August 8 and 9. Grand Junction to Montrose to Durango.

OMG. Taken together, these may be the greatest two days of cycling I have ever experienced. Massive climbs, swooping descents, majestic mountains, good enough weather and a strong enough and willing cyclist (me) all combined to produce what tonight is a very tired man sitting on his bed at 7 in the evening hoping to stay up late enough to finish this post.
I felt good when we left Grand Junction yesterday morning. The previous day had turned out easy, so when we left I was ready. Although the 4 miles on I-70 were not fun, once we hit rte 65 we were in for an incredible treat. The Grand Mesa scenic byway begins following a river up through these progressively higher buttes. You'd look up the sides and imagine cowboys cornered in box canyons, or ambushes being set up around the next bend. We soon rose out of this terrain, and after the first sag at the town of Mesa, the climbing began in earnest. 23 miles of it, over 6000 feet to an altitude of 10,800 feet. This climb was exposed, on the front of this range, and so the higher we went the terrain behind us opend out larger and wider. I took photos about every thousand feet or so, and they tell a dramatic story. (I can't upload pictures well with the system I'm using, but check some of other blogs for photos) When we went over the top, we spent a brief minute in a high alpine valley before beginning the descent in earnest, in which we lost 7000 feet and gained 35 degrees in 20 minutes, rushing down the hill at an average of 35 mph or so. Today's climbs were a bit different, but equally fantastic. A slow gain in altitude over the first 35 miles from Montrose to Ouray, then 3500 feet in 13 miles topping out at 11,118; we descended to Silverton at 9300 ft for lunch, then had a 7 mile climb back to 10,900, a 4 mile descent, then a 3 mile climb back to 10,600 before the final descent into Durango. So today, we stayed at the higher elevations for about 45 miles, where yesterday was a quick hit before returning to the 5000 ft level. Both days had a bunch of flat, bumpy roads with headwinds at the end, which was sort of a drag after the perfection of the mountains, but it still is Pac Tour!

The mountains were perfect. Ouray is cute little town situated at the head of a valley with peaks towering above. Silverton is a reconstructed mining town, but mostly these rides were about the mountains.

So, I should talk about climbing. There are three types of effort in road cycling; climbing, sprinting and tempo riding. Sprinting is maximum power and speed over a short distcance; tempo is maximum speed over a long distance; and climbing is balancing effort and gravity. It is a great combination of strength, consistent effort and self awareness. On these huge climbs, you need to save energy at the bottom so you'll still have it at the top--if you blow up, you will have nothing left, which was the case for me by the last climb today. I was really paying attention starting first thing yesterday, with three big days in the offing. I started the climb in my 34x25 gear and ended up in my 34x27,. Thats the same gear Alberto Contador used on the 24 percent grade in the time trial in the Giro; of course I was doing it on a 6 percent grade! So I pedal for a few minutes, trying to keep a fairly high cadence, then I stand up and lower my cadence, drop down 4 cogs to keep my speed up and use different muscles, then sit again and work my way up the hill, all the while gauging my effort. The whole process can be very meditative. Thoughts flit by but if you get off on a thought, you can lose your rhythm. This ride, of course, is quite different that if I was out climbing Mt. Tam on a day ride. On this ride I always have to stay within myself, because overdoing it one day could mean several days of pain. So yesterday I was targeting 120-130 as my heart rate, and hit 136 at maximum. (I'd get into the mid 150's on Tam.) Today, I could barely reach 125, and was usually in the 116 range. Until the last climb, when I was cooked, barely turning my 34x29.

On the descent I passed Durango Mountain Resort, the sister to Kirkwood. Similar approach, but the grid and the large town nearby make a big difference. In Durango ee stayed pretty far out of town and I had a really bad dinner. Too bad, as I was so exhausted--it just increased my exhaustion. How I'm going to do this again tomorrow is quite unclear, but somehow I will.