Tag: brevet

My favorite rides: Sangre de Cristo 600k

The Sangre de Cristo 600k starts and ends in Taos, New Mexico. It’s long, but you don’t have to do the entire thing at once. As I said near the end of the ride, I think this is ten of the best rides I’ve ever done all strung together!

Dist: ~375 mi / 600 km (the map is a little off)
Ascent: 16800 ft / 5100m (per MapMyRide)
(Note: MapMyRide.com tends to underestimate ascent and steepness of climbs. The longer the ride, the more it underestimates. I think this ride could have 1.5-2 times that much elevation gain, based on shorter rides I’ve done that were reported to have 15,000-18,000 feet. My HRM, which also usually underestimates elevation, reported about 19,000 ft.)

Pros:

  • Beautiful desert and mountain scenery and quaint rural New Mexican villages.
  • Mostly rural route.
  • Considerate drivers.
  • Friendly people.
  • Clean bathrooms. (Well, a couple weren’t so nice, but there were some very nice bathrooms at places I never would have expected.)
  • Long climbs.

Cons:

  • There are some LONG stretches between water stops out-and-back from Sapello. I had to resort to knocking on a farmhouse door when my bottles were nearly dry. When no one answered I filled up from their hose bibb.
  • While riding 522 was not nearly as bad as I expected, (It was actually beautiful on Sunday morning riding from Arroyo Hondo to Wild Rivers Park) the ride from Costilla back to Questa was flat and hot and boring. Thank goodness for those considerate drivers, and friendly people at water stops, or it could have been even more unpleasant.
  • I would probably skip Sapello if I didn’t have a good reason to visit.
  • Going over mountain passes early or late in the day can be very cold even in the middle of summer. Be prepared!
  • If you’re vegan you should probably plan to carry all your own food. ; )
     

The MapMyRide map above gives an idea of the route, but is a little off from the cue sheet.

Great rides within this ride:

  • Costilla to Amalia, out-and-back.
  • Wild Rivers Park spur from 522. Not the most scenic. It’s nice, but the best part of this ride is the smooth pavement and little traffic.
  • Taos to Taos Ski Area to Arroyo Seco to Questa to Red River.
  • Red River to Eagles Nest to Cimmaron to Eagles Nest
  • Eagles Nest to Taos.
  • Taos to Angel Fire. (Yes, it’s pretty much the same as the one above, but backwards.)
  • Eagles Nest to Angel Fire to Mora.
  • Out-and-back on either part of the loop between Mora and Sapello, but not all the way to Sapello.
  • Mora to Taos.

There are so many beautiful sections of this route, it’s hard to pick a few as my favorites. Between Angel Fire and Mora the ride passes through through Coyote Creek State Park for few miles. It was a very fun, windy, tree-lined descent, along a creek, that reminded me a little of the Old San Antonio Road on the Hill Country 600k. The climb from Mora, towards Sapello is very, steep and challenging. My favorite climb was probably the seemingly endless one that goes west of Mora towards Taos. The out-and-back from Eagles Nest to Cimmaron is memorable too, though if I was just out for a short ride I might turn around at the end of the new pavement in Cimmaron Canyon State Park. The ride from Taos Ski Valley through Arroyo Seco to 522 was very beautiful in the morning light.

Within this 600k route are lots of possibilities for a 20-50 mile ride or a multi-day tour.

Home is just over that “hill”
East of Costilla
West of Amalia
West of Amalia
West of Amalia
Red River
West of Red River
South of Eagles Nest
Coyote Creek
Sheared alpaca
East of Mora

St. Vrain 600k Brevet

The weather report for Saturday was hot, with winds gusting to 45mph, but as I sat on the curb at 3:30am enjoying the calm, I hoped we might get a few hours of respite from the wind before sunrise. However, by 10 minutes ’til 4am the wind had started to pick up. Ah well. I smiled to myself and gave up my last hope that the forecasters had gotten the wind part wrong.

