Might attempt Pike's Peak this weekend:

http://www.bicycling.com/culture/travel/cycling-to-the-summit-of-pikes-peak

7/11/2017 10:48:54 AM

Good luck that shit would kill me! haha

7/11/2017 11:03:40 AM

But that ride down tho

7/11/2017 11:02:37 PM

I'm doing Mount Evan's on Sunday. I'm going to table Pike's for a while:

Quote :

"How steep is Pikes? People have tried to quantify it: An index on climbbybike.com offers this formula: (H/D*100)*4 + H/D + D/1000 + (T-1000)/100. Perhaps the easier way to comprehend the ascent is to compare it with the only other paved road in the United States that reaches 14,000 feet. Mount Evans climbs 6,575 feet in 27.4 miles—and never reaches a grade that's more than 6.3 percent. Pikes ascends 7,710 feet in 24.5 miles, with an average of 6.4 percent, sustained grades of 10, and a few humps that approach 20."

7/12/2017 12:44:54 PM

As I said I would die doing that shit haha. I have driven up it several times and taken the train up so I know biking it would be zero fun!

7/12/2017 1:38:44 PM

Climbing is getting more and more addicting. It's crazy. I never believed it when people said it was but now I get it. I recently swapped out my 11-25 cassette for an Ultegra 11-28. Much better.

7/12/2017 1:42:11 PM

The noob here wishes he had the money to spend on a road bike.

But still, I'm so weary of being so close to cars, with everybody texting these days. And...TBH, I'm having trouble coming to terms with becoming one of ...those people.

7/13/2017 7:13:59 AM

I think a huge part of it is where you live. Living in Charlotte I found it much harder to get into cycling as it was much less common. After moving to Denver where 1 in 5 men under 30 commute to work downtown by bike it became a little easier.

Also there's a huge community of bikers and on many weekend rides cars are the minority on certain routes. Bike lanes and greenways obviously help as well. Lastly I'd say finding a group of riders to ride with helps a lot. 10-15 bikers are easier to see than 1-2. The best place to start riding is bike shops. Most shops have 1-2+ rides a week and they're split into easy or hard rides (sometimes a-b-c). Just go talk to a shop and tell them your experience and that you want to start riding.

Probably the best decision of my last couple years was canceling my parking at work.

7/13/2017 10:56:03 AM

When I was in Scotland last week you could tell they were much more cyclist friendly. I saw tons of people riding around out away from the city in hilly areas that I would die trying to ride in so props to them haha.

7/13/2017 2:56:40 PM