After cycling Yellowstone & Grand Teton on the 6th day, we'll drive another full day to bridge the gap between our destinations, so we should be well rested for Day 7.... which is good, because it's going to be the hardest day on the TdR, hands down, no contest! It STARTS at 7600' elevation in the mountain town of Estes Park, Colorado, and will take us to a high point of 12,183' on the Trail Ridge Rd., 8 miles of 
which are above 11,000'... making it the highest continuous motorway in the United States! There are 3 high mountain passes over 10,000' to climb in this section of Rocky Mountain National Park, and towards the end of the day we'll still have to climb Berthoud Pass at 11,300! We'll climb over 12,000 vertical feet on this day in total, with most of it over 8,000' in elevation. The mileage for the day will be the same as most days, about 100 miles - but the grueling high-elevation climbs will certainly beat up our legs. We'll be in the small gears all day for sure. I'm personally looking forward to this day for the huge cycling challenge. Big days on the bike really appeal to me because they allow me to discover my personal physical & mental limit.... plus there's always that cool sense of achievement that you get after overcoming a goal that previously seemed uncertain, maybe even impossible! Apprehension & self-doubt is natural, I guess... but that turns into satisfaction and a nice confidence boost after achieving a big goal. This entire
trip is a big goal, for sure.... but I know we can do it. I also know we can do this individual day - we've all ridden big mountain century rides with tons of climbing. But it's easy to wonder... How will we feel on day 7 after 600 miles in the previous 6 days? How will the legs & lungs do at elevation? Will we be pummelled by afternoon mountain thunderstorms that will make the day that much more grueling? 
Will I have to sink to the depths of despair and climb into the sag vehicle, the ultimate confirmation of failure? Probably not, but...the possibility still nags! So we'll start from Estes Park nice & early because Trail Ridge Rd. gets lots of traffic. We purposely laid out our trip to make sure we didn't ride this road on the weekend. We won't have much of a warm up since our first major climb starts immediately... it's a 20 mile climb, average grade about 5-6%, and ends at Iceberg Pass at 11,827'. At mile 23 we'll reach the highest point of the road at 12,183', and then descend a little before we climb Fall River Pass at 11,796'. The 
last of the 3 passes in Rocky Mountain National Park is Milner Pass, 10,758, which is actually the point where we'll technically cross the Continental Divide! The reward for all of this work will be a 30 mile descent into Granby, the last 20 of which will be mellow 1-2% downhill but it'll make for fast progress as we pedal the bigger gears and make up for the slow climbing we did earlier in the day. We'll pass through the towns of Granby and Grand Lake at around mile 60, and then 
we'll start the last climb of the day as we gradually climb into the town of Winter Park at around mile 80. We'll top Bethoud Pass around mile 92, and then finish the day with a descent into Empire, CO. Our next ride day starts from Vail, about an hour down I-70, so we'll probably have dinner in Empire, & then hop in the car to find our hotel in Vail for the night. It'll be an epic day! Can't wait to see how it goes. Thanks for reading
which are above 11,000'... making it the highest continuous motorway in the United States! There are 3 high mountain passes over 10,000' to climb in this section of Rocky Mountain National Park, and towards the end of the day we'll still have to climb Berthoud Pass at 11,300! We'll climb over 12,000 vertical feet on this day in total, with most of it over 8,000' in elevation. The mileage for the day will be the same as most days, about 100 miles - but the grueling high-elevation climbs will certainly beat up our legs. We'll be in the small gears all day for sure. I'm personally looking forward to this day for the huge cycling challenge. Big days on the bike really appeal to me because they allow me to discover my personal physical & mental limit.... plus there's always that cool sense of achievement that you get after overcoming a goal that previously seemed uncertain, maybe even impossible! Apprehension & self-doubt is natural, I guess... but that turns into satisfaction and a nice confidence boost after achieving a big goal. This entire
trip is a big goal, for sure.... but I know we can do it. I also know we can do this individual day - we've all ridden big mountain century rides with tons of climbing. But it's easy to wonder... How will we feel on day 7 after 600 miles in the previous 6 days? How will the legs & lungs do at elevation? Will we be pummelled by afternoon mountain thunderstorms that will make the day that much more grueling? 
Will I have to sink to the depths of despair and climb into the sag vehicle, the ultimate confirmation of failure? Probably not, but...the possibility still nags! So we'll start from Estes Park nice & early because Trail Ridge Rd. gets lots of traffic. We purposely laid out our trip to make sure we didn't ride this road on the weekend. We won't have much of a warm up since our first major climb starts immediately... it's a 20 mile climb, average grade about 5-6%, and ends at Iceberg Pass at 11,827'. At mile 23 we'll reach the highest point of the road at 12,183', and then descend a little before we climb Fall River Pass at 11,796'. The 
last of the 3 passes in Rocky Mountain National Park is Milner Pass, 10,758, which is actually the point where we'll technically cross the Continental Divide! The reward for all of this work will be a 30 mile descent into Granby, the last 20 of which will be mellow 1-2% downhill but it'll make for fast progress as we pedal the bigger gears and make up for the slow climbing we did earlier in the day. We'll pass through the towns of Granby and Grand Lake at around mile 60, and then 
we'll start the last climb of the day as we gradually climb into the town of Winter Park at around mile 80. We'll top Bethoud Pass around mile 92, and then finish the day with a descent into Empire, CO. Our next ride day starts from Vail, about an hour down I-70, so we'll probably have dinner in Empire, & then hop in the car to find our hotel in Vail for the night. It'll be an epic day! Can't wait to see how it goes. Thanks for reading
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