On a brighter note, this means some unexpected time off, which can be nice. At the time, my son's football and daughter's soccer were just about to get started, which means lots of practices. So, it looked like I was going to be acting as the family chauffeur. It works out well, since if I was still working, I'd have to be leaving work early every day in order to get them to practices on time, which is stressful and annoying.
On another bright note, I had already had a vacation planned anyway. After getting laid off on that Tuesday, I had one whole day off before my parents came into town and we were going to head up to the wonderful mountain town of Breckenridge for 5 days. You might think of Breckenridge as a ski town, but it's fantastic in the summer, too.
After a crazy Wednesday of frantically running around getting last-minute birthday presents for my daughter and father before our vacation, and packing for our trip, I picked up my parents from the airport on Thursday morning. My wife worked through Thursday morning, and when she came home, we packed up the car and hit the road to Breck.
Two years ago, my wife and I planned a few summer days in Breckenridge while the kids were visiting the grandparents in Ohio. Then, two days before we were supposed to leave, I had a gall bladder attack that required it to be removed. We still went to Breck, but it was a much different vacation than we had originally planned. I was planning to get in all kinds of cycling, but ended up just barely being able to walk the whole time.
This year, I wanted to make up for that by packing in a lot of cycling. It seemed kind of rude to take off biking every day while my parents were visiting, but I decided if I got up super-early every day, I could be out and back before everyone was even awake. And that's pretty much exactly how it worked out.
Thursday:
Not much. Unpacking, and getting settled into our condo. We got a great 2-bedroom condo up on the mountain. It was called the Tyra Summit. I'd highly recommend it if you plan to spend any time in Breckenridge.
Friday:
As planned, I got up really early and hit the road. I didn't venture too far. Basically I stayed within town. I had done a little research, and found the route for this year's USA Pro Challenge bike race, and their route through town. I knew they did some tough climbs just before the finish of the Breckenridge stage, and I wanted to try them myself. So, I basically planned to do a few laps of their in-town climbs.
It was certainly a chilly morning. I was wearing my arm warmers, leg warmers, wind vest and long-fingered gloves. I headed down to the main road, out to Boreas Pass Road, and started climbing. When I got to the intersection with Moonstone Road, I headed downhill, which eventually takes you into the back of town. Once I hit the main town roads again, I turned around and headed back up. This climb back up to Boreas Pass Road is just plain brutal. Short and very, very steep. Once you think it's done, you come around a bend, and see more climbing. Ugh. Finally, you get to Boreas Pass Road, and an nice descent. Once at the bottom, turn around and do it again.
After a couple laps of these climbs, I headed back to the condo where almost everyone was still sleeping. Later that day, we headed up to the fun park on the mountain for some family fun on the alpine slide, Gold Runner Coaster, and more.
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| Getting ready to head down the alpine slide. |
Saturday:
Once again, an early morning. This morning, I decided to head up Hoosier Pass, topping out at 11,539 feet. The climb isn't really that bad. About 9 1/2 miles from Breckenridge to the pass, with grades from around 3-5%. And then a long descent back into town. That didn't seem like a long-enough ride for me, so once again I decided to do the steep hills on the back side of town to finish up the ride. And back to the condo before everyone was awake.
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| Hoosier Pass, elev. 11,539 ft |
Sunday:
On Sunday, the same routine: wake up early, get in a good ride, and get back before the rest of the family was awake. This day, I decided to ride from Breck to Keystone, over Swan Mountain. The ride starts by riding from Breckenridge to Frisco on the local recreation path. At Frisco High School, you cross the road and start heading up Swan Mountain.
The crazy part about this ride, which I didn't realize before I started, was that Swan Mountain isn't the high point of the ride. The high point is in Breckenridge. Then it's a long, gradual descent into Frisco, and a short climb up Swan Mountain. On the way back, you are climbing all the way to Breckenridge. The climb of Swan Mountain is 450 feet of elevation over about a mile and a half. The climb from the base of Swan Mountain back to the condo is about 800 feet over 7 miles. It was weird, because the bike computer rarely even registered a grade, but I was definitely feeling it. I couldn't understand why I was getting so tired from riding on a "flat" bike path. I didn't realize until I looked at the ride on the computer that I was actually climbing that whole way back.
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| Looking towards the Tenmile Range from the Keystone side of Swan Mountain. |
Monday:
On Monday, I decided to do a repeat of my ride from Friday. Just some laps of the hills on the backside of town. But after I did a couple laps of that, I decided I wasn't quite done. So, I headed up Hoosier Pass for a bit, until I decided I needed to get back to the condo.
All in all, this was a good vacation. Lots of great family time, and a lot of fun in such a great town. I'm also glad I got some time to get in some good rides while I was up there. It was a nice change from riding around the Denver/Boulder area for a while.
Now, back home, and back to the realization that I don't actually have a job. More on that later . . .
