Happy June! CHC Plans

[Dave Brillhart]

Hope all are well and excited for the 2024 edition of CHC! I am.

I arrive at Denver around noon on June 21. I'm renting a minivan and will be driving to the Quality Inn in Louisville. If anyone arrives around then and wants a ride, I can take one extra bike box and rider.

If all goes well over our 4-day ride, I plan to drive to the base of Pikes Peak (90 min drive) on the 27th to start the ride up around sunrise., and then back to Lousiville. It is about a 4.5 hour climb with a halfway stop for refills. Then on the 28th I plan to do the same thing for Mt Evans (Blue Sky) (50 min drive), then back to Louisville. And then back to the Denver airport on the 29th.

I expect to ride those SLOW on very tired legs. But I can't not try, with me and my bike out in God's Country, and the two highest paved summits in North America calling my name :-) We'll see. My eyes might be bigger than my legs.

If anyone would like to do either or both of these, I'm happy to drive you there and back. I have room for one or maybe even two riders and bikes.

Pikes Peak: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45692815

Mt Evans: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45692662

You can SMS me @ 407-234-3328

Or FB msg me: Dave Brillhart

Or e-mail me: da...@brillharts.com

Dave

[Kevin Klaes]

I might be game. I believe both require timed entry even for bicycles. Blue Sky’s road will be getting repaved later this year (and all next year) so get that one done. The road is supposedly in terrible shape.

[dave.br...@gmail.com]

Hi Kevin!

 

That would be great. Lets chat before Day 4 to see how we feel and how the weather is looking. I did check and bikes do NOT require timed entry passes on either. They do that to ensure parking spaces are not overwhelmed.

 

Dave

 

 

From: colorado-high...@googlegroups.com <colorado-high...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Kevin Klaes
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2024 8:21 PM
To: Colorado High Country 1200k <colorado-high...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [hc1200] Re: Happy June! CHC Plans

 

I might be game. I believe both require timed entry even for bicycles. Blue Sky’s road will be getting repaved later this year (and all next year) so get that one done. The road is supposedly in terrible shape. On Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 12: 25: 40

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[dave.br...@gmail.com]

For those interested…

 

I’ve never tried Best Bike Split before, but I used one of my two free trials to enter in CHC1200. I don’t believe it, but people say it does a good job. I wanted to see what it thought.

Anyway, I think this is a public link to the plan it generated:

http://bestbikesplit.com/public/280673

 

If you select the TIME view, you can scan across the graph and see the time estimates in Walden to get the total moving time for each day. Below that are the Category Climbs.

 

It tells me that I’ll finish in the following times. Moving times, so any stop time for controls, photos, etc.

This is why I did this analysis. Civil Twilight is from about 5:15am to 8:15pm. Almost 14 hours of daylight. So in theory, if we start early enough, we should be done each day before dark.

• Day 1: 10:40
• Day 2: 11:00
• Day 3: 11:04
• Day 4: 7:16
• Total: 40:04

 

It identified 73 climbs. But 64 of them are “Cat 4” with an avg length of just 0.6 miles and 4.3% grade.

What worries me is NP should be much different than Avg Power, so I think it is assuming I’m pushing as hard on the descents as the climbs, which is wrong.

• Distance: 746 mi
• Avg Speed: 18.6 mph
• Avg Power: 158W
• NP: 164W

 

The “Big Climbs” are one “Cat 1” on Day 2 up to Silver Lake.

• Starting at mile 85, 10.0 miles long, avg grade: 4.4%, 2320 ft of gain
• It thinks I’ll do that in 1:03 @ 9.5mph avg and 191W.

And one “Cat 2”

• Starting at mile 167, 10.1 miles long, avg grade: 3.2%, 1663 ft of gain
• It thinks I’ll do that in 0:52 @ 11.5mph avg and 183W

 

I really don’t think this analysis is correct. But it knows my training altitude is Florida, and know the altitude of this ride. And it doesn’t know I’ll be recovering with overnight stops. So, we’ll see.

 

Dave

 

[David Weigel]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for sharing that Best Bike Split with us. I've always wondered what it was like. I've done some of my own rough estimates, and agree that a strong rider with efficient stops can ride mostly in the daylight (I will probably need to ride in the dark a bit more).

I'm sure you are more knowledgeable than I am regarding power, pacing, etc., but I'll share a quick story in case others can learn from it: The 1st time I rode Cameron Pass was last year, and I tried to pace myself by riding at a constant power. I hit my target, but was absolutely cooked for the rest of the ride. I think my main mistake was that I didn't take into consideration that power drops as you go up in altitude. Usually not a big deal for a 30 minute, 1,300ft climb, which is how I set my target, but really adds up on a 4.5 hour, 5,000ft climb. It doesn't look like Best Bike Split (or Garmin's Power Guide) takes this into consideration either.

