Independence Pass

Since I am now back in bike shape thanks to my Saturday ride around Turquoise Lake, yesterday I decided to try a challenging ride. I rode from Twin Lakes to the top of Independence pass and back. It was a really nice ride. They don’t open the route to cars until this weekend so there was no traffic (other than bikes, it was amazing how many people were out riding on a Wednesday morning). It was a little more challenging than Turquoise Lake, but not too bad. Actually Turquoise Lake wasn’t that bad, it was just a lot harder than what I was expecting. Yesterday on the other hand I was really expecting to suffer and instead was pleasantly surprised. I think the steepest sections were about a 6% grade and they weren’t that long. The last 5 miles got to be a little long, but the views made up for it.

About a 1/2 mile from the top I passed a road crew coming down the mountains painting lines on the road. You haven’t lived until you’ve inhaled paint fumes at 12,000 feet while working hard biking uphill Definitely the highest I’ve ever been on a bike (12,095 feet). Here are some pictures from the ride: