2020_09_17 Pikes Peak: Leon Matz and Scott Wagar

 Author:  Leon Matz

I was real excited to have my first (hopefully of many ) Cyclopath visitor to Colorado Springs, Scott Wagar.  Scott was arriving in the area on Tuesday and wanted to ride on Wednesday and Saturday.  We knew that there would be much less traffic going up Pikes Peak on a weekday, so Wednesday was the day.  As most of you know, Scott is not shy about taking on a challenge.  Climbing to the top of the second highest paved road in the US (14,100 ft) with less than a day to get used to the  altitude was more than a little ambitious. 

Scott drove to my house a little before 7 am.  We, then, drove to the town of Cascade to meet one of my new cycling friends, Al; and we began our ride from there.

The forecast was for the day to be sunny but cool.  It was 45 degrees when we started, so I had multiple layers on for the climb and probably more important for the descent as the temperature at the top was 33 degrees when we started with an high expected between 41-45.

The climb almost immediately hit 10%.  We stopped at the gate a mile into the climb to pay (the road to the top of Pikes Peak is a toll road).  Again, the climb was consistently 9-10% for the next 5-6 miles.  The pace Scott and I were doing was a little fast for Al, so he dropped back as Scott and I continued on.  Both of us were feeling pretty good; but it became clear that the weather forecast was off, because we were both sweating a fair amount.  There was no sign of Scott having trouble with the altitude which surprised me. 

We were about 13 miles through the 19 mile climb when I started having cramping issues.  I ingested some salt and some Rolaids and increased my consumption of Powerade.  Instead of riding side by side, Scott now rode up the road where he would, periodically, wait for me.  Unfortunately, the cramps persisted.  My stomach started feeling queasy, and I started feeling dizzy!  With 4 miles left and 1,600 feet to climb, I made the decision to head down.  Considering the cramps and the dizziness, continuing on the final portion of the climb wasn’t worth risking a crash.  It was very hard making that decision, because I wanted to summit with Scott.  I descended a 1,000 feet and tried to start climbing again, but the cramps returned (even though my dizziness had disappeared).  

I headed all the way down to the car.  Scott and Al made it to the summit and showed up about an hour later.

I'm not sure why I had all those issues. Three weeks before this ride I road to the top of Mt Evans (14,200') with none of those issues.

Pikes Peak is much steeper than Mt Evans; but...some days you have “it”, and some days you don’t. For Scott to be able to ride to the top of Pikes Peak (considered to be the second toughest climb in the US) with no time for his body to adjust to altitude was pretty amazing !

2020_09_27 Puyallup to The Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier and Back with Adam, Dwaine and Mike

 

Author:  Mike Hassur

 

This blog post is a little belated, but If wanted to make sure that I recorded this ride (even if I’m a little late in doing so). 

 A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Dwaine Trummert saying “I’m itching to go for a ride”.  We agreed to do the ride to the Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier and back on Sunday, September 27^th.  We, also, agreed that it would be a good idea to ask Adam Abrams if he wanted to join us (which he did). 

Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier Ride
(67 miles and 3,000' of climbing)

Our plan was to meet at the head of the Foothills Trail in Puyallup at 7:00 AM.  We were heading out on the trail by 7:03 AM.  The first half of the ride (from Puyallup to the Carbon River Entrance to Mt. Rainier) is uphill most of the way.  It's not steep, but it's unrelenting.  We did a lot of visiting on the way out, but that does not mean that we were riding at a leisurely pace.  When you ride with Adam and Dwaine, I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a "leisurely pace".  In fact, the pace was brisk enough that; by the time we got to the last climb before reaching our "turn around point" I wasn't doing much talking.  I had just enough energy to do one thing - either talking or pedaling - and I chose pedaling.

We stopped on the bridge at the Carbon River Entrance and took a photo or two (as well as rehydrating and taking in some food).  This break was what I needed to get rehydrated and restock my energy reserves.  By the time we were ready to head back, I was ready to go.  

Adam, Dwaine and the Carbon River...

The only problem with me feeling refreshed and ready to go was that both Adam and Dwaine were, also, ready to go which meant that our return trip to Puyallup was going to be "vigorous".

Adam and Dwaine have done a ton of riding together, and they never seem to be at a loss for things to talk about.  It was in the early portion of the second half of this ride that I realized that a good strategy was to just let them ride side by side with me hanging back a bit listening to their conversation.  It was always interesting (with topics ranging from how to cook chicken to Adam aspiring to have a "power profile" similar to that of Peter Sagan), and it gave me the opportunity to draft a bit and save energy.  

Since this second half of the ride was mostly downhill, we were over 20 mph for most of the ride back through Carbonado, Wilkeson, South Prairie, Orting and - finally - to Puyallup (as shown in our video of the second half of this ride - see link below).  It was a blast!

After a summer of mostly solo rides (thanks, COVID), this ride was a welcome change.  I totally enjoyed having the opportunity to share this ride with Adam and Dwaine.  The visiting was great as was the aggressive pace.  My only complaint was that I forgot my camera; so I didn't have many photos to share from this ride.  

If this was my last "group ride" of 2020, it was a good one.  I'm looking forward to 2021 and, hopefully, more rides with The Cyclopaths.

2020_09_27 Puyallup to Carbon River Entrance of Mt. Rainier and Back (Video)