Boulder Half Ironman Bike Course

This morning I attempted the Boulder Half Ironman bike course for the first time. I thought it might be a good idea to see what I was getting myself into on August 7 when I will have to ride the course, not once, but twice after swimming over a mile. Then I will have to run a half marathon. Here’s what the course looks like from my house:

You can see a more detailed route on MapMyRide as well as the course elevation:

Kind of rolling, not too bad… until you get to that last part. That long slow ascent is deceiving on a bike. It’s not quite steep enough that you would notice it, but it’s frustrating because the whole time I’m wondering why I feel like I’m working so hard and not going any faster.

This morning was absolutely gorgeous, and not just because today is officially the first morning that I passed more people on a bike than bikers passed me. I unintentionally timed my ride during the Boulder Sprint Triathlon and joined their route for a little while about the time that the slowest swimmers and riders were just starting out. I’m sure I looked fresh by comparison as I hadn’t woken up at 4am for an early morning swim in the Boulder Reservoir. I felt like a rolling cheerleader, passing people, shouting encouragement. It was awesome.

Views like this don’t hurt either:

This is the turn from Highway 36 onto St. Vrain. See how it goes downhill? That makes me happy.

I also stopped on 75th just south of St. Vrain to snap a photo of Long’s Peak, who made a snowy appearance on my ride:

Almost everyday, I think to myself how lucky I am to live in Boulder. Lindsay Brust