St. Vrain 600k starts in Louisville, Colorado, makes a short jaunt east to Brighton, then back to Lyons, up St. Vrain Canyon to Wind River Pass, down to Estes Park, on to Glen Haven, down Big Thompson Canyon, over to Masonville and Horsetooth Reservoir, heads north to Ft. Collins and Wellington, then over to Gilcrest and back to Louisville to finish the first 400k. The last 200k is a northeastern loop from Louisville going through Evans, Kersey, Hudson, and Brighton.

Prior to this my longest brevet was 300k. I’ve finished longer races; Tejas 500 (miles) and Hill Country 600k. The difference is that an ultracycling race includes race support staff and often each racer has a personal support crew. I had crew for both those events. A brevet, on the other hand, is an unsupported ride. Each rider is responsible for understanding where along the route they can resupply and for carrying what they’ll need. If you have a mechanical or physical problem you figure out how to fix it or hitch a ride back to your car … or phone a friend. But if you think it’s inconvenient to ask someone to drive 10 miles to come pick you up, how about 100 miles!? That would not be unusually far for a rider that has to DNF a brevet.

I haven’t been feeling particularly zippy for the past … oh, month maybe, so my plan was to manage my effort and just get through this last of six brevets in six weeks. I was surprised that the little group of riders started fairly conservatively, but I dropped off the back after 30 min or so, still warming up and not wanting to push it on the rollers. The sun was starting to come up as I left Brighton and the westerly ride was beautiful on the green spring morning. As I rolled into Lyons, the wind was just starting to show signs of the predicted ferocity.

It’s a nice, long, gradual climb to Wind River Pass from Lyons. It’s only 40 miles to Estes Park, and two water bottles will often get me twice that far. I hadn’t planned on the wind increasing my thirst, or calculated the extra time the 4000′ climb would add. All of which meant that 14 miles out of Lyons I was already very low on water. I went off-route at Allenspark hoping for a store, but instead found Crystal Springs! The refreshment was worth the extra half mile. I filled my bottles with ice-cold water and drank another half bottle while I was standing there.

I’d never been to Estes Park before and dropping down into the valley from the south is beautiful! I stopped at the KOA again for more water. Then headed across the valley for the ride down Devil’s Gulch Switchbacks. This entire stretch through Glen Haven, Drake and out Big Thompson Canyon is very scenic. There was A LOT of traffic, but I’m guessing it was a little heavier than usual because another road between Drake and Estes Park was closed.

I was surprised when the route took us by a little reservoir we passed during the Stove Prairie 200k. I had no idea it was nearby. I was starting to feel pretty warm and was looking forward to stopping in Masonville for some nice cold water and ice. Unfortunately all the water in Masonville was warm and there was no ice, but I refilled my bottles and soaked my shirt and headband for some extra cooling and headed on for Horsetooth Dam.

After another stop in Ft. Collins, for yet more water. I have to say the ride got a lot less fun for me after Ft. Collins. I began to question why I was out there and why I’d ever want to do another long ride again! For one thing the wind was stronger out on the plains. And the howling wind, whether from the front, side, or rear, was abrading my nerves. And, while the beauty of the green fields was not lost on me, passing stinky feedlot after stinky feedlot quickly gets tiring (and depressing) to this vegan.

I’d planned to make a quick turnaround after the 400k, but when I got back to my hotel room about 9:30pm, I was too exhausted and sleepy to do anything more than take a shower and go to bed. I thought about DNF’ing, but remembered all the times I’ve wondered why someone would DNF when they still have 10 hours (or, in this case, over 20 hours) to finish, and decided not to make any decision about the last 200k. After I’d been lying in bed (not much sleeping) for about 90 min, I felt refreshed and suddenly motivated to get out there and knock out the rest of the ride.

