So to recover from our nice little hike up Bear Peak, we joined some friends for a ride to Estes Park on Sunday. Dave & Wendy McMillian, Alex C, Meghan Rabbit, Artie Sandman, and Jean&I met in Lyons to ride up Hwy 7 to the Peak to Peak and back down along the Big Thompson to Carter Lake and back to Lyons.
Jean was very nervous as she had never done anything like this before. The looooong ride up started great with everyone keeping a nice easy steady pace. But its one long-ass uphill ride. As we were entering hour 3 of climbing, Jean had to back off and spin in her granny gear which dropped out of the pack. I went back to ride with her. She was feeling really bad which triggered some anxiety which in turn triggered some breathing issues. After she calmed down and we got riding it was okay, we just took it slower than the rest.
When we finally made it to Lily Lake, the 6-7 mile downhill began. Thank God! Jean loves speed and downhill riding a lot more than several others so she was way back up into the pack by then. Wendy, Alex and I were the downhill wimps bringing up the rear.
Once in Estes we were treated to Wendy and Dave's favorite smoothy place. Of course that wasn't enough for some and Dave and Meghan had to go to McD's for some to go burgers. Now that everyone had recovered, we could be on our way down the hill.
20 miles of coasting along the Big Thompson does a lot for your morale. We did actually have to start pedaling again around Carter Lake. Finally rolled into Lyons about 4pm. 6+ hours and 80 miles of riding.
All in all, a good tough ride. Made Jean more confident about being able to complete the Buffalo Century this weekend. Dave and Alex both tok some pix for the memories. (That's one of the new one's of me on my yellow bike).
I think we'll take it easy on Monday
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