Hopkins 4K for Cancer

July 4, 2003

Rocky Mountain High!
July 4th

Estes Park – Grand Lake



This was by far one of the biggest days of the trip. Our cyclist skills were put to the test. The challenge that lies ahead… the highest continuous road in the United States topping at 12,183 feet, climbing with the bikes approximately 26 miles.



As I woke up that morning the nerves built in my stomach. Everyone knew this day would be a long day; physically and mentally. To start the day off I already had a flat tire before leaving the campground, outlook not good. We biked 3 miles to the Rocky Mountain National park to be shuttled in. Then the journey begins.



The entire time I pushed the pedals I concentrated on breathing and motivating. Most of us thought “ok I just have to make it to that turn,” and we would keep pushing on. My personal thoughts were “you have the strength; you have the power, the power to get up the mountain.” It sounds foolish, but you should have seen this mountain! Throughout the day we all would encourage others in out team to keep pedaling and keep up the good work. We were a team from day one, but this day was proof of it.



At the first water stop we could see all the land we had just covered at a beautiful lookout point. It was amazing that we had accomplished so much already. We pushed on. On our way up the mountain we saw many other cyclists taking the easy decent downward. We were jealous.



Some Hopkins 4Kers put their game faces on. It was rumored Rajeev was busting up the mountain at a brisk 15 mph. Meanwhile, the rest of the 4Kers were going much slower and taking many needed breaks. We took a poll and a lot of people were stopping on average 3 times within a mile. The highlight of our breaks was a snowball fight on July 4th.



At 11,000 feet we had another water break. This time we all huddled in our support van out of the bone chilling wind. This wind was so strong it was pushing a few people off the road. The finish point was Alpine Lodge. Everyone celebrated their accomplishment and were looking forward to our 15 mile downhill joyride. We are now extreme cyclists in my book!



We took the downhill swiftly, at the same time riding carefully enough not to fall off the cliffs next to us. One of our first stops along the way down was the Continental Divide where the water flows to either the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean. Wildlife we saw on the way down included moose and elk.



Being July 4th, we all wanted to celebrate. Luckily, Grand Lake is known to have the best fire works in Colorado and about 35,000 people come out to see them every year. We had great seats on an arch bridge with the lake and mountains all around us. This couldn’t get any better. They definitely don’t call it “Rocky Mountain High Colorado” for nothing!