Day 42 - 2,493 Miles To Date - Kremmling, CO

Yesterday was by far the best day on 4k for me and probably my group members. We picked climbing partners at our same riding level/pace so we would have someone to stick with and also make it less chaotic during our 21 mile climb. I partnered up with Draper and our pair rode as a group with Jeff and Chris. The climb began almost instantly at about mile 3, no time for the legs to warm up. The whole team was riding together for a good bit, but we all broke off at the first water stop which was at about mile 8. Luckily for me, Draper has a speaker on his bike and he made a 5 hour playlist so that made the climbing a little bit easier. I would compare yesterday's 21 mile, 7,000+ ft climb to any race that I have done, but specifically the 10k. It's a weird kind of enjoyable pain because your legs are burning and you think they will give up at any second but you just keep amazing yourself as you keep pushing. Yesterday's climb was definitely one of of not the hardest thing I have ever done physically. The main thing that kept me going up that mountain, though, was the amazing view and I mean absolutely amazing. Every corner we would round and ever switchback that came up, there were more giant snow capped mountains. At one point we realized we were above some of the clouds which was super cool and looking down was scary because we were so high up, but also amazing. Draper, Sarah, and I stopped at what we thought was the 4k rock - and it very well could be but we're not exactly sure - and took pictures. We finally stopped at the summit and took a bunch of pictures with Sarah, her cousin, and Chris. Getting to the top was such an amazing feeling, our legs were jello and we were freezing but it was definitely an accomplishment. Not to mention we crushed the climb at 10mph. We then rode another mile or so to the visitors center for some much needed coffee (and I bought a sweatshirt because 12,000ft is cold and rainy.) After warming up, getting some food and coffee, and filling our water bottles, Jeff, Chris, Draper, and I began the descent - what we were all waiting for. It was a little rainy at first but thankfully cleared up, because steep downhills, water, and brakes do not mix at all. The boys definitely took off as I was taking my time around the curves (no guardrails and right down to a cliff at about 10,000ft up.) I eventually caught up with them when they caught traffic, but I really enjoyed the ride down. I was putting in no effort as I just cruised down the mountain and enjoyed the trees and mountains and views. Once we got to the bottom, it was still a gradual downhill for the rest of the ride so we cruised at about 19mph. Eventually we realized we hadn't seen the vans in 52 miles and we needed water and food. No one had cell service and we figured the vans were still on the mountain helping the rest of the team. We stopped at a local set of cabins and filled up our waters and then found a restaurant on the marina to grab lunch. As soon as we walked in, we saw lightning on the horizon, so we just took our time and hung out. After about 3 hours sitting at our table, Jeff and I walked out to put our feet in the water (after the storms had passed of course.) At this point we realized we were going to be shuttled along with other teams waiting out some storm. Jeff and I saw a guy roll by on his sailboat and we waved, Jeff asked if "he wanted to party" since he was all alone and he invited us on to his boat. We were so stoked and ran back up to the restaurant to tell Draper and Chris we scored a boat ride. I helped Mike unload his boat and we got on. There wasn't much wind, so the sailboat was just kind of floating, but it was absolute bliss. Everywhere you looked there was calm water and purple mountains. We floated out there for a couple hours getting to know Mike and telling him our stories, it was definitely a fun time and so many props to Jeff for asking if we could ride. Eventually, after we had been at Granby Lake for 7 hours, we were picked up by the van and stayed in a hotel conference room. Such an amazing day filled with so many great things, from climbing Trail Ridge Road, celebrating at the top, enjoying the descent, getting a delicious crab cake sandwich, and taking a sunset sailboat ride on the lake. I love 4k!