Since moving to Colorado in 2003, as a cyclist and on again off again racer, climbing Mt Evans from Idaho Springs has been on my “bucket list.” The window to ride this route is small, late June through August, and no matter what day or the weather on the Front Range, it can be dicey. It has alluded me or I have alluded it via procrastination, excuses and prioritization. Last Saturday I made last minute decision to change my current plans and knock this one off the list.
The route is 28 miles, all up hill with two brief exceptions with ~6,750ft of elevation gain from 7,550ft in Idaho Springs to 14,264 at the top of Mt Evans, the highest paved road in North America. There is an annual race along this route called the Bob Cook Memorial / Mt Evans Hill Climb. Tom Danielson holds the record at 1:41:20!
I didn’t know how I would feel at elevations greater than 12,000ft so I road the 1st 3/4 of the route conservatively, but I felt surprisingly good at the top, finishing with a time of 3:14. Though the temperatures in Denver were in the 90Fs, the summit temperature was hovering around 50F and as I turned to head back down, the time being just before noon, the clouds were steadily starting to build. Aside from several very tight banked switch backs that you could carry a lot of speed through, the downhill was actually quite mundane and very choppy at times.
The views from the top are breathtaking. I can’t wait to do it again… hopefully under 3hrs next time.
Here are a few snapshots I took along the way with my phone:
