Large Hill route for BOCO May 14th 2016--Cross bike ride

Large Hill route for BOCO 2016--cross bike ride

Getting ready at the car..Joel is up on the hill riding up and ended up seeing Tom the turkey.

 4 mile canyon

 Switzerland Trail

 Gold hill road and Switzerland junction.  We need to report the guy going for the bike, super shady!

 WE headed through Gold Hill and down Sunshine to Linden, and then Wagon Wheel to Lee hill/Old stage.  Then Left Hand to dirt roads on the East of 36 out to Lyons.  I fell apart by the time we reached Saint Vrain road and was not sure I was going to even make it to Lyons so I had David and John go on ahead with out me.  I eventually got into Lyons, ate a bunch of food, rested and got myself on the bike heading up to Raymond. 

 Climbing up from Lyons to Raymond

 Pitstop on way to Raymond along river

 Small place of Raymond where I ran into John and David again--a crazy surprise!

 This sign gave me huge encouragement--seeing that the major downhill was only 8 miles away seemed easy compared to the day as a whole...all the sudden it became this is doable!   David was out of sight and way ahead of me here as I told him and John to go ahead at Raymond since I was moving slow, very slow!  

 Climbing out of Peaceful Valley--the face sums it up! 

Beautiful weather day though and almost no wind--never got hot either which saved me. Just after this pic, I see someone ahead nad think since I am so tired I am seeing things--and then he appears again, the Hammer is standing at the top of the climb with his bike and a big smile...we meet again!

 The Hammer making it looking easy even at mile 85...I saw him doing circles in the road waiting on me and asked if he was trying to reach a mileage goal with the circles?!  :) 

 103 road from Beaver Res turn off to Mill site inn just North of Ward.

 Ward turn off--YES, downhill here I come! 

 Some clouds rolled in and it was only 40 here so we stopped to bundle up and stay warm. Leg warmers would have been awesome for the descent...next time. 

 Rowena connector to Sunshine--super nice and easy riding now that the snow has melted.  We stopped for a moment, stetched, and spoke with a very friendly local woman hiking with her dog.

Top of Rowena connector/saddle--this marked the end of the climbing pretty much for the day--just had to roll back to Chapman and find some large amounts of food.  We made it!   Great day everyone.  Three Margaritas was the solution--no wait and food ready in 5 minutes--Chicken Mole served its purpose and replenished the 4000+calorie burn for the day.