Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt : Tags : bob_cook_memorial_hill_climb

Yesterday I told you about our week-long bike trip. Day 2 of the trip was a "Happy Birthday to Me!" ride up Mount Evans. (Route links in yesterday's blog as well.) What a great way to spend my birthday.

The ride from Idaho Springs to Echo Lake is a mix of the landscape like you can see in the photo below and forest.

For the week of riding, some of the athletes could only do a couple of days, some did only road riding, some only mountain biking and a few did the entire mix. In the photo below, the Mt. Evans gang poses at the entry point for the climb. Left to right are Ed Shaw, Bill Frielsdorf, me, Meeka, Ernie Wintergerst and Todd Singiser.

The remaining photos give you a few glimpses of the landscape leading to the top. First, the early switchbacks:

Ed Shaw powers up the climb, above treeline.

Bill Frielsdorf was King of the Mountain this day. Look at all that snow!

Todd Singiser standing on the final set of switchbacks before the top.

Ernie Wintergerst on the final few meters of the ride to the top.

Thanks to Del for taking all of the great photos. I'll post more photos in a slide show at the end of the series.

Round trip ride time today was 4:13, "out" time was 5:30.

Look for Day 3 tomorrow - travel to Winter Park.

I don't know if an Active jersey will make you climb as good as Ed; but it's worth a try. Active is placing a big order for cycling and triathlon gear. Jerseys are $45, shorts are $30 and sleeveless jerseys are $40. They are looking to close the order by Friday July 4th.

You can click the link below to see the gear. You can get through all of the steps to see the details and pricing before having to commit to a payment.

I'm definitely replacing my worn-to-a-nub jersey...

The link is below. All you need to do is click "register now" and follow the steps, pricing is within the order pages.

http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1596021&assetId=8eb707e4-764f-456a-97ca-77d79cf3ae31