A Century With 13,584 Feet of Climbing

[Alex]

It seems the TdPC organizers overestimated the climbing and the distance on the TdPC route. A couple of weeks ago, they changed their website to reflect 8000 feet of climbing over 100 miles.

I did the "century" ride today. It was actually 93 miles. My Garmin shows 6653 in elevation gained. Almost all of the gain was in the first 43 miles of the ride. There were about 32 miles of almost solid uphill that ended at a mountain pass. The pass was at 10,750 feet. The main climb was on the Mirror Lake Highway. Someone had painted the following on the road, "BEGIN TO SUFFER." Cheery, huh?

It was a lovely route! About 200 people signed up for the century and half-century options, which made for a very solitary ride. I rode alone the entire way and I really enjoyed it. I talked to the cows (who were ON the road). I chatted with the goats, "Yo! Goat!" I admired the horses. I screamed at a suicidal chipmunk who I certainly would have hit if he didn't have a sudden change of heart, as I was going about 38 mph downhill at the time.

At a couple of the rest stops, the organizers had trailers that were specially designed portable toilets. The women's toilets had a throw rug, a flush toilet, running water, hand soap, paper towels AND an arrangement of fake flowers AND a basket of mints. Such luxury!

When I started riding it was about 43 degrees. When I finished it was around 70. Gorgeous blue skies. Pine trees. Couldn't ask for anything more!

Alex

[Starfish]

Wow, that sounds like a gorgeous, wonderful ride. So glad it worked out this way for you!!

[SandyLS]

Congratulations, Alex. It sounds as if you had a great ride! I've never heard of that kind of luxury for a portable ladies room on a supported bike ride. The best I've seen are moderately gross porta potties with a bottle of hand sanatizer if you're very lucky. I'm glad it turned out to be a great day for you.

[sbctwin]

I rode the 'half century' which turned out to be only 35 miles. I was so apprehesive of the the hills that when Alex first reported she thought it was only 35 miles, I felt relieved. But now, I feel disappointed because it was only 35 miles . The ride route was extraordinary. The country side, with the horses and pastures and everything, couldn't have been better. But they need to plan better. The organizers didn't have porta-johns at the beginning of the ride (and end of ride, at least when I finished). They didn't think they needed them. There were porta-johns available, only because the starting point was also a construction site. So the porta-johns available were 'well used'. But, as Alex reported, the 'Luxery' porta-johns, wer luxery. I couldn't believe they made those things on wheels and that they were so, well, luxurious . ...

[zondian]

It sounds you like you had a beautiful ride! I have to compliment you on doing a ride at altitude, when I first moved to NM (Taos) I went from sea level to 7000 feet. It took awhile to adjust (weeks I think). I could swim one lap at a time in the pool, and hiking uphill was difficult. Sounds like you did just fine.


The elevation gain sounds amazing, and it sounds like a really cool century (neat rest stops and all). I'd love to hear more about your climbs if you care to share