After leaving Estes Park we headed to Leadville because Tina read about a race there (Oh boy!). On the way we stopped in Breckenridge where we had gone skiing several years ago. It looks a lot different in summer! We pulled the bikes off the Jeep and rode downtown to grab lunch and look around.Here’s the Breckenridge town center area.
We only stayed a couple of hours then headed on the Leadville. We didn’t know it at the time, but the Leadville 100 was going on as we arrived. Apparently a very famous set of races. There was a 100 mile bike race, a 100 mile running race and a 10k race at 10,000 ft.
Tina ran the 10K at 10,000 ft. She said it was the hardest 10K she’s ever done. I can attest to that because while she was running the 10k at 10,000 ft, the dog and me walked two blocks from the starting line to a BBQ truck and had BBQ for lunch… at 10,000 ft! That’s right! BBQ at 10,000 ft is more difficult than you think. Breathing is already more difficult at 10,000 ft, but stuff your face with a BBQ boat and try to breathe. The BBQ boat was three layers of gastronomical goodness: A layer of BBQ on the bottom, then french fries, then coleslaw on top! I had to throw some to the dog. Then we had to go take a break before walking 2 blocks to the finish line to get pictures of Tina. We almost couldn’t make it back in time. 2 blocks at 10,000 ft is like 20,000 blocks at 0 ft elevation… roughly.
Also, while in the area we took a drive around Turquoise Lake and accidentally got trapped in the 100 mile bike race. We drove along with the cyclists for several miles. This was much less tiring than the BBQ at 10,000 ft.
We just happened to be at the finish line when the top 2 finishers of the bike race rolled in at just under 6 hours! My RV can barely make 100 miles in 6 hours. It would take at least 2 stops for gas and if I had to go up any hills forget it!
If you haven’t been to Leadville swing by some time. It is a nice little town and so is Buena Vista just a few miles south. I only wish we’d had time to pan for gold!
Well, it’s about time to start heading for Yellowstone, but there are a couple of stops along the way… Stay tuned…