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Happy Thanksgiving

8k600 ACP brevet by the Rocky Mountain Cycling Club. I had the honor of completing RUSA's first officially sanctioned 8k600 (600 km ACP brevet with 8000+ meters of elevation gain, 40-hour time limit). John Lee made it possible for me to ride this, and I'm pulling some stunts in order to shove it into my schedule between the Front Range 1200 and another silly ride on Saturday. So far so good, and I finished in time to pack my bike and catch my 3:33am bus to my 5:46am flight!

*** Weather report ***

My biggest concern going into the ride was the weather forecast. There are a number of high points on the route: Trail Ridge Road (12,090'), Willow Creek Pass (9,683'), and Cameron Pass (10,276'). These often get thunderstorms after noon, and apparently a number of people die in Colorado every year from getting struck by lightning. Particularly on Trail Ridge, I didn't want to be above the tree line on my steel bike during a thunderstorm!

I examined forecasts the whole week leading up to the ride, and it consistently indicated "thundery outbreaks possible" regardless what time I started. There was also a chance of patchy sleet, and my personal favorite was "torrential rain shower" with a 75% chance of rain. I conferred with my Coloradan riding partners during the Front Range 1200, and the advice boiled down to "it's hard to tell what will actually happen, so give it a shot" and "don't mess around in lightning or torrential rain." The rule of thumb is to be descending from high peaks by around noon. Too bad I'm not that fast.

I left Estes Park around 2pm to start the long climb through Rocky Mountain National Park and eventually Trail Ridge. The climb started with some immediate sprinkling, but it never picked up into anything serious while I was riding through. I completed nearly the entire climb and descent with no precipitation. Nice! This climb was the biggest question mark of the whole course, so I was relieved to not have any issues. Bringing a bike to the top of Trail Ridge made me an instant celebrity. If you ever need a self-esteem boost, just hang out there with your bike and people will say all sorts of kind things to you!

Willow Creek Pass was the next question mark, but that too was dry when I passed through. It helped that I was making (surprisingly?) good time on and off the bike. The sky was filling up with clouds as the sun dropped, and around 10:20pm I saw lightning off in the distance that would continue through most of the night. It was mostly concentrated to the east, but I also saw it to the south from whence I had just come. If my schedule had been shifted later in the day, I would certainly have been caught up in something nasty! But I wasn't in the clear yet. It looked like I would be able to make it safely to Walden, but after that Cameron Pass looked to be in the thick of the action.

I reached Walden a bit before midnight and found a bar I had researched ahead of time and knew to be open until 2am. I got my bottles filled (yay!), got some chips, charged my devices, and made use of my cell reception to check the Cameron Pass forecast. Oh great, a severe thunderstorm watch. For Cameron Pass in particular, the thunderstorm would likely continue through 1am and then clear up. I figured I could start biking directly toward it, and hopefully it would settle down by the time I was in striking distance.

The lightning ahead of me was still going strong as I neared Cameron Pass, so I decided to play it safe and nap for 20 minutes. It was in the low-40's°F so not the best for a nap, but I had prepared for that and was bundled up in a ton of layers. Except my legs were pretty exposed (I forgot to pack the clothing I use as rain pants), and I had also broken my RainLegs earlier in the ride. The lightning still hadn't died out by the time I woke up, so I figured I'd continue approaching as long as I was at least several miles from the lightning.

I ended up reaching the summit of Cameron Pass without getting rained on. Maybe the lightning was further away than I thought! It looked likely to be in Poudre Canyon though, the 60-mile descent toward Fort Collins. My eyes got really fatigued from the cool air during the descent so I stopped for a few more naps for my own benefit. The road was eventually wet on the descent, so it seemed the thunderstorm had indeed passed through. Seems I really lucked out!

*** WIldlife report ***

1 deer on Lookout Mountain. It darted right in front of an oncoming descending cyclist! I shot it (with my camera) in retaliation.

A car caught up to me on a twisty section of the Trail Ridge descent. As I rounded a curve, I found a deer right in front of me. I was able to stop, and thankfully the car behind me also stopped rather than running me over. (I caught up to the car shortly after because there was a slow descending cyclist a bit up the road. That was a little inconvenient, but I ended up having a pleasant conversation with the cyclist until she eventually turned off toward her home in Grand Lake.)

1 deer on the Willow Creek Pass climb, 1 deer at the summit, and 1 deer on the descent.

A freaking moose during the Poudre Canyon descent after Cameron Pass! It was hanging out on the road at 9,100', and thankfully my lights scared it away.

All sorts of interesting birds. I have no idea what they are. Colorado seems to have its own version of a magpie. Some sorta black-and-white bird, but definitely not a magpie. (I didn't mention it, but during the Front Range 1200 pre-ride I saw lots of prairie dogs and a bald eagle).

*** Road report ***

One-lane traffic with a flagger on a small section of road between Central City and Blackhawk. It was a pretty minimal wait.

Peak to Peak Hwy had a turn onto St. Vrain Road, and I was concerned I might be affected by a recent rock slide. When I reached the turn, the road was open in the direction I needed to turn, but closed in the opposite direction. Whew! I had been coordinating with Dustin and JLE for about 16 miles leading up to that, but my cell reception was too poor to get timely info.

One-lane traffic with a flagger on the departure from Estes Park, before reaching Rocky Mountain National Park. About a 10-minute wait, and it also created lots of bursty traffic in the park.

Lots of ride-ending potholes all over the road on Willow Creek. Riders should be vigilant the entire time, but the road condition does improve as you get closer to Walden.

Tons of nails all over the road on N Country Road 23, but I stopped and moved all of them off the road. I had seen them during the Front Range 1200 pre-ride as well but wasn't positioned as well to stop at the time. Now the main event riders need not worry.

71st Street about 10 miles from the finish was closed for construction. I took a 1-mile marked detour with some gratuitous climbing (could have been fun but it was hot). I haven't checked if there are better options.

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Charlie Martin

RMCC Trail Ridge - Poudre 8000er pre-ride

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