Elephant Rock Madness

ELEPHANT ROCK!!!

Sounds like a made-up word, doesn’t it?! It’s actually a cycling race/tour that takes place in Colorado every year. It was held this past weekend, and in honor of our fundraising efforts, Cindy, Craig, my dad, and I all participated and completed the 62-mile ride.

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Dad in the parking lot before the race

And it was awesome!

The day started out BRIGHT and EARLY at 4am. I picked up my dad at 4:45 and we headed down to Castle Rock. Our start time ranged from 6-8am, but it was definitely chilly so we didn’t want to start too early. We already debated back and forth in the parking lot as to what to wear. In the end, I settled for my arm warmers instead of my cycling jacket. It was SUCH a good decision because the sun popped out super early and the arm warmers got tucked away around mile 3, never to be seen again. In fact, it hit 95 degrees—HOT TAMALE!!!

My trusty steed 🙂

 Anyway, the four of started together, but dad and I have done a bit more riding so we took off ahead pretty early on. Right off the bat, there was a pretty steep hill that left both my dad and me gasping for air. Dad looked at me, and you could tell me were both thinking the same thing: What the heck did we get ourselves into?! After that, we both had our heart rates up and we got settled into a good pace, and it was a lot better. Miles 1-18 weren’t too bad, but had a lot of rolling hills. By the time we reached the first rest area, I was definitely getting hungry. I was pretty psyched that it was so equipped: I’m talking muffins, poptarts, bananas, water, juice, TriBerry, bagels, etc. Unfortunately, I’m a piglet in human form and ate WAY too much, especially considering that I had over 40 miles to go. Whoops. I got back on my bike definitely feeling full and roly-poly. Lesson learned on that one!

Aid Station Chaos

 Miles 18-34 involved even more climbing, but there was satisfaction in knowing that we had reached the highest point on the course. In theory, it was all downhill after that. We hung out at the second aid station for a bit longer than we had planned though because a train came and blocked the train tracks which ran straight across the road. We ran into Cindy and Craig here and chatted a bit. After the train passed, Dad and I were eager to take off—the next part was the most fun of the course!!

Miles 34-44 were awesome! This was the first part of the course that was a straight drop; I think the course dropped over 800 feet throughout these ten miles! The wind felt so good against my face because the temps were so hot and I was a sweaty beast! We made it to the third and final rest area in 30 minutes because we were cruising an easy 20-22 miles per hour!

The last section of the race involved (what I was later told) the actual Elephant Rock. Of the entire tour, this final hill was a BEAST! It was the longest and the steepest, and of course it hit after 45 miles of riding….and the temps had already reached into the 90s. Even worse? I ran into the biggest idiots on this part of the course. I get that not everyone knows bike etiquette, but common sense was also lacking. A lot of people were struggling to ride up the pass, so they were getting off and walking their bikes. One such woman abruptly stopped in the middle of the road to get off her bike. She had zero regard for anyone behind her….which happened to be me. Luckily, I managed to swerve and miss her, but not before she almost kicked me in the face as she swung her leg over seat to get off her bike. Idiot. I have to admit that I swallowed a few choice words for her!! I was still wicked annoyed when I reached the crest of the final hill. My anger passes as I realized I had a massive downhill to enjoy 🙂 I managed to reach a new top speed of 45 mph and it was freaky fast! The breeze felt awesome, but the trippier part was that people PASSED me, going even faster than 45! I was like, um…..I don’t think so!!!

Dad and me laying in the grass after the ride

 All in all, the ride was great. I had a great time, as did my dad and Cindy and Craig. Will I do it again next year? Hell yes! Will I train so I can do even better?! Um, in theory yes, but we all know that isn’t my style 🙂


How was your weekend? Any fun activities?