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A 435-mile ride through The Rockies
(by Erin Patricia Griffiths - August 06, 2008)
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Photos Courtesy Of John Skelton
The “Ride the Rockies” bike tour began on June 15 and ended on June 21, with 435 miles between their starting point in Durango, Colorado, and finish line in Breckinridge, with four passes, two summits, and the Dallas Divide to conquer in between. Riders averaged one hundred miles a day. Pascack Valley residents Brian Mahoney, left, and John Skelton, right, are pictured here after reaching Hoosier Pass, with an elevation of 11,542 feet.
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The wheels began spinning. Local residents Brian Mahoney and John Skelton started their training, knowing full well that there was no way to emulate the conditions they would encounter on their journey. With a fear of the unknown driving them, Mahoney and Skelton were “training scared.” As they propelled themselves forward, each could only hope that they weren’t just spinning their wheels, hope that with each push of their pedals, they were preparing themselves to accomplish their goals.
Mahoney, 48, a resident of Park Ridge, and Skelton, 47, a resident of Woodcliff Lake, were chosen in a lottery to participate in one of the most sought after bike tours in the country called “Ride the Rockies,” sponsored by the Denver Post. With nearly 5,000 names submitted for the lottery, Mahoney and Skelton were two of the 2,000 people chosen to be a part of this tour.
“I ride my bike all the time. It is a trip I had seen online, many years ago on a message board, as a very popular ride,” said Skelton. “I have wanted to do it for years, and this just seemed like the right time. Now or never,” he continued.
Mahoney, an executive recruiter and Spin instructor, and Skelton, a computer software developer, had each put their names in for the ride without ever having met before. The two were introduced when someone in Mahoney’s Spinning class told him that Skelton was also chosen for the tour. Both men had been training independently, and rode together a few times after having met.
Mahoney trained for nearly a year before the trip, dropping 40 pounds before heading to Colorado. “You can’t bring weight out there,” he explained. In addition to his daily two-hour spinning classes that he instructs, Mahoney also went riding at Bear Mountain and Harriman State Park in an attempt to prepare for the terrain he would experience on the tour. “You have to be on a bike and putting the miles on to get yourself ready for eight and nine hour days,” said Mahoney, “You try to emulate it, but it isn’t the same.”
Skelton, an experienced bicyclist, was used to riding his bike often. “I got a bike when I was six, and I have always had a bike ever since,” said Skelton. He trained for the tour by following a schedule provided with information about the ride to gauge how many miles he should be completing to prepare for the grueling adventure that awaited them in Colorado. “I ride my bike all the time. So it was just that I needed to ride my bike more often,” he said.
But no amount of training could truly prepare the two for the trip they were about to embark on. “We both trained scared, as we called it,” said Mahoney. “Everybody tells you that when you get up 12,000 feet you can’t breathe.”
But despite the uncertainty of what awaited them on the tour, Mahoney and Skelton set out for their adventure. Once they arrived in Durango, Colorado for the tour, they paired up and traveled together for almost the entire trip. The two quickly became known as the “Jersey Boys” to their fellow riders, and met participants who traveled from all over the country, as far as Alaska.
The ride began on June 15 and ended on June 21, with 435 miles between their starting point in Durango, Colorado, and finish line in Breckinridge, with four passes, two summits, and the Dallas Divide to conquer in between. They averaged one hundred miles a day. “To the average biker, a hundred miles isn’t that long, but it is when you are going over the Rocky Mountains,” said Mahoney with a laugh.
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Brian Mahoney, 48, a resident of Park Ridge, and John Skelton, 47, a resident of Woodcliff Lake, were chosen in a lottery to participate in one of the most sought after bike tours in the country called “Ride the Rockies,” sponsored by the Denver Post. With nearly 5,000 names submitted for the lottery, Mahoney and Skelton were two of the 2,000 people chosen to be a part of this tour.
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Mahoney and Skelton were about to find out how well their training had prepared them as they embarked on their ride, climbing heights of over 12,000 feet. Despite all of the warnings they received before beginning their tour, neither of the two men struggled with the altitude. “Some people had significant problems. They get up 10,000 feet, they get off their bike, and they can’t move,” Mahoney said.