Mountain rides

Yesterday's ride was great. It's been a long time since I took consecutive days either off or easy, and now I know I need to do that more often. The total time was just shy of 5 hours, and most of that was climbing. I am a big believer in climbing in your aero position, so that's pretty much what I did all day. I went out to the main climb in the area, Deer Creek Canyon. It's a nice climb that after 4 miles forks. If you go left, it's a steady climb totalling about 17 miles. If you go right then you hit some descents, but still get to roughly the same altitude of about 8000 ft. I went to the right as I wanted to do some tempo and some easier sections. After about 2 hours I stopped at the gas station to refill. From there it was more climbing. The roads are clear, there's little traffic except locals and not many cyclists know about it either. The quiet and solitude really let me focus on what I need to do. Plus I can either climb for 20 minutes and then make a left and loop back to the gas station or head off on another climb, or I can go to the STEEPEST road I have ever been on. I have to stand alot and sometimes I can barely get my pedal over. Good stuff. Yesterday I took the steady route as I didn't feel the need to blow up on my first real day back. The pic you see is from that climb. Look at all the snow still. What was really great was the temp was in the high 60's and I was in bibs and a short sleeve jersey. It was strange to be so warm with so much snow around. Anyways I made a long descent down, only to climb back up one of the steeper back roads, City View. At times I was putting out 325 watts and doing 6 MPH! After getting back up I descended all the way back down, which takes about 25 minutes. I did some tempo riding on the flats and pushed it back home. From where I live, it's a 6 mile steady climb back to the house. So essentially all of my rides end with 25 minutes of aero bar climbing. It's not bad, sometimes I can big ring it depending on the wind, but right at the end there is a 1/4 mile pitch that hits 8-9%. Nice to have when you are just 10 minutes from home.
I got off the bike and went for a 35 minute run. Nothing fancy, just a steady paced run around the dirt roads. The weather was still very nice and on these dirt roads when I am headed West my view is of the snow capped Rocky Mountains. As I come over a rise the mountains slowly reveal themselves and I am still amazed by it after running it 2-3 times a week for almost 3 years.
Alright, enough for now, I need to go run. The sun is up and shining and I am ready to get out the door.