Durango Day 7 – 7/20

Decided to give the road ride to Silverton another go. I could tell as soon as I started rolling that my legs felt a lot better than they did the last time that I did this ride. I finished the ride about two minutes quicker than earlier this week and my average HR was 137, about 4 beats less than earlier this week. A good indication that I’m getting a little more acclimated to the altitude. The ride back from Silverton rolls in a southerly direction and as I was heading back up to Coal Bank Pass I was riding into a pretty stiff head wind, something that I don’t usually encounter on this ride. I ended up fighting a head wind for the better part of two hours while heading back towards Durango. The weather was also a lot cooler with temps hovering around the lower 60’s and dipping as low as the upper 50’s at the higher altitudes. Very nice for such a long ride. I also noticed that my throat was getting a little irritated from breathing in all of the diesel fumes from knuckleheads that would pass me by and accelerate leaving a massive black cloud for me to ride through. Mean people really do suck.

Durango Day 8 – 7/21

Felt pretty lethargic today, so I decided to listen to my body and take the road bike out for an easy active recovery ride today. Had a big breakfast with the old man at a local greasy spoon, said our goodbyes and then I headed back to the cabin. Rode back into town and headed east on Florida Road. Ended up being a very enjoyable ride with some beautiful scenery. Florida Road follows along side the Florida River, your typical mountain stream with crystal clear water that tumbles over rocks and other obstacles, very picturesque. Retraced my route back into town and ended up getting a little over two hours in. Felt a lot better afterwards, looking forward to another epic ride tomorrow!

Durango Day 9 – 7/22

Decided to do a road ride today, headed east out of town on Florida Road down to Ignacio. The plan was to get 100 miles in today and by the time I got to Ignacio I only had about 42 miles in. Doubled back up to the turn off for the road that heads up to Vallecito Reservoir and rode to the north end of the Reservoir. Turned around and rode back to CR 245, then to CR 240. Took CR 240 back to Durango, rode through Durango and rode back up to the cabin. The beginning of the ride was pretty much the same as yesterdays ride. I enjoyed the road so much that I decided to do it again today, only further to do a little exploring on some roads that I’d never ridden before. Ended up being a great ride, lot’s of beautiful rolling (by Colorado standards) hills / mountains. I call the hills rollers because I ‘only’ netted about 4,500 feet of climbing. My legs felt great today, the effort was mostly Zone 2, though on a few of the hills I ramped it up to Zone 3 a little.

More to come later,

Thanks for reading,

CK