maximum Speed:  40.7 mph/44.1 mph
  
• Calories Burned:  5,174/6,769
  
• Average Heart Rate:  132 bpm/135 bpm
  
• Elevation Climbed:  5,273 ft.

I can say that I'm now 2 for 4 as far as bonking on this climb.  No problems with energy, but there was plenty of pain to work through.  I hate this climb/I love this climb!

The Coach

Here's some of the pics from today's adventure:

Heading Out from the Days Inn Parking Lot

Lake Overlook from Bike Route - Delores, CO

The Destination - Lizard Head

Bent, but Not Broken & Defiant

The Destination - Was it Worth It?  You, tell me!

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"

Day T-1: Get Your Kicks (by El Martillo Grande)

There is nothing better that a little side bar vacation….while you’re on vacation! I have always driven to Colorado through Raton Pass in New Mexico. Since this year’s RTR 08 began in Durango, we decided to change things up a bit and go over to Albuquerque and then up to Durango. This of course would take us on……………..

Route 66

Being such a famous landmark and one that had eluded me for 44 years, we had to take some detours.

Cadillac Ranch

The Route 66 Diner

The Route 66 Auto Museum

I think the coolest thing of all was seeing ‘Historic Route 66’ on the Garmin screen!

So we are out there getting our kicks while the Coach was mumbling something about a warning light. I don’t know what he was so worried about.. we are the ones that had to deal with the banditos!

Then to Durango for Ride The Rockies 2008!  

The Hammer

T-2/-1 Day: Tucumcari, NM to Durange, CO (via Aztec, NM)

There is always an adventure when you're traveling w/ the Coach.  This time was no different. We shoved off and down the road from Dallas on Thursday afternoon at about 12:30p with no problems.  Coach was manning the wheel and princess was napping in the back seat.  BTW - it's great to be a princess!  Drove to Tucumcari, NM which was about 450 miles with no problems on Thursday night.  Stayed @ the local Hampton In and enjoyed it.

Friday morning....get up, gas up and the "Check Hybrid System" light comes on in the Toyota. Great!   I'm already working through the various plans in my mind, Plan A - drive to Albequerque, NM (ABQ) with light on and check w/ a dealer in ABQ.  Plan B - drive or to tow to ABQ and get a rental car. Begin bike ride on schedule on Sunday.  Plan C - begin bike ride from Tucumcari and end up in Durango by Sunday to begin bike ride.  Plan D - abandon Princess and find any/all ways to get to Durango to begin bike ride.  Notice, I was able to get Plan D appropriately relegated to last.  However, it was not lost on Princess that in fact that one of the viable plans was Plan D.

Anyways, the Toyota Toll Free hotline gave us the phone number to a dealer in ABQ and we were told to try and drive.  The light went off and we were able to get it to the dealer.  The technician at the dealer put the computer on the car and determined that they needed to replace a DC to DC converter.  So, we arranged for a rental car and transferred all of the gear. Here's the Coach packing the rental car:

So, we're off to Aztec to see Lisa's Dad.  Unfortunately, we get a call about 30 miles out of ABQ and saying that there is no need to replace the converter and we need to turn around.  Up to this point, I'm just taking it as it comes.  Grinning and bearing it!  At this point, I'm doing the Mel Gibson, just snapping and ready to go crazy like in the movie "The Patriot".  We turn around and go back.  Unload the rental and reload the Highlander.  Here's a shot of me reloading the Highlander from the Rental Car:

Aggravating....yes, but we were able to get to Aztec and subsequently on to Durango.  Here's a shot of the canyon that will start tomorrow's climb from the back porch of the hotel:

I look forward to updating you after the ride!

Chuck ("The Coach")

Another Year - 2008 Ride the Rockies

2008 brings another edition of Ride the Rockies!  Team Bizzo (or at least 2/3's of us - Coach & Hammer) will be doing this year's rendition which starts in Durango, CO on Sunday, Jun 15, 2008 and ends in Breckenridge, CO on Saturday, Jun 21, 2008.  It sets up as another year of serious challenges to both the mind and the legs.  We will be riding as a part of "Team Flying High" which will introduce a new set of characters, including Uncle Doug and Johnny Utah, that we met while riding RTR two years ago!

The current year set-up is 435 miles over 7 days (actually 6 riding days + 1 rest day).  I'm quite familiar with this route as I've ridden all of the roads at least 4 times with the single exception of the last day (Buena Vista to Breckenridge via Hoosier Pass). 

Here's a preview of the ride this year:

• Day 1 - Durango, CO to Cortez, CO:  This is a good starting day.  By RTR standards, it is relatively short (only 49 miles).  It starts with a big climb early in the ride and is mostly downhill thereafter, a good way to get the body set for the challenges that lie ahead.  Most of the riders will be done by noon and get ready for Day 2.

