Tour de Tabernash :) - 13hr10min over 2 days, 208.5 miles

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The culminating ride of the season, if the season were coming to an
end. Which it isn't, which means I'll have to suffer more yet this summer :)

Boulder, Lyons, Estes Park, Trail Ridge Road, Granby, Bethoud Pass, Oh
My God Pass, Nederland, Boulder. 208.5 miles. 11,000 ft of gain on day
one and at least 8500 on day two. What a great group of people and
support in the sag wagon: Heidi, Kay and Dean, Anne and Alec, Emil all
riding with Diana and Lydia in the sag wagon.

Emil and Diana are the parents of Lydia, 15 yrs, and have a really nice
mountain house in Tabernash that we stayed at. Diana did all the
support with drinks, food and lots of enthusiasm. Lydia helped and also
rode parts of the trip. Emil is the son of Swiss emigrants. How fun to
talk to him about it. He's a former US cycling B team rider. Diana is
into running and is going to Switzerland in August to run the Jungfrau
Marathon. Anne represented the US in the Sydney Olympics in mountain
biking. Her friend Alec was one of Colorado's top road sprinters for five
years. Kay and Dean ride the 100+ mile White Rim trail in a day every
year. Heidi used to train with the junior olympic ski team and was a
sponsored skier and snow boarder. And her parents have a great German
restaurant in Granby and treated us for dinner last night.

How the heck did I get caught up with such a group? And what is driving
me to keep up with them? I don't know, but it was a heck of a good
feeling to be able to do so and complete this awesome loop in some of
the nicest Colorado scenary. Wicked cool downhill rides on switch
backed roads at 40+ mph (hit 49 mph on the west side of Trail Ridge).
And Boulder is a cool 3000' drop from Nederland to town to wrap up the
ride. A bit hot at times, and some maxed out muscles, but all in all way worth it!!

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