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| This was the most epic day and the most epic ride of the entire trip. Hands down. No holds barred. It had literally and figuratively the most monumental ups and downs. I don't see this day getting outdone anytime in the near future. And that's absolutely fine with me. |
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| If you look closely you can see the first switchback that cuts up the mountains to Independence Pass. When I rounded the corner in the valley and saw it looming above I got really nervous. And was scared that I wasn't going to be able to make it up. |
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| But I did make it to Independence Pass, the fourth highest paved road in Colorado, the highest paved state highway on a through road and the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide in the United States! And it actually wasn't even that hard. The grade was never higher than 7% and the views were spectacular. I remember thinking, "I'm never going to experience something this amazing in my life. Ever again. Except for maybe birthing a child". |
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| Suzette and I were sweep today. I had been trying to come up with our sweep name since the last time I was sweep and I could never settle on anything. But when we went to the overlook at Independence Pass it hit me. I saw the perfect photo opportunity in my mind and decided we needed a Titanic themed name since today was so epic. Without further ado I introduce to you: "Paint me like one of your Sweep girls". |
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| I can't believe I got to do this... |
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| I played "You Are the Only Exception" at the summit as my fellow riders sang along. |
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| On the way down Independence Pass, Jim, Heather, Suzette, and I got caught in a bad storm. It started raining about 3 miles into the 20 mile descent. We thought we might be able to beat it down the mountain but the clouds continued to roll in, the sky got darker as lightning periodically lit up the sky, and the thunder cracked so loud I thought the mountains were just going to come crumbling down. Still we continued to ride, thinking we would be out of range just a mile further downhill. But then the hail hit... We scrambled to the side of the road, ditched our bikes in the forest and tried to find cover under trees and rocks. As I was convulsing from the cold wind and rain, hunched over next to a rock, trying unsuccessfully (due to lack of cell signal) to call the van to come get us and I thought, "I'm going to die up here in this storm from hypothermia". Luckily we quickly realized that we needed to go back to the road to flag down a vehicle. We ended up getting a ride for the last 11 or so miles to Aspen where there was perfect, sunny weather. This picture was taken by Dave when he went with the van to retrieve our abandoned bikes. Upon my arrival to Aspen, I cried for an hour and a half (seriously) about not finishing the ride. This is the only ride I didn't finish except for the ride into Trinidad when everyone was vanned for the last 30 miles. I was so upset that I missed out on the most epic descent of the entire trip and I felt like the perfection of the morning ascent was ruined. I felt absolutely defeated and was distraught. |
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| But then at dinner, Lance Armstrong showed up. Wait... WHAT?!?!?! Is this even real life? |
The Catty Corner: If you pee on the Continental Divide, will it run toward the East or the West?
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