Mike Says Meh|The blog of Mike Kauspedas | Hosting by www.gearhost.com

This year I am registered for 3 rides … so far. My one regret was not paying attention to the Triple Bypass registration. Registration opened in January and filled all 3500 spots in one hour. The triple bypass is the hardest ride here in Colorado and people come from out of state for it. I’ve been dropped by so many cyclists with triple bypass jerseys too. Not to say the lesser rides aren’t challenging or fun. Here they are -

Denver Century
June 20th 2010 | 100 miles
First up, the Denver Century. I’m pretty sure this is a new one, but this is the first year I am doing any of these rides so they’re all new to me. The course is the most familiar for me. I can’t remember how many times I’ve ridden the trails here in Denver and that’s what this is. Starts at Invesco field and heads out west to the 470 trail then east to cherry creek and back. A nice big 100 mile loop. Should be easy and a blast.

CO Bike MS
June 26-27 2010 | 150 miles
DONATE!!
The very next weekend after the Denver Century is the Colorado Bike MS. This is the only big ride I’ve done. I did this last year and it was unbelievably fun. Very well supported with stops every 10 miles. I mean this when I say ANYONE can do this ride, and EVERYONE should. Its fun, its for a great cause, and a great way to get into cycling. There are plenty of SAG wagons to pick you up if you don’t want to pedal all the way up a hill. (The horse-head reservoir had some good ones.) Free cliff bars and bike mechanics. I got my bike adjusted both days for free!
DONATE!!!

Copper Triangle
August 7 2010 | 5,981′ Elevation | 80 miles
This one is easily the hardest of the three without mentioning Pikes Peak (see below). Lots of climbing = lots of fun. Its the one I am most excited about and will be training for. Climbing is my favorite thing to do on the bike. Its steady, slow enough to take in the views, and challenging.

On the table are two more rides. Subaru Elephant Rock and Assault on the Peak.

Subaru Elephant Rock
June 6 2010 | 100 miles
Very popular and I don’t think they even have a cap on riders. They also have a mountain bike course and a lot of family friendly and shorter courses. This one sounds a lot like the Denver Century. I’m just not sure about 3 huge rides in June, but hey, they do that daily in the TDF for 3 weeks soooo … maybe I shouldn’t be such a pussy. (Even though I’m 1/33 a TDF level cyclist) Money is also a factor though. Which leads me to the next one on the table because this is where the money goes.

Assault on the Peak
August 29 2010 | 6,360′ Elevation | 18 miles
Fuck yeah. That’s what comes to mind when I think about riding up Pikes Peak. Or ZOMFG ru serious!1!!?! the price tag does a good job of calming me down, $180. Wow. Copper triangle is longer, with 2 more peaks, and pretty close in elevation. Both the Denver Century and Copper triangle were $200 together and I got jerseys for each. The allure of Pikes Peak is that it hasn’t been done before, and its fucking Pikes Peak. I can see Pikes Peak from my apartment here in Denver – so can my bike – we’re both thinking the same thing. So yeah, I’m going to register for this and shell out the $180. Registration in fact, is tomorrow or else this would be in the list up top. The other major difference is that cyclists cannot ride up Pikes Peak any other day. This is it. As I’m passing Pikes Peak in my car I’ll be able to look to the west and say, “Yes, I rode that.” My wife can say the same thing if we’re traveling north and I’m driving.

Here’s some pics from the 17th floor of my apt in Denver. At Country Club Tower.Just north of wash park.

I added some more pics after the snow.

I don’t think I need to say how disrespectful this was.

BikeDenver has recognized GearHost Inc. as a bicycle-friendly business here in Denver Colorado. This is awesome news and we were all thrilled to see the evnelope this morning containing our certificate and sticker.

I’m the only one that bikes into work, but it doesn’t mean GearHost isn’t accomodating. In fact this was taken into consideration for our new office location downtown. In the new office we’ll have our own private shower and its still ok for me to wear cycling shorts in the morning and keep my bike in the new office. I’ve really taken for granted how convenient that is. This is especially important as I plan on never driving into work. Another reason its a good idea to be bike friendly. GH doesn’t need to get me a parking pass or light rail pass.The guys here are very supportive as well of my cycling. Ryan (our infamous CEO) has even come to me trying to sponsor a team.

