ELEPHANT ROCK!!!

Well, today, all the training and preparation was put to the test.  My son Joe and I loaded our bikes onto the truck, and headed for Castle Rock.  Along with approximately 7800 other cyclist who came to participate in the largest biking event in the Rocky Mountain region.  For those familiar, the Elephant Rock race can be run many different ways.  There is a 100-mile century ride, a 62-mile "metric century", a 34 mile 1/3 century, a 25-mile mountain bike "fat tire" course, and even a 7-mile family ride.

I'm not a big fan of road riding, and I love mountain biking, so for us the choice was obvious: we chose the 25 (really 27) mile fat tire course.  After arriving at the Douglas County Fair Grounds -- the start/finish line, we parked; got our jerseys; and headed out on the course at 8:25 this morning.

The first 2.5 miles is all uphill as you climb to the ridge above Castle Rock.  While it's not too tough of a climb, it is a good way to get warmed up for the rest of the course.  Then after about another 2 miles of flat roads, we turned off onto the first dirt road.  Admittedly, this is one of the more fun parts of the course because you then have about 3 miles of downhill running.  It can be a little nerve-wracking going almost 30 miles an hour on dirt.  You know if you slide out, it's gonna hurt real bad.  After that, you turn into a Douglas county park trail for a couple of miles.  This was for the most part pretty flat - giving you a false sense of security for what lies ahead. 

Joe on the Douglas County park trail

After leaving the Douglas County park, you then prepare for the toughest part of the ride: Castlewood Canyon State Park.   Castlewood Canyon  is a natural deep ravine with large rock formations.  It's really stunningly beautiful.  The road going through it is a dirt road that climbs from the valley floor to a ridge the towers over the canyon itself.  It requires a climb of approximately 500 feet up a steep semi-hard (sometimes washboard) road.  Once we got to the top of that ridge, we found the aid station, where we filled our water bottles, ate some goodies along with the largest banana I've ever seen.  After the aid station, we had yet more climbing but once up top, the views were stunning.

Me on the trail overlooking Castlewood Canyon

Following that, there were still about 9 miles of rolling hills before we found ourselves again on the ridge overlooking Castle Rock.  At this point, you get about 3 miles of steep downhill.  God that section is soooo much fun.  I got up to 39 miles an hour -- on a mountain bike! Granted, had I fallen, I'd have been nothing more than a stain, but God that was such a rush!

After that, it was a quick mile or so back to the fairgrounds.  Total distance ‎27.1 miles (60% on dirt) completed in 2 hours 40 minutes (3 hours 18 minutes with stops and breaks). This was my third Elephant Rock, and far and away this one was my favorite. First and foremost, having my son with me was a memory I'll cherish forever. Secondly, I felt great during the entire ride. Definitely my strongest ride to date. As a result, I had fun during the entire ride. I looked around, and enjoyed the scenery. I got to appreciate the beauty of Castlewood Canyon, as opposed to simply staring down at the road while trying to get over that ungodly tough hill.

Joe and I after getting back home from Elephant Rock