Regarding the climbs: It appears that Best Bike Split uses a similar formula as Strava and only counts climbs that average over 3%. So it's going to understate climbs like Snowy Range Pass and Cameron Pass (those would be the two hardest climbs on paper using the FIETS method). In case you haven't seen it yet, the Narrative section at the bottom of the Info for Riders page highlights most of the notable climbs. Let me know if you are looking for specific numbers and I can help out.

Looking forward to meeting you and everyone else in two weeks!

Cheers,

David

RUSA #14088

weig...@gmail.com

[dave.br...@gmail.com]

Great point about Cameron Pass, David!

 

Here are the PJAMM stats on Cameron Pass, Day 1, starting around mile 147 for 11 miles. And that’s *after* 50 miles of continuous climbing that begins after we turn left on 287 around mile 98.

 

 

 

So I really need to start conservatively, as I won’t be adapted to elevation and am not used to climbing (living in Florida). I appreciate the heads-up on this.

 

I’ll have headlights of course, so getting in after dusk is fine. I just want to enjoy as much of the scenery as I can in daylight, since getting to the mountains is an uncommon treat for me.

 

See everyone soon!

 

Dave

 

 

From: colorado-high...@googlegroups.com <colorado-high...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of David Weigel

Sent: Sunday, June 9, 2024 12:21 AM
To: Colorado High Country 1200k <colorado-high...@googlegroups.com>

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[John Lee Ellis]

Great discussion!  One added point about Poudre Canyon: the climb is fairly gentle most of the way, but a somewhat stiffer climb the final 12 miles (nothing outrageous, just not as mild a grade). Another reason to save your energy for that final stretch.  And also to stay hydrated, with a useful stop halfway up at Rustic.

-john lee

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[Eric Peterson]

My advice would be to get a meal at the restaurant in Rustic, it's worth spending time for that. The camp shop offers little IMO for cyclists.

Eric 

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[Jack Nicholson]

Hi - I’m Jack  Nicholson and I attempted CHC in 2021. I’m coming back again to complete this “unfinished business”.

Since you're talking about the Day 1 climb to Cameron Pass, what about the resupply before starting the climb.  In 2021 I believe the whole group stopped at the Shell in Laporte (mile 96)…is Ted’s Place (mile 100) at least as good a place to stock up?

Thanks,

Jack

On Jun 10, 2024, at 11:40 AM, Eric Peterson <peterso...@gmail.com> wrote:

My advice would be to get a meal at the restaurant in Rustic, it's worth spending time for that. The camp shop offers little IMO for cyclists.

Eric 

On Mon, Jun 10, 2024 at 10:19 AM John Lee Ellis <jell...@gmail.com> wrote:

Great discussion!  One added point about Poudre Canyon: the climb is fairly gentle most of the way, but a somewhat stiffer climb the final 12 miles (nothing outrageous, just not as mild a grade). Another reason to save your energy for that final stretch.  And also to stay hydrated, with a useful stop halfway up at Rustic.

-john lee

On Mon, Jun 10, 2024 at 8:11 AM <dave.br...@gmail.com> wrote:

Great point about Cameron Pass, David!

 

Here are the PJAMM stats on Cameron Pass, Day 1, starting around mile 147 for 11 miles. And that’s *after* 50 miles of continuous climbing that begins after we turn left on 287 around mile 98.

 

<image001.png> <image002.png> <image003.png>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/colorado-high-country-1200k/CAKCJSf2K1W5gPtL_COKFpPiubT0x92B-Lae3Cyni0gGPLJbk2g%40mail.gmail.com.

[John Lee Ellis]

Jack, first of all, good luck!

Ted's Place and the Conoco in LaPorte are comparable. I tend to stop at Ted's Place, but it doesn't matter much.

-john lee

[dave.br...@gmail.com]

In case anyone might be interested… I did a quick Google Maps and Street View recon to figure out reasonable segments and restock stops. This is my first draft plan… The longest stretch is the start of Day 3, with a 57 mile sector to Steamboat. That isn’t bad since we’ll start out fully hydrated but I don’t see anything between the hotel and Steamboat. Day 4 does have a long sector (there is the Glen Echo if I need) but that is mostly downhill after Cameron Pass so it should be a fun 58 mile ride down the mountain to Ted’s Place.

 

[dave.br...@gmail.com]

One mistake… sorry… resending. The downhill on Day 4 to Ted’s is about 1984 ft of climb… up to Cameron Pass, then downhill pretty much all the way to Ted’s (about 700 total ft climb from the Pass).

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[dave.br...@gmail.com]

I just saw that my rear disc brake pads were almost down to the metal. Ugh. I had no idea – they still worked fine on flat Florida roads. Good as new now. Anyway, here is my bike checklist before a major event like CHC, esp before traveling. In case this is helpful. There is still time to replace that noisy bottom bracket or true those wheels or swap out a worn cassette/chain or bleed those hydraulic brake lines or replace resistive brake cable housings, etc.

[Pascal Ledru]

For bicycles, I believe you do not need a reservation:

https://visitclearcreek.com/mount-evans-2021/