Day 3- Rocky Mountain National Park

Melinda here - We decided to start today a little early since the total time looked to be about six hours for today. When we woke up, it was a little cool out, but no rain and no wind. Karyn and Mike ate breakfast at the restaurant outside of the hotel and Rolando and Melinda ate some oatmeal that they had in their room. We then loaded up the car and headed to the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park.

After paying a $20 fee (well worth it based on the very nice roads and bathroom facilities) at the gate, we unloaded the bikes and took some photos. Mike and Melinda started off on the bikes at a nice 3% grade. It was much easier to breath today than yesterday. The road was nicely paved and the grade wasn't too bad. We just put the bike in an easy gear and spun our legs. The temperature was about 60 degrees, but the sun was brutal. Thank goodness for sunscreen (too bad that I forgot to put it on my part in my head).

Around 7 miles into the ride, we noticed Rolando and Karyn parked on the side of the road. They had driven up the next 3 miles and realized that it was very steep and that I wouldn't want to ride it. Of course... I jumped into the van and rode up the mountain with them. Mike put on his ipod and took off by himself. Over the next 15 miles, Mike rode along and Karyn, Rolando, and I cheered him on. There was beautiful scenery all along the way. We even went through a few different ecosystems, ending at the arctic tundra at the top! While waiting on Mike to make it to the top, Rolando got on his bike and joined Mike on the last few miles up.

We all had lunch together at Alpine Ridge (chips, PB&J, and some fruit). It was a little overcast and breezy. I think that the temperature hovered in the mid to upper 50s. We were all dressed with our jackets. After visiting the gift shop and Ranger Station we all loaded up again (with many more clothes) to head down the mountain. Karyn drove the van and the rest of us decided to ride down. We did the first 4.75 miles in about 5 minutes! We were going faster than the cars. It started to drizzle on us and rain a little. It wasn't bad, so we kept on going. After about 5 more miles of down hill, the rain got heavier and the road was slick. I decided to flag Karyn down and jumped in the van. I could just see myslef having a wreck and then not getting to do the Pike's Peak Marathon. Mike and Rolando were no where to be seen.

Karyn and I drove down the mountain and about 4 miles from the end saw a bunch of people parked on the side of the road and Rolando waving at us. All I could think is that Mike had wrecked and was on the side of the road. As it turned out, there were 3 large moose. We got out of the car and took some photos and picked up Rolando. We then drove the remaining few miles to pick up Mike at the end of the road.

It was a great day with great weather and great scenery. Some of the numbers for today were a total ride of 41.25 miles in 3:24 07 for an average of 12.1 mph. The last 16.3 miles down from the Continental Divide at Milner Pass helped increase the average a lot since it was mostly downhill and was over 21 mph. The first climb in total took over 15 miles an covered over 4,000 feet of climbing. The total climbing for the day was about 7,800 feet. The highest point was 12,183 feet up. It was interesting watching the altitude change going up. We started at 8,200 feet and after an hour and a half of biking it was over 11,000 feet. At 2 hours of biking, it was over 12,000 feet.

After the ride, we drove down to Golden to spend the night. It was about an hour and a half of driving back to Golden. When we checked into our hotel, we had a few issues. The main one was that when Rolando walked into our room he surprised two people in bed! They had given us a room key that already had people checked in! We then showered and headed out to Wild Oats for a great dinner. Now... ready for bed.