This past week has been AMAZING!  For me it was the big kick off for super long bike training for Ironman Louisville.  Friday we took off from snowy, cold, wet Denver and headed to snowy, wet, cold Buena Vista for the Buena Vista Bike Fest Century ride.   From Buena Vista Steve and I were headed to Ouray to sit in the hot springs, get another hundred miler in on the bikes, sit in the hot springs, get a good trail run in, sit in the hot springs, get a little recovery swim in, and sit in the hot springs.  Did I mention the hot springs?  Cuz they are INCREDIBLE!!  Lots of bike riding planned and some good training for Louisville….but would the weather spoil our plans?  Not when you are living The Sweet Life!

Saturday morning was the century ride; the snowy ride into BV left us a little worried it wasn’t going to happen.  However, with Bethie along for the ride and determined not to let the weather win and steal a hundred mile bike ride from her,  the plan was to get up and at least start the ride no matter the weather and see what it got us.  We woke up to about 2 inches of snow and a fog covered valley.  The event director cancelled the event for the first time in 12 years.  After much deliberation amongst ourselves as to whether we should just go for it and get some mileage in or go to breakfast and get a good run it, we decided it probably wasn’t safe to be out there on our bikes.  The pass was closed up to Leadville so we wouldn’t have been able to go to the pretty part of the ride.  Breakfast followed by a 2 hour run prevailed.  Buena Vista is a cute little town with some great local offerings.  We ate at the Rooster’s Crow and headed back to our host’s home where we could run up the road and hit the Colorado Trail.

The run was hilarious.  We never did find the Colorado Trail, instead we blazed our own trail up the snow covered mountain.

It was actually a pretty brutal start heading up a mountain at 9000 feet of elevation!  My little heart was a poundin’!!  It ended up being a great climb up to a vista where we followed some animal tracks back to the roads,  and did a little loop around the neighborhood.  After hot showers we all got together at Priscilla’s sister and brother in laws for a feast of a dinner.  Everyone pitched in and made an incredible spread of butternut squash soup, chili, salads, guacamole and chips, fruit, cheese and crackers, all with wine, beer, and water!  I am always so grateful for the friends I have especially when we get to meet new people and sit together at family style dinners.  Over dinner plans were laid for the ride on Sunday as the forecast was calling for a clear, beautiful, albeit a little windy day.

Anyone will tell you living with Colorado weather is wild.  One day we will have snow and the next day it will be 70 degrees.  Lucky for us the forecast was correct, and we woke up to clear, blue, sunny skies and the possibility of an incredible day for biking.  The plan was to head from Buena Vista to Salida.  Refuel in Salida then head back to Buena Vista for another food and water stop  before heading as far as we could to Turquoise Lake in Leadville.  The lot of us got ourselves breakfast and headed out the door.  The weather was a little cool but really quite comfortable for riding.  We discovered we would have a tailwind with us on the downhill to Salida and therefore, a headwind on the uphill back to Buena Vista and into Leadville.  We had a great ride.  Lots of chatting and working together.  Little bits of speed work on the way into Salida and then a good strength workout, both mental and physical, back to Buena Vista.  After coming back into Buena Vista we decided not to fight the headwind into Leadville and called the ride at a metric century.  The surly group of us got back to our homes, changed into running shoes and did a quick 30 minute run, ate leftovers for lunch, then headed to the Mount Princeton Hot Springs.  The Mount Princeton Hot Springs was alright.  It is simply 2 swimming pools with hot spring water in them.  There are also some soaking spots along the river, but they weren’t accessible because of the high waters in the river.  It was nice floating around and chilling with B&P, BT&John, and Jewels.  After a quick soak, it was back to pack and for Steve and I to head off on the 3 hour drive to Ridgway.

