A long day in the saddle
So as I wrote earlier, today was one of the hardest single days of the whole summer. 84 miles and 6000 feet of climbing. Here is an section from my journal that I thought summed the day well(I added some details too that I was too lazy to actually write):
All along the road were waterfalls and gorgeous vistas of the gorge we were climbing out of. Andrew and I, who had seperated ourselves off the front of the pack early, reached the top of Rainy Pass (~4600 ft) first and stopped to take photos and talk with some people mulling around. We saw two riders approaching up the road and decided to descend into the saddle between passes and started the very steep final climb up Washington Pass(~5400 ft). As we turn around, it seems Chris K and CW had made a ton of ground on us. We decide that its bullshit to lead all this way and not summit first so we cranked harder and pulled away from them. About a mile from the top, Andrew attacked me (cycling term for speeding up to get away) and opened about a 50 meter gap. I closed and and blew by him as we rounded the final turn. I went as hard as I could with my tired legs and by the time I turned around he was way behind. As I coasted over the crest of the pass(35 miles and 4 hours of pure climbing behind me) arms raised over my head, craggy snow-capped peaks all around, first among all riders to finish, I can honestly say it was one of the greatest feelings of my whole life.
What a day. And we have another 65 miles tomorrow before our first rest day.
All along the road were waterfalls and gorgeous vistas of the gorge we were climbing out of. Andrew and I, who had seperated ourselves off the front of the pack early, reached the top of Rainy Pass (~4600 ft) first and stopped to take photos and talk with some people mulling around. We saw two riders approaching up the road and decided to descend into the saddle between passes and started the very steep final climb up Washington Pass(~5400 ft). As we turn around, it seems Chris K and CW had made a ton of ground on us. We decide that its bullshit to lead all this way and not summit first so we cranked harder and pulled away from them. About a mile from the top, Andrew attacked me (cycling term for speeding up to get away) and opened about a 50 meter gap. I closed and and blew by him as we rounded the final turn. I went as hard as I could with my tired legs and by the time I turned around he was way behind. As I coasted over the crest of the pass(35 miles and 4 hours of pure climbing behind me) arms raised over my head, craggy snow-capped peaks all around, first among all riders to finish, I can honestly say it was one of the greatest feelings of my whole life.
What a day. And we have another 65 miles tomorrow before our first rest day.
posted by Chris Hart at 11:38 PM
4 Comments:
Chris,
Sounds like a fantastic day!
Keep the updates coming and continue to have fun and be safe.
Love,
Mom
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