Grand Mesa Ride to 10,000 ft,Runs and Coffee

May 5th; Happy Cinco de Mayo!: Today we rocked the Grand Mesa ride. It was approximately a 2hr climb with about 5000 ft of elevation gained to the summit(The Mesa) elevation 10,000ft. It was a great experience starting in the valley(well below the snowline and making our way to the snow capped top;will have those pics to come). TIP of the Day: Layers! On such a ride have arm warmers, knee warmers, gloves and a hat under the helmet. On the way up you will not most likely need this gear on, but as the elevator goes down you better have your gear on as it gets cold descending for 20 + minutes. With that tip being said...
What goes up...must come down. The ascent was followed by a 20 min descent which was pretty gnarly at times reaching over 50 mph with some crosswinds knocking the bike around. But, I made it and "bricked" it up with a 50 min run back up the Grand Mesa ride road which posed an interesting experience running up some 8-9% grades(big fun and great prep for IM Lake Placid in July).






Following the workout what do you do...C-H-I-L-L at the local coffee shop and share "war stories."





After the coffee clutch we headed to palisades where I tagged on a tempo run in one of the parks with Gordo and a few of the 'boys who did not run earlier. For that effort I received "Recognition" and was given some swag from K-Swiss....go me ;) Well, thats it for today. Until manana where I promise some really great pics.

Chris