• Day 2 - Cortez, CO to Telluride, CO:  Simply put....a beast of day.  77 miles with the first ~65 miles straight uphill.  I've climbed this route three (3) times and have bonked twice.  For those of you that are non-cyclists, bonking occurs when your body can no longer produce energy from fat stores and glycogen (sugar stored in your body primarily muscles and liver) and quite simply shuts itself down.  Symptoms include among other things dizziness, hallucinations, muscle cramping, fatigue, inability to walk or let alone peddle a bicycle.  Rest is not the problem.  Lack of food is!  The only remedy is to consume enough food/calories to alleviate the condition.  Needless to say, I'd like to get my batting average back to .500.  Here's the day's profile:
  

• Day 3 - Telluride, CO to Montrose, CO:  As brutal as Day 2 is, Day 3 is as pretty, probably one of the pretty parts of Colorado.  The ride is rollicking downhill from Telluride to Placerville, CO followed by a steady climb up to the Dallas Divide.  At the top of the Dallas Divide, you start a beautiful downhill which follows almost 10 miles of the beautiful white fenced RL Ranch....Ralph Lauren Ranch, that is!  I've never seen so much white fence.  You wouldn't want to be the one responsible for painting it!

• Day 4 - Montrose, CO to Crested Butte, CO:  By climbing standards this is not hard climbing day, but at 92 miles it is the longest day of the ride.  It's mostly uphill with the first 25 miles generally into a brutal (i.e., 25 mph) headwind.  After a series of small climbs, it flattens out into Gunnison River valley as you head into Gunnison.  When you get to Gunnison @ 65 miles, you make a left hand turn and go 27 miles uphill to Crested Butte.  Tired will become the operative word for most when they finally get to their camp/lodgings in Crested Butte!

• Day 5 - Off Day in Crested Butte, CO:  Hurray!  Food and rest - very cool options. Actually, almost starts to sound like a vacation!

• Day 6 - Crested Butte, CO to Buena Vista, CO:  This is a serious climbing day.  Patience is a virtue best suited for today.  You start with about a 15 mile downhill run until a left hand turn takes you up to Taylor Reservoir and finally up the road to Cottonwood Pass, 12,126 ft. elevation.  There isn't much air up there!  Check out this profile:

• Day 7 - Buena Vista, CO to Breckenridge, CO:  It's time for the fun to end!  I've driven this route in a car many times, but have never ridden it on a bicycle.  Two passes are on the agenda, Trout Creek Pass and Hoosier Pass.  I'll be excited to ride Hoosier Pass because it is the normal route from our cabin in Woodland Park, CO to the Breckenridge Ski Resort. The climb up to Hoosier is a steady 4 miles @ 7% almost straight up the side of the mountain.  The descent is a twisty, twitchy switch-back filled road which will test the most daring of descenders (of which, I'm not one of them!). 

Hammer and I look forward to providing you with the blow by blow descriptions of each day's events.  The rumor is that "Princess" may be checking in during the trip to provide her RTR au feminine observations.  Also, I've procured a helmet cam which can be affixed to my handlebar to give you a "bikes-eye" video view of the route.  Let's see how that works?!

This year, I've provided an RSS update connection which will let you know when I've updated the site.  Simply click on the RSS button on the top right column (below where it says click here for site updates).  It will open up a web page which gives you all of the entries that you have not yet seen when visiting this blog.  On this newly opened web page, you can also select the "Subscribe in Mail" option (on the right hand margin) which will actually load the site into your e-mail viewer on a Mac.  For Windows users that want this functionality, download the RSS Reader Plug-in from http://rsspopper.blogspot.com/2004/10/home.html  and it will make Outlook or Outlook Express work the same as I've described on the Mac with your Windows machine.  Your e-mail viewer will check for updates and give you an e-mail version of the updates (including pics and videos) generally within 30 minutes of being posted!  No more pulling up the blog only to find....no updates! - :(

Hopefully, you'll find some entertainment value in the voyage and it will encourage you to visit this heaven that I call Colorado.  Tune in and enjoy - 

Chuck "The Coach" Taylor

Bizzo's - Back After It

Two of Team Bizzo, Coach and Cubby, are back after it for a good cause.....our very good friend, Susie Moore. Susie was diagnosed with and is undergoing treatment for breast cancer and we were looking for the best way to support her. After visiting with her and her husband, Michael, the Cubster and I are going to mount up and ride the 100k (62mile) course of the Livestrong Challenge in Austin, Texas on Sunday, Oct 14 2007 to raise some money for the cancer community on Susie's behalf.

The Livestrong Challenge is an outgrowth of the Ride for the Roses fundraiser that I've participated in several times in the last six years which raises money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF). LAF provides unbelievable resources to people with cancer and the loved ones that support them. I've set a fundraising goal of $2,500 which will go straight to work in assisting the LAF.

Here is the link for donations:

http://austin07.livestrong.org/teambizzo

Keep Susie in your thoughts and prayers. Please be generous and thank you for your support.

The "Coach"