I am made for road traveling. I love packing the car up, getting good snack foods, and making my way to destinations while being able to check out the areas in between.  Having the bikes along on this trip was exciting because not only did we get to enjoy a drive together but I also knew we were going to get to experience the area by bike.  After our little drive into town and checking into our hotel, we were off to the springs for an evening soak.  Orvis Hot Springs is very nicely kept and very clean.  The little gardens around the pool are quaint and filled with great plants and flowers.  With the pools being outside and away from light pollution at night you soak in the pools covered by a blanket of stars.  The first time we came to the hot springs was New Years this year.  There was a full, blue moon the night we arrived and we were instantly enchanted and fell in love even more while floating around in darkness.  While melting away the ride from the day before and the drive into town we decided to check with the local bike shop in the morning to decide which route to bike the following day.  The options we came up with were:  to ride to Silverton via the million dollar highway or ride to Telluride via Highway 62.  Danika from Peak to Peak Bicycles was great and informed us of conditions on both routes.  She didn’t speak down to us at all and gave us options for all kinds of riding.  She never made judgement on what kind of riders we were, she just gave us information and left the decisions to us.  I always hate going into bike shops where the staff thinks they are all that and treat you like dork cuz you’re a girl.  I really appreciated her approach to educating us about the different rides in the area.

The ride to Silverton was a hard climb over the pass with no shoulder and a decent amount of traffic.

Video of the Highway

Warning it is 10 mins long and it’s not mine !  But great video of the pass.

Our second option, she told us, was a more gradual, gentle climb over Dallas Divide.  There was plenty of shoulder and much less traffic during the week.  She said it was a gorgeous ride as well and let us know about an additional loop we could add on if we wanted to make the ride longer than the 37 miles each way and add a little more climbing.

We hadn’t driven either of the routes or seen them in our lives, so we didn’t really understand the scope of what she was telling us.

After a cup of Joe from Cimarron Books and CoffeeHouse

and a bomber of a breakfast burrito from the Ridgway Mountain Market

We were off to Telluride!

The day was gorgeous and I couldn’t help but keep looking around.  It was difficult to stay focused on anything except how pretty it was all around me.  Good thing I didn’t have focused training to do!  The goal was to just get more miles on my legs and enjoy the day.

The route to Telluride is 37 miles.  I just can’t seem to do the day justice with my writing.  We climbed 2000 feet in about 12 miles to the top of the Dallas Divide, snapped a couple pics

and headed down the backside of the divide.   It was a nice 13 mile and 1650 foot descent into Placerville.  Although, to be perfectly honest, the long descent planted a little seed of worry into my head for the return trip.  What goes down must go up, right?  I knew I would be hitting the climb back up the divide at about 60 miles into my ride.  So the next thought that went into my head was: “Girl, you rode the double Epic Loop which is just a sick amount of climbing, 160 miles, 12 hours long and you were fine.  This will be tough but you are strong.”

After a quick potty and refueling stop in Placerville…

off we went on another climb into Telluride.

The road travels alongside the San Miguel River.  The fact that we were following a river flowing the opposite way we were riding told me we were going uphill, but it didn’t really feel like that much of an uphill.  However, I guess I was going pretty slowly because Steve pulled alongside me and told me we needed to average 15mph to get to Telluride and start back before it got dark!  He pulled in front of me to block the wind and picked the pace up and off we went.  There was one more crazy climb to get into the little town and to get to lunch!

Telluride lay just ahead.  I wanted to be there so badly!  It was a long straight road into town and in the distance you could see this switch back going up the mountain.

We thought it was Imogene Pass, but after a little research I think it is actually Black Bear Pass.   As I was riding into town, I was thinking to myself that I should go run that and then decided I didn’t want to  Maybe sometime in the future.  We found a great burger place, had a fantastic lunch, and headed back out to get home!

The ride home was sick fast!  It took us about 4 hours to get to Telluride, including our stops for various things and 2 hours to get back to Ridgway.  I had no idea how much climbing we actually did.  And the back side of Dallas Divide, that climb I was worried about… well I kicked that little hill’s butt.  Yeah, I averaged 10mph for the 13 mile ride back to the top.  Boo Yaa!

Thank you to Steve for being my partner and always being the guy beside me telling me how strong I am and how great of an athlete I am.  You are my rock.  Solid and strong.  Always behind me 100% no matter the situation.  You are the one who holds it all together and keeps us moving forward as a solid, strong unit.  You make life a little SWEETER-I love you!