Day 3 – Test Ride

The goal for the day was to try and ride part of the Day 1 stage. Both of us woke up pretty early and simply relaxed and basically laid around for the better part of the morning. Around 8:30am we slowly started getting our shit together and were out on our bike a little before 9am. Ashley plotted out our course last night and decided to do part of the race we will do on the first day.

On the saddles and we were off. We went downhill for all of about 50m feet and then it was uphill for the next 30 minutes. We headed up the hill we were on the day prior, Boreas Pass. The grade looks very deceiving as you head up the mountain. It was definitely a heavy breather for me. However, this was going to give us a good idea of what the rest of the days will be like. When we reach the beginning of Boreas Pass park entrance, we headed into the woods. And it went straight up with all the rocks and roots the mountain had to offer. The next 10 minutes was basically a bike and hike for me. Ashley managed to ride up the hill flawlessly.

When we reached the top it was nirvana for me. The trails are fricking awesome!!! Gorgeous scenery, horticulture that can only be found west of the Appalachians, amazing trails and elevation that will break the strongest of men is what we saw today. The downhill trail ride was super fun and very flowy. We popped out of the trail head by Bankers Trail water tank tower. Then we proceeded to ride down the gravel road of Boreas Pass. From there it was straight back down to town. The ride was all of 1:20, but was definitely harder than the average ride.

Dropped of the bikes at the condo and headed to the bike shop. The shop wanted us to pick up our bike boxes today as they did not have storage for all the boxes. Threw the boxes in the truck and we headed over to Blue Stag Restaurant. Perfect spot for some very hungry boys. We had what I would call a smorgasbord of wild animals for lunch. We had an appetizer call the Colorado Trail Sausage Trio – Pheasant with Spinach, Rattlesnake & Rabbit and Smoked Jalapeno Cheddar Elk. How much better can that get, right? Well, it can by just adding some Bison chili.

Bellies full, we headed to Carvers Bike shop for some last minute items. We picked up some needed bike items and other useless shit we had no need for but looked cool to have. Left the store and headed straight back to the condo for some downtime. We both kicked back for an hour or two and checked our eyelids for holes. After we didn’t find any holes, we got motivated to do some laundry and hit the hot tub while we waited for the laundry to get done. The hot tub definitely felt incredible on the legs. Great idea by the Hunsucker! Definitely going hit hot tub again in the coming days after the rides.

As 4:30pm rolled around we were ready to get dome dinner as the guts were growling. We decided on Italian and Giamprieto as the restaurant of choice. Food was really good. Ashley had some pasta with chicken and I got a couple slices of pepperoni. Carbs are going to go a long way for us. With dinner done, we walked back to condo, but ended making a quick stop at the Gold Pan for a beer. Once home, we fell out pretty quickly.