“Standing on top of the world
For a little while
Standing on top of the world
Gonna give it all we got” – Bon Jovi
This previous weekend I decided that I was going to do something I have never done before on a bicycle. I was going to ride to the top of a 14,000 foot mountain. One advantage to living in Colorado is that I have access to some pretty amazing, and very tall mountains. I have hiked to the top of a handful of these so-called ’14ers, or 14,000 feet or higher peaks, and driven to the top of a couple of others, but I have never attempted a bike ride to the top. The road to the summit of Mt. Evans is the highest auto road in North America, and at 14,130 feet, would be the highest I have ever ridden my bike. The previous highest point I have been on my bike is a few feet over 12,000 feet. I knew I was in for a great adventure and a very difficult ride.
Since I have been fasting, the dilemma when doing a big ride like this is always how to eat before the ride (how to “carbo load”), and how to eat while on the ride. For short rides its easy, I don’t do anything different then I normally would. But this ride was 65 miles and 7500 feet elevation gain, not just a casual ride. I will have a whole post on carbo loading coming soon, but for this ride I did traditional carbo loading with lots of carbs and lots of calories. During the ride I was going to do my usual nutrition routine as well and eat food high in carbs on a regular schedule during my ride. And of course drink lots of fluids.
On the big day, I drove to the parking spot and got all of my stuff ready. And then my Garmin died. Tragedy! It actually usually would not have been a big deal, but for big rides like this I like to keep an eye on my heart rate. I feel like keeping myself from getting into the anaerobic zone increases my chances of finishing and decreases the amount of suffering at the end. It must be the physiologist in me. At last I got it working and I was off.
The first part of the ride was foggy and cold. It is normally a beautiful ride I have done many times, but that day the fog was so dense I couldn’t really see anything except a little bit of road ahead of me.
It was going to be a really long ride if the weather was like this the whole way. But I pushed on and at about 10,000 feet I broke through the clouds and saw a beautiful sunny day. You gotta love Colorado!
I got to Echo Lake which is the point where you turn left to ride up to Mt. Evans, or turn around to go home. I had done this first leg of the ride many times, and that day I felt better than I ever had at this point! My wife and kids met me there and gave me a PB&J sandwich and Gatorade to fuel up. I saw this sign, and knew that I was in for a hard ride, but an unforgettable one.
I rode slowly and surely towards the top. It was a steady climb through the trees at first, but then I got above the tree line and could see the road cutting across the mountain. I knew I had a long way to go at that point, and it was a little discouraging. But you keep turning the pedals over and keep moving forward. Before I knew it I was at Summit Lake and getting nearer the top with every pedal turn. It was a beautiful, sunny day and conditions were perfect and so I kept going for my summit push!
The road got steeper, the air got thinner, and now there were mountain goats crossing the road every mile or so. It was a very surreal experience.
As the summit got nearer there were more switchbacks, and the switchbacks got sharper and sharper. The wind also became more of a factor with less and less to block it. I would be cruising along with a nice tailwind, then turn a corner and into a furious headwind that threatened to stop all my forward momentum. The only thing that kept me going was now the top was in sight. I put my head down and kept pedaling until I reached the summit!! As I turned into the parking lot, applause broke out, people were cheering for me. I felt like a mountain stage winner at the Tour de France. And of course my awesome and supportive family were there waiting for me with a nice big Gatorade and a piece of pizza!
