Hoosier Pass

So, Coach Book told me to ride at a high aerobic intensity for 1 hour 35 minutes today. But what does it mean when your high aerobic intensity only nets you about 6 mph?


It means you're climbing Hoosier pass from the Breckenridge side.



Starting at 9600 feet above sea level and traveling upward to 11,500 feet above sea level in the space of 10 miles.

Reaching the contintal divide on that steep, hairpin road is a lung searing event. The legs do not give out so much as the lungs.




But as is as often the case, discomfort, effort, and value go hand in hand.




I think we saw the mountains differently than the tourists waddling from their SUVs at the top of the climb.

They were photographed in front of the same sign we used for our background, but it can't have been the same.



And descending at 35 to 40 mph on a bicycle around the hairpin switchbacks --- well, you can't really be that alive in an automobile.



The rain chased us back down to the town. It doesn't have far to fall when you are riding in the sky.



We arrived cold, shivering, and completely, fully alive.