Part Two to Completion

By now I felt as though I had warmed up and rode really strong for a while - I had eaten enough food and was feeling good!! At the next rest stop I quickly grabbed some Pringles an energy bar and some water and carried on real quick without stopping too long. The stops so far had been pretty close together and I assumed the next one wouldn't be too far when I could stock up again! From this point it was slightly uphill following a river and I was still riding really well - with possibly a slight tailwind. Then after 20 miles cycling uphill I started to run out of food and was getting a bit hungry - at 25 miles I was really hungry and I had no food - I was wondering when the next rest stop would be - I remembered being warned about a long constant climb - I struggled on but it was about 40 miles total uphill until that next stop - by this time I was starving, bonked completely and just felt dreadful! I ended up having to recover at this stop for about half an hour - sitting under a tree just eating and drinking until finally I had enough energy to stand up and realized that I had better carry on going! Quite a few people had passed me during this time. So I carried on and the ride continued uphill - climbed and climbed! Got steeper and steeper towards the end! Finally the scenery started to change - was a lot more open and I finally made it to the top! It was a killer! That must have been a good 50 miles of constant uphill. Had some food and drink and felt better as I headed off on the downhill - just for a while - there followed another short climb and surprisingly I felt pretty good going up! Then there was a really nice long downhill into Telluride where I stopped right at 200 miles - a nice stop in a little town - double century! Only trouble was that there had been a headwind going down into the canyon and I was struggling. I was stoping often and eating trying to get enough energy to just get through it!! 25 miles left - I knew there was a final pass to get through - ended up a good 10 mile climb not too steep but at this stage in the day it was really hard work - wind was swirling - mainly headwind. I finally reached the top and I was so relieved - view here was incredible - 10 miles to go now and I was hoping it would all be downhill. I was so exhausted I don't think I could have climbed any more. Going downhill now - still having to pedal because of the headwind - only trouble for me was I was looking at the total number of feet climbed and total descended and I expected them to match by the finish - and yet I got to the point where my descent total was now greater than my ascent. All I could think that for every 100 feet extra I now went down I would have to climb before the end - 100, 200, 300 feet - but I could still see the signs saying I was near the end. Finally I turned a corner and could see the traffic lights marking the end. Looks likes that might have been a Garmin error but I was pretty worried there for a while!! It was great to just roll back into the hotel - a few people there to provide a few cheers and had my photo taken. That was one hell of a ride. Had a quick shower and a drink (protein shake) but when we sat down for a steak I felt awful - everything caught up with me. We had decided to drive straight back to Vail that night - couple of hours drive. That was so hard - I was overheating and couldn't stretch my legs enough - a very painful drive home. So good to arrive though - fell asleep the second my head touched the pillow!!! Official Death Ride report click here