Back out on the road it was nice. There was little traffic and the wind was calm. I made some routing errors and rode a few extra miles; a combination of not being able to read the tiny print on the cue sheet well and not seeing some road signs in the dark. I’d underdressed and stopped in Miliken to get some coffee and get out of the cold for a few minutes. I put on every stitch of clothing I had with me, unsure if it would be enough; amused at myself because I’m usually so afraid of being cold that I carry enough extra clothing to keep myself and two other people warm. Once I got moving again the light jacket with hood seemed to be just right. By the time I got to Kersey at 4:30am the sky was already starting to lighten. More green fields, more stinky feedlots, a fun descent into Erie, up the rollers to South Boulder Road, across Via Appia and check “done” next to 600k brevet.

Starting up Hwy 7 from Lyons
Highway 7
Highway 7
Heading into St. Vrain Canyon
St. Vrain River
Wildflowers on the canyon wall
St. Vrain Canyon
Glimpse of Long’s Peak
More Long’s Peak
East of Peak-to-Peak Highway
West of Peak-to-Peak Highway
Near Wind River Pass
Wind River Pass
Group of cyclists heading up the road I just came down
Estes Park
Devil’s Gulch
Drake
Big Thompson Canyon
Big Thompson Canyon
Rd 29
Rd 29
Below Loveland Storage Reservoir
Climbing up Storage Reservoir dam
Loveland Storage Reservoir
Near Masonville
Foals near Masonville
Windsor (I think) anyway, it was windy!

Valles Caldera 200k

This past weekend I rode the New Mexico Valles Caldera 200k brevet. We had nice, if a bit cooler than normal, weather. A few threatening clouds, but no precipitation. If you like rural routes and mountain scenery this is an absolutely beautiful ride! About 123 miles of the 127 mile route you’re riding through public lands. You’ll also enjoy this ride if you’re a climber. It has over 11,000 feet of ascent. If you are particular about road surface this may not be the ride for you. Most of the route has frost cracks at regular intervals. Also, it’s probably best to do this ride during the middle of the week if you have the option. On a beautiful weekend day, there are a lot of city dwellers that want to get out of town and enjoy the beautiful scenery and multiple recreation opportunities.

Early morning climb out of Bandelier National Monument.
West of the main Bandelier entrance on Hwy 4.
Switchbacks on Cerro Grande Pass.
Climbing Cerro Grande Pass.
Sand and dirt washed across road in previous night’s storm.
A big forest fire ravished this area. It’s very green now below sparse tree covering.
East Fork Jemez River near Los Conchas Campground.
Across from Fenton Lake. Not quite half way through the ride.
We’ve been up and down the Caldera twice. Two more to go.
Jemez State Monument.
Soda Dam. The water is very stinky here.
Jemez River flows along side the road for many miles.
Riding up from the town of Jemez Springs.
Back up the Caldera for the last time.
About 3000′ and 30 miles to go.
Meadow near the intersection of Hwys 4 and 126.

If you get the chance ride a Flèche

This past weekend was the Front Range Flèche. A Flèche in randonneuring terms, is a non-competitive, team cycling event. Each team rides a minimum of 360km in 24 hours. Team captains submit a route for their team. All teams ride different routes finishing at the same time and location. The format is based on the Audax Club Parisien (ACP) Flèche Velocio which originally started in Paris and finished in Provence. More fine print about USA Flèche rules at the RUSA website.

While you will certainly never hear me complain about riding solo, riding the Flèche was a blast! You’d think there aren’t that many people who enjoy riding their bikes all day AND night, but right in this photo, are represented 15 such crazy people.

Our team of five started by heading up to Stove Prairie from the south, down Poudre Canyon and out to the plains. We had a nice dinner/sleep break from about midnight to 5AM. And finished, riding into Lyons, with views of Longs Peak, and back through Hygiene to Louisville. We had nice weather. A little overcast much of Saturday, and a sunny, clear morning on Sunday.