Rocky Mountain High on Life
Day 40
Part of me wishes I had made the time to write about our time in the Rockies while we were there but another part is thankful to be reflecting on it now, 40 days later. I’m sure y’all are tired of me saying things like this, but it does not feel like we crossed the Rockies 40 days ago. It’s pretty bonkers to even say that. We rode our bikes over the Rockies!!?
I’ve already talked about our time in Boulder and the Rockies a little bit but in those posts, I mentioned that I wanted to give a more detailed account of the day we actually went up the famous Trail Ridge Road. The night before we made our ascent was hectic and stressful. Up to that point, we hadn’t thought about the logistics of getting 12 cyclists into a national park and no one had a strong grasp on the rules. As we came to discover in the following weeks, National Parks (and park rangers) are more lenient than others. The more popular parks often require reservations to enter the park during a certain time frame. After a few phone calls and frantic online searching, a few of my teammates seemed to have an understanding of what we needed to do… to be honest, I was lost so I just took a couple of steps back and let them figure it out. On top of this, we had all been looking forward to this day since orientation and everyone wanted to ride. But, if we wanted to survive one of our most challenging days yet, we would need people supporting us in the vans. Alexa and Jeremiah were up in the rotation and though we thought we could figure something out to let everyone ride, we realized it’d be best to have them driving the whole day.
So, the plan was to get to the gate before entry reservations were required from 8am to 4pm. Because of the challenge that is Trail Ridge Road — 25 miles with an average grade of around 6-7% until we reach the peak at nearly 12,000 feet — we split into “climbing groups.” We wanted each group to be relatively similar in their ability to go uphill so no one would be riding alone. This meant Will, Jadyn, Jima, and I would be tackling the day together. We got off to a great start by making a wrong turn as we left Estes Park… we’d make another wrong turn inside the National Park too (we might’ve been strong cyclists but we were bad navigators). Once we got back on track and started going up, our group of four split in half rather quickly. Jadyn and Will, the youngest but most experienced and talented cyclists pulled ahead of me and Jima. Before I knew it, Jima was out of my sight too; I wasn’t pushing myself super hard because I knew we had a long way to go and I was just enjoying the world around me. I stopped for a few minutes at an overlook and smiled as I looked down at the entrance, already amazed at how high we were. My eyes started to fill with tears while I thought about the insanity of what we were doing and felt so much appreciation for nature and gratitude for everyone in my life.
I got back on the saddle, rounded another turn, and saw my superstar teammates smiling and chatting with Jeremiah in the water van in a busy parking area. At this point, we still thought Jeremiah would be able to ride but he humbly pointed out that he thought it’d be unsafe and he’d rather support the team for the whole day. The plan was for him to ride up the mountain and leave a jug of water near the top for everyone to refill, then he’d drive down and meet Sidney and they’d ride up together. After that, they would ride back down to the van and Jeremiah would drop Sidney at the top and the day would proceed as normal. I don’t know if this is making sense (I don’t think I ever fully understood the plan) but the important thing is, Jeremiah was wise enough to see that the team would need a bit more help, and having no one in the van for such a long time could be sketchy. It made me so happy to see him so happy to put the team first. After a fairly long conversation with Jeremiah, Will and Jadyn, being the insane riders that they are, turned around to meet Sidney a few miles back so they could all ride together. That left me and Jima as climbing buddies for the next 20 miles.
It was in Colorado that Jima and I started becoming closer friends. Since we climbed at similar speeds, we naturally spent a lot of time together. Despite much of our time together being in silence/heavy breathing or the occasional, “you okay?” or “wow, this is amazing”, our relationship blossomed on the mountains. I think as early as days 3-6ish I discussed the way friendships seem to form even in silence when climbing mountains or completing a tough day. I am happy to report that this proved true with Jima this day and for the rest of the trip with everyone else.
As we climbed higher and higher, it was incredible to feel the temperature drop even though the sun was shining even brighter. Plus, we started passing snow! One of the amazing things about these tough days is how beautiful the routes are. At times I would be feeling exhausted and wondering what I was doing but I could just look up and see so many magical things. I could look behind me and see miles of mountain that we had just summited. I could take a big breath and feel the cool mountain air and smell the pines, flowers, and snow. I’ve also said this many times before but it absolutely bears repeating: this trip was a true privilege. Every day we got to ride our bikes, see beautiful things, meet unique people, goof off, have deep conversations, ask each other meaningful questions, spread love, and speak about a great organization. I believe that gratitude for all moments is the key to a good life; that doesn’t mean we have to be happy when bad things happen, it just means understanding that in some weird way, the bad things will be good for us.
