Money in the Bank

If you recall, last weekend we missed the FSR-211 turn that would have led us to Wellington Lake. So, the plan this weekend was to start...almost-over, and do it again. Therefore, around 7am on Sunday morning we were rolling from Kenosha Pass to Waterton Canyon via the Tarryall detour. This time we weren't going to miss the FSR-211 turn!

Overall, my thoughts are somewhat indifferent on the detour as in pertains to the race. However, it is ~75 miles of paved and dirt road...so rather boring when you prefer trails. The roads are lightly traveled so we had most of the road to ourselves. The weather turned out to be perfect.

The starting temp was 32 degrees, so I elected to bring my larger backpack due to the amount of clothes I had anticipated shedding throughout the day. The first ~50 miles of the ride was exactly what we had navigated through the weekend before so we were making better time by knowing the correct route to take. Plus, we were much lighter w/o our camping gear. By the time we arrived to Tarryall Reservoir (23 miles), we were an hour ahead of last weeks pace and feeling fast. We grabbed a quick bite and continued on.

At 40 miles we found the turn we had missed the week before and stopped to pat ourselves on the back! We had a quick kodak moment before we set out. We had ~35 miles of fire road to conquer before we would arrive at Wellington Lake. There was a lot of scenery. This route was taking us right through the Hayman burn area and it was miles and miles of burnt forest. I gained a new perspective of just how large that fire was. However, the bare forest was full of very unique rock formations that made several miles go by. We had an excellent view of Pikes Peak for most of the ride.

We finally hit FS560, the last turn at mile 70 that leads us into Wellington. We had discussed what we were hoping to eat at the little convenience store. The thought of an ice cold Coke and potato chips fueled my burst of adrenaline. We rolled up to the store and it was closed. Instead, the next best thing presented itself. It was a water faucet with cold well water and a hose. We spent 20 minutes at the hose cooling down, showering, drinking cold water, and playing with the deer. At this point however, we were a little behind our anticipated scheduled. It was ~2:30pm and we had segments 1, 2, & 3 to traverse.

 By 3p we were back on the Colorado Trail after the 7 hour / 76 mile detour. The trail is fun and it was apparent. Brian was leading a mad charge through segment 3 as we were making up some time ripping through the turns. Segment 3 passed quickly.

We stopped near the fire station on the west end of segment 2 for a quick bite and then continued on. Again, the single track felt good and was fun. We made it to the Platte River just as the odometer passed 100 miles. However, the biggest climb of the day was just before us. The climb out of river valley is steep for about 3 miles of switchbacks. At this point the total  time, distance, and probably the little extra energy we expended through the last 2 segments were taking a toll. We arrived at the Platte feeling tired and hungry. Still craving a Coke, I had asked some hikers if they had any soda's. They were super nice and said if they would have had any they would have given us some. Oh well, worth the try. Sixteen miles to go!

Segment 1 was somewhat of a blur. I have ridden this segment so often and the fact that I was so tired I felt like it went by quickly. Just as I crossed the Colorado Trail head above the damn, my Garmin's batteries were done, symbolic of what my legs were also telling me at that point, we are done! We rode to the Wateron Canyon trailhead where we met Cindy and Shelby who had cold orange soda's!!! Sooooooooo good!

All in all, it was a good day to test the body and stress it just a tad more in prep for doing this multiple days in a row. While not the most fun ride, it was certainly money in the bank!!

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