Mt Evans

I had been thinking of this ride for a while. The road closes after labor day and with a ideal weather forecast, I decided to give it a go. I parked at the clear creek middle school. There's lots of parking and it's right off 70, so you're not losing any climbing.

From the school it's just shy of 28 miles to the summit, with 6.6K of climbing. It's a gentle grade, averaging 4%, with only a few areas of steeper grade, but nothing steep.

The Chicago Creek and Squaw Pass roads are in excellent condition, but once you get onto Mt Evans road things go to shit pretty fast and you got to pay attention. There are plenty of pot-holes, road anomalies and tons of annoying water bars/channels.

Above the tree-line the wind started to gust and things got demoralizing at times, but it was nice when it pushed you along in a few sections.

I underestimated how cold it would be. The forecast for Idaho Springs was off about 10 degrees. It was 43F when I started at 7:45AM (late August). I have no idea what the temp was at the top but probably not more than 50F and felt colder with the wind.

I wore a short sleeve jersey with arm warmers on the ascent and while initially it was a bit chilly, it was fine once I warmed up. For the descent I brought along windstopper gloves, a wool hat, leg warmers and a wind breaker. This was just about right in terms of comfort. I can't even imagine what it'd be like if it rained or snowed.

The descent was unnerving for me in a few places since you need to deal with speed, questionable road condition, terrifying drop-offs in places and drivers, who may not be accustomed to or considerate of cyclists. But for the most part the descent is fine, although bumpy. Once you get to Squaw Pass road it gets super smooth but you can collect a lot of speed and gotta watch it with cars.

Overall it was a great experience and I plan to ride it again next year.

Race Nutrition

I started mountain bike racing this year. I had no idea what I was doing at first and I'm still learning. Here I'll share some of my nutrition related preparations. Feel free to dispute and mock.

The day before a race I eat basically what I eat for typical meals except for the following:

• higher sodium 
• more carbohydrate, less protein
• nothing spicy
• I eat a bit more than typical (carb loading)
• Low fat

Example

Spinach salad with tomatoes, extra olives, and mushrooms. Fat free soy vinaigrette.

Chicken taco:

• whole wheat tortilla
• shredded chicken breast
• black rice/quinoa
• guacamole
• olives
• tomatoes

Then about an hour before bed some fruit/yogurt, ex

Sliced peach with nonfat plain yogurt

Not just for race preparation but for all my meals I tend to eat smaller meals, more often. It just works better for me and I don't feel bloated or experience food comas.

For breakfast on race day I have the following at around 6am (Race starts at 10am)

1 cup coffee
1 1/2 cups homemade granola (low sugar, low fat) with soy milk
Fruit: blueberries and maybe half a banana
No dairy (though I've read others have no problem with dairy as long there's enough digestion time)

About 2.5-2  hours prior to the race in the car I'm snacking on sweet potato, banana and toast. I want to finish all eating with at least 2 hours prior to the race, to allow for digestion, though I may have some banana with 1.5 hours to digest. I drink about 32 oz of water with a scoop of EFS during the drive. I want to be fully hydrated prior to race start.

Just before the race I take a gel. During the race I will attempt to drink and take clif shot bloks but sometimes there are few opportunities. My hydration drink of choice is EFS, 1.5 scoops. Anything around 1.5 hours or so I don't worry as much about food. But over 2 hours and it's critical for me. Ideally I'll take a blok every 20-30 minutes. And drink about 18oz over 2.5 hours. I've been racing at Winter Park and they start in the morning so it's never going to be hot, but the sun can be intense.

I bring a cooler so after the race I have an ice cold protein drink waiting, burrito or something lunchy and green tea.

So far this has been working okay for me. I'm sure there are things I could do better and I'll continue to tweak it as I go along.