Pike’s Peak Summit Panorama Video
Dad and Nancy flew in from Ohio to visit with us for two days and we drove up to the summit of Pike's Peak immediately to avoid the storms that had been forecasted for tomorrow. The above video was shot while looking east.
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Tangible Benefits
The last time I climbed North Cheyenne Canyon, I weighed at 228.5 pounds. Today, I weighed 188.5 pounds and climbed it with Josh, one of the most gifted climbers I've ever ridden with. We had planned to ride from Broadmoor down to Florence but the wind was steady at 15 mph from the south (read: HEADWIND) and gusting in the mid 40's. It was kinda chilly too (around 50) so we decided to ride close to Cheyenne Mountain for protection and do the hills.
When I first climbed this bad boy, I clocked a tad over 37 minutes (yikes!). Today's time: 23 minutes, 48 seconds (clocked from the gate). Not great, but getting closer to my ultimate goal of sub 20. I've previously written about the climb up N. Cheyenne Canyon HERE and HERE.
Here's the ride profile (guess which spike is N. Cheyenne...):
Lounging Deer In The Front Yard
Amy woke up this morning and found four female mule deer just laying down in or front yard. I took some pics and posted them on Flickr.
No, It’s the EPO, Testosterone and Exogenous Blood
I momentarily took my eyes of the wattage and looked at my speed- I was doing about 10.5 mph. I thought that I was probably on the false flat this hill, err, mountain has. Maybe I should back off but I was holding 325 watts steadily. A few seconds later, I realized I had crested the hill and was done with the climb. As I felt the goose bumps go up and down my arms, I heard Josh scream "WTF Buckingham? What the hell are you doing up here! I gassed that hill!." He actually startled me and then it sunk in that I had climbed this thing incredibly fast, probably five or six minutes faster than I thought I was capable of (north side of Woodmen Rd. for those in Colorado Springs).
Josh, who was ranked UCI Elite as recently as 2005 but has since retired to work for Federal law enforcement, asked how much weight I had lost 'cause "there's no way I did that with training!" I said none, I was just one a new program of EPO, testosterone and exogenous blood transfers with as straight a face as I could muster. We laughed for a second and took off down the other side of that hill where I hit 52 mph.
During that climb, I knew that I couldn't hang with Josh so I just fixated my eyes on the PowerTap and tried my best to keep 330 watts. I tried not to look at my surroundings and kept my breathing as rhythmic as possible. I was so fixated on my meter that I was sure that I had been passed by a few of the guys, the resident mountain goats who still race. But unbelievably, I was second at the top. It will be a very long time before I can challenge Josh, he's 52 pounds lighter than me and his bike weighs at least 5 pounds less than mine. He is a phenomenal climber but he lacks power though on the flats and for the most part, I just need to stay within 3-4 minutes of him on a climb to catch him on the descent.
I had lost 32 pounds since I last rode with these guys back in February and while I had expected to ride a little better, I was blown away by the difference the weight made on the climbs. I've got to be careful to keep my power but I'm now counting the days until I can get down to 160.
I feel like a cyclist again.
Why I Hate Coming Home After Riding
Sure, the view from my deck every night is awesome but it sure sucks to have to climb back up every night. At the end there, you see the murderous profile of Thames Rd, one of the three options I have to get home from the Broadmoor Valley. While not the longest, Thames is the steepest but I'd grown very tired of climbing Farthing Drive. Thames is about 1.08 miles long and averages 11% with two pitches that exceed 15%. According to my PowerTap, I was averaging about 355 watts but was still only going about 6 mph up the thing.
Those other three humps beginning at mile 5 were the repeats of the road that leads up to the Broadmoor Golf Course. It's one of the most bizarre hills I've ever ridden. Though it's about a mile long at 8%, it looks as if it's barely a rise due to the big mountain ahead (Cheyenne Mountain) and three other ridges that can be seen from that road. On the first club ride I did out here, I completely misjudged it and lost over 100 yards before the summit of the climb. When I got up, everybody was laughing at me and said that hill gets newbies to Springs all the time. I wasn't laughing...
