116 Miles Instead of Silver Rush 50

Colorado, cycling, mountain biking | UltraRob | Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 7:37 pm

Over the last couple weeks, I debated whether I should go do the Silver Rush 50. It would have been just for training because I’m still in no shape to be competitive. The best way to push hard is to do a race. I can go harder in a group than by myself and I can go even harder in a race.

I ended up deciding not to do it. One of the reasons was that I wasn’t sure I’d feel like riding on Sunday and wanted to get 2 days of training in. Other reasons were the cost and time driving.

Instead I decided to ride up to Denver on Saturday to see my brother-in-law that is in the hospital with lung cancer (More about him here). It was a hot day but the ride was pleasant on 105 to Sedalia. From there I took 85/Santa Fe to less than a mile from the hospital. Once I got past C-470 to where there was lots of asphalt and concrete, the heat became almost unbearable. The sun was beating down and the temperature on my computer was reading 102 degrees.

My wife and kids had driven to the hospital. We stayed for a couple hours before heading home. Since it was about 10 miles farther to the hospital than I had guessed, I was going to run out of daylight on the way home. I had my wife take me back 18 miles to Sedalia. That way I also avoided the least pleasant part of the ride.

Some clouds had built up by the time I started riding again and I got a couple drops of rain. The good part was that it was cooler. The bad part was that I had a strong headwind.

Just a couple miles south of Sedalia I was surprised to see a herd of over 30 elk. They were running through a field as thought they had been spooked by something. The herd was made up of females and young.

The Saturday before, I had gone up to the hospital with my wife and then just rode home from Sedalia. Even after already riding nearly 70 miles, I felt better this time. I was also slightly faster even with a stronger headwind.

The ride was 116 miles with 4403 feet of climbing in 8:02. Average speed was 14.5 mph. I’m guessing the extra headwind on the way back balanced out descending slightly more than climbing.

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