Hypoxian Labor Day Weekend Trifecta

Labor Day for most is a three-day relaxfest. For some hardy souls, it means painting or maintenance around the house, getting ready for fall and then winter. Those people are just sick and need the best the psychiatric industry can provide.

For some of us who ride bikes, the Labor Day weekend is one of the last chances to use and stretch those fully-engorged leg muscles one last time before cold-weather atrophy begins to set in.

My Hypoxian buddies and I, inspired by out-of-state visitors from Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Illinois (the land of flat), went for four ginormous bike rides during those three days plus the following Wednesday. Screw work, and all that -- let's ride!

Day 1 was a 100-mile (century) ride from Boulder, up Boulder Canyon, along the Peak-to-Peak Highway through Nederland and Meeker Park to Estes Park, then back to Boulder thru Lyons via Highway 36. Long and scenic and lots and lots of fun!

On Day 2 we climbed Mt. Evans like we already did two weeks earlier, only this time with a batch of fresh meat -- namely the riders from OK and PA -- as well as a few locals who didn't ride with us two weeks earlier. To remind you, Mt. Evans is at 14,268' ASL, and has the highest paved road in America. You don't think we'd climb without pavement, do you? Well, maybe. We did have to hike up the final couple hundred feet along a foot path, where the OK visitor and Howard signed the register making us all official-like. Then it hailed on our descent. Again.

Day 3 took us from Loveland up Big Thompson Canyon to Drake, where we turned right and went thru Glen Haven, home of the world's best and stickiest cinnamon rolls, to Devil's Gulch, the second worst climbing road in Larimer County. (Rist Canyon, closer to Fort Collins, is first worse.) We ate Subway in Estes Park, waited and waited out a rainstorm that never wanted to end, had to buy rain jackets for $33 each because we Coloradans didn't bring ours while the four Illinois riders DID! That was a tad bit embarrassing. Trip distance was 100km (62.1 miles) for a metric century.

On Day 4, we worked (which means we rested.)

On Day 5, Deadhead and Howard regrouped with the four Illini at Howard's house and we climbed Buckhorn Canyon Road, aka Stove Prairie, to the Poudre Canyon at Highway 14, then rode back to home. Three 16% grades nearly killed the Illini. Deadhead and Howard just smiled through the pain. Trip distance was 100km (62.1 miles) for another metric century.

Everyone is already talking about doing it all again next Labor Day weekend. Harumph!

Anyway, here's Howard's video...