Greetings From Denver

I've been at altitude since last Friday, August 12 while visiting my daughter in Denver, Colorado.  I've ridden the Rist Canyon Road Race course twice since arriving (it's about 75 miles from where I am, so getting there more than that wasn't practical).  It is a beast.  The race will start in downtown Fort Collins and gradually gain elevation along with a few kicker hills before reaching Bellvue, where the main climb begins.  It's a 9.8 mile climb up to just over 8000' at an average gradient of 6%.  There are three steep pitches along the way with the second one at approximately 7450' being the worst:  my Garmin showed several hundred yards at well over 20%.  Ouch.  The last one occurs just before the summit and kicks in at a sustained 12-16%.  The summit is like a razor blade in that there is barely enough room for a small group of people to stand before careening down the other side.  I hit 50.6 mph without any trouble on the first part of the descent.  It levels briefly before a sharp left turn and picks back up at well over 40 mph down a long and winding road.  The lower one goes, the more rolling the descent becomes, with a collection of narrow, tight turns before finally coming out near the base of Horsetooth Resevoir at Masonville, Colorado (more a named area than a town of any size).  The road from there rolls with nary a spot to recover.  When I rode it on Tuesday, they were resurfacing the road with fresh asphalt.  It was like riding through molasses.  Once the Masonville leg is over, the road pitches up steeply going over the first of five short but sharp climbs along the edge of the reservoir.  These are really killer steep pitches and they follow one after another before one finally breaks free and descends back towards Bellvue.  Don't think for a minute you're done with climbing, though.  Bingham Hill has to be negotiated, and then there are still some rolling uphills before finally speeding downhill to the finish line back in downtown Fort Collins.  All said and done, the race is 66.7 miles with over 6100' of climbing from a base altitude of 5000'.  This isn't your normal "Masters Race"!

My wave of the race will consist of the 50/55/60/65 categories of riders, so the field is just over 50 (52 at the time of this writing), but only 12 of us are 60-64, so only three of us will qualify for the Worlds'.

The organization of the race so far has my scratching my head.  I went to Boulder to pick up my race numbers on Thursday and I called ahead to make sure things were going to happen on time; the race web page was not working, with much of it not loading at all, and the links were broken.  I was told that the distribution would start at 2:00 p.m.  I took care of some other business in Boulder first and got there at 2:20. The numbers didn't actually arrive until nearly 4:30.  I was not pleased.  Fortunately, the location was a brewery, so I had a pint while waiting....  Since then I've been told that the one number given out goes on the left... and the right side.  Since it can't be both places at once, I hesitate to pin the number on until I get there tomorrow.  I fear that following vehicles and feeding will be chaotic, and I can't at this point tell if there actually will be a neutral feed as originally advertised.  I have some feelings of foreboding here.  Fortunately the weather will be mild, so I may be able to get by with the two bottles I normally carry along with a clif bar or two stuffed in my jersey.  I'm not worried about wheels, because in my experience, if one flats, by the time the wheel vehicle gets to you the race is down the road and over.  So I'm just carrying a tube, CO2, and a pair of levers (I decided to go light weight clinchers instead of tubulars because if I flatted they would be easier to repair and get back on the road with than tubulars and their mess with glue, etc.

Today I took my final tapering ride with my daughter.  We rode about 30 miles, but at a very relaxed pace, which is just what I needed.  I can't be more ready than I am at this point.

Monday, after the race, I'll drive 750 miles and then get up early Tuesday and return to work, where a real snake nest awaits me!  School's back in session and everyone has computer issues already banging on my inbox door.  Ah yes, now filling four positions by myself since the budget cuts, etc., makes for me a busy day.  Wish me luck tomorrow.