Sat Road Ride-Pioneer Scenic Byway

What an incredible weekend!  We had amazing weather and were completely spoiled by summer-like temps.  It definitely feels like Fall is in the air with the nice crisp mornings but the days have been warming up and it reached into the low 80's on Saturday.

I ran some errands on Saturday morning and wanted to get those out of the way so I could get out and play.  I took a load of stuff that had been sitting on the trailer out to the dump - for some strange reason it is always a good feeling to get rid of stuff.

With the errands completed it was time to map out the day.  The best course of action in my mind was to load up the car with the road bike and try to do something different.  I have gotten tired of doing the same rides as of late and remembered as I was driving the Pioneer Scenic Byway last weekend that it would be a great road ride.  I drove down to Wise and the plan was to pull into either a trailhead parking area or a campground and then start the ride from there, ride up the pass and then back.  I ended up parking at the Sheep Creek trailhead and started my ride from there.  It was amazing how little traffic was on the road (which is a good thing since there really are no shoulders to speak of).

It ended up being a 40 mile ride:

The tentative plan was to ride up the pass and then turn around and head back down.  The beginning of the ride looks flat while riding it but based on the speed and power output, I could tell it was climbing gently.  The road then took it up a few notches and got steep!  It was steeper than I remembered as I rode up...probably something to do with being in a car and not really paying a ton of attention the week prior.  At one point I remember thinking that I must be losing fitness because it felt sort of hard but just kept the legs moving and spinning.  It was nice to get to the upper meadows and take in the amazing views. 

At mile 20, it was time to turn the bike around and head back.  On the way back I quickly realized why it felt steep on the way back...my bike was hauling going downhill - even the spots of the road that looked flat were steep as the bike just picked up speed.  When I got to the steeper sections I got out of the saddle and put the hammer down to see the MPH's go up up up.  Top speed heading downhill was 47 mph!  No wonder it felt hard on the way up. 

I took the GO PRO cam on the ride and need to do some editing and will post a quickie vid over the next few days of parts of the ride.

All in all, it was a really great ride.  There was very little traffic on the road (less than 10 cars passed me while in the saddle) which always makes it much less stressful.  The ride and scenery were truly amazing and it will be great to add this into the quiver of local ride options.

I got home and the dogs and I went for a nice walk up at Homestake Pass on the CDT.  It was weird to have to wait until the end of the day to take them out (because it was hot and they have already started their winter coats) but it ended up a being a good long walk.  The intention was to try and wear them out a little so they would be tired and sleep most of the day Sunday so I could get out and ride again.  Sunday's activities forthcoming....