Ok, now you know I’m back to my normal writing style because I’m straying away from the intended subject and talking about love and all that stuff (barf 🤮). Let’s get back to me and Jima on the Rockies! Not long after our photo-op at 10,000 feet, we met Jeremiah again but this time Clarke and Claire were with him; because of our wrong turn early in the park, they had passed us and were riding very strongly all morning. Though it looked and felt like it, we still weren’t at the summit, so after snacks, hugs, and extra layers, we set off as a new group of four! Again, we rode mostly in silence with the occasional scream, “LIGHT WORK BABY!!” from Clarke or me. There was one section that was really tough, especially after already climbing 20 miles, and something came over me and I just yelled like a maniac and sprinted up a steep switchback. I had goosebumps all over but felt warm with adrenaline, joy, and pride. We passed a herd of elk that were unbothered by all the onlookers on the mountain. We stopped at several overlooks and at the last one, (the highest point our bikes would be) I started to cry. Then we had a stretch of downhill to the coffee/gift shop we all planned to meet at before starting the real descent. I was overcome with joy, love, and gratitude as we flew down the hill and toward a chaotic parking lot full of tourists.
I walked around the gift shop a little while the others filled up on caffeine and processed what we just accomplished. I deemed everything to be too expensive and walked back outside to find some of the runners who had made their way up the mountain via a one-way dirt road (the one we would have taken had we not realized our navigation error). They were so excited to see us and congratulate us on our climb. We really never deserved the love and support the runners gave to us; from the minute we met in Boulder, they had our backs and seemed prepared to do anything for us. They always tried (and often succeeded) to get food donations for us even when we were happy to eat peanut butter and beans. They woke up at 1am to support us on our 200-mile day in Nevada (more on this in a future post). They wanted to see us succeed just as much as they wanted to succeed themselves and for that, I am forever grateful; I learned a lot about being a teammate and human from them.
It wasn’t long before Jadyn, Will, and Sidney came flying into the parking lot, with enormous smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes. We met each other with high-fives and hugs, and I pointed them in the direction of the bathrooms and the others. When Jadyn and Jima saw one another they nearly shattered glass with their excited yelps. If I was a random person in that gift shop, I would’ve assumed they hadn’t seen each other in years. Instead of resting, our original group from the morning (Will, Jima, Jadyn, and me) headed for the real summit at 12,000 feet above sea level. The hike up the stairs was a lot harder than we thought but so worth it!
Although I seemed to get by without being very affected by the elevation, I think it disrupted my appetite because even after climbing 5,000 feet in 20 miles, I didn’t feel like eating much. I still forced down a PBJ or two while we waited for the final group to arrive. Once they did, many of us were feeling quite sluggish and even though the climb was done, we still had over 50 miles of riding to get to the host. Luckily, the first 20 of those were basically straight downhill; I laughed the whole way down because I couldn’t believe how fast we were going and how beautiful it was. The groups were reshuffled once again as Jima, Claire, and Clarke were eager to get moving and left Sidney, Will, Jadyn, and me in the dust. By the time the road was more flat than downhill, we started dragging again. The remaining 40+ miles were daunting, especially since it was now the mid-afternoon and getting hotter as we left elevation.
I think around mile 60, I started getting a little loopy — not dangerously out of it but my brain was definitely not all there. The flat, slightly downhill mountain roads were turning into rolling hills with a minor headwind. I remember looking at Jadyn at one point and casually saying that I didn’t feel my legs anymore — I think she replied something like, “yeah, me neither”. It wasn’t scary though, it was more like they were just moving with such automaticity that our brains weren’t registering their existence. We ended up almost in a desert-like area not far from our final destination. With sore butts and tired minds, we finally arrived at the little church that opened its doors for us in Kremmling. Jeremiah welcomed us in with cheers and high-fives and then we were done. It’s so funny thinking back on many of the hard days and how we just went about our lives after completing them. We’d eat, shower, maybe do laundry or organize the van, say things like “what a day… we just climbed a mountain” and then go to bed.
Though I sometimes wished we’d spent more time thinking about what we had just done, I think the most important thing is that we were present in the moment while we were doing it. That’s what’s great about traveling by bike with great people, it’s almost impossible to be thinking about anything else. Of course, there are long, boring days where your brain needs to wander to stay sane but for the most part, you can be just as the title says. Leading up to our departure in June, I told myself that I’d spend the first hour of every ride without music, podcasts, or audiobooks — I wanted it to be sort of like a meditation. I surprised myself by almost never listening to anything except my own head, our surroundings, and my teammates every single day. And it’s not like I forced myself to do this, it’s just what I preferred. There’s so much to hear and see while riding a bike, I didn’t want to miss any of it. I got high and stayed high on my own supply :)
SURE ENJOYED THE READ LOVE YOU GUYS
You are an enjoyable, wonderful writer🥰