I won’t be the only one that bikes in for long either. With our new digs downtown I think we’ll be even more bicycle friendly and I’m going to push the guys here to give it a shot. They all live pretty far but if you combine light rail and a nice commuter bike it will make the commute all the more easier. We’ll see how many times they curse looking for a parking spot before they’re all sporting skin tight shorts and chain stains.

Oh … my … God. Absolutely the hardest ride I have done so far, the hardest physical activity I have ever done. I have never once in my life felt like turning back, I always keep pushing forward. There were spots when I hit the steeper grades where I started considering it. Then after when it just kept going up. There was nothing pleasant about pleasant park rd and its endless incline.

At the beginning of the ride i actually felt pretty bad, my cadence was hovering between 75-80 and I wasn’t going very fast. Then my rear derailleur busted and I had to pull over for 15 minutes working on it. Thankfully it was just a loose cable. I made my left past the highgrade road sign. It was pretty mellow for a bit, my cadence was up between 90-100 and I was moving along. I felt pretty good and figured something I ate had just broken down into energy or something.

Then I took a turn for the worst, literally. I turned and the grade steepened by a couple percent. I switched into the lowest gear I had and struggled to keep my cadence up. Near the worst of it I was dragging at 5mph with a cadence as low as 40. This was my do or die moment, and I did.

At points I was dripping sweat, so bad I thought it started to rain then realized it was sweat dripping from my head onto my knees. One of the worst parts about the climb is how slow it is, no wind to cool and dry sweat. It just leaks out of you.

I hit pleasant view road and got a break in the incline. My cadence went back up and I started feeling better. But I had spent most of my energy and hit that dreaded wall. I was running on fumes and I felt it. Gatorade was no help and I didn’t feel like munching on a granola bar I had. I just wanted to get to the damn summit. Lesson learned, eat more before I ride.

At the summit there’s a nice cyclist rest area. Equipped with a porta potty, coolers full of gatorade and water, a picnic table, and a big steel trap to put donations in. I squeezed in a $10 bill and took a gatorade and water, filling up one of the water bottles I had finished off on the way up. I was going to use my camel back but its a big military issue my best friend gave me. Awesome, but large and bulky and I didn’t feel like carrying the extra weight. So I took two water bottles instead. I would have been fine even without the pit stop, but I would have cut it close.

I hopped back on the bike and began my descent. 30 seconds into the descent at 30mph I realized my bike wasn’t made to go that fast. I hit the brakes to slow down and almost nothing happened. I squeezed harder and they hissed back at me. I took turns squeezing the front and rear to try and keep them cool. I don’t even know if it was the issue, but I knew it wouldn’t hurt. I’m bringing my bike in for a tune up and to get those replaced within the next few days. I got so scared riding down trying to miss gravel I started hoping for more incline.

I got my wish, after turning onto Oelhman Park rd I cruised down an incline for a bit and then hit several small very steep hills. One after the other, short 2 minute break hoping I didn’t hit a rock while flying down, to mashing up another short steep incline.

Once I hit city view it was smooth sailing. Well, not really. I spent most of my time squeezing my brake handles hoping they wouldn’t give out. I was also thankful I wasn’t going up, because the down was really steep. And twisty. So here I am trying to slow a bike with little to no braking power and cornering like I have never done before all while trying to avoiding cars and gravel.

It finally ended at turkey creek road and I got more of a normal incline and a straighter road. Since I didn’t have to brake as much on corners I felt a lot safer and cruised along at 30mph. I got to the right hand turn back onto deer creek in no time and came to yet another hill. Once I crested this one though it was all down back to the car. At one point my speedometer said 40mph which prompted me to squeeze the brakes a little. I brought it down to 30 and sat around there the rest of the way down.

It wasn’t as bad as I think it was though. I should have ate more, and I should have gone out in the morning when it was cooler. I spent the night before upgrading a server and I couldn’t get to sleep till 4am. I started climbing at 1pm. I’m thrilled I did it and I’m thinking about the next one. I guess I’ll give lookout mountain a shot, once I’ve got brakes that can handle the descent. I’ll try and bring a camera next time too.

My elevation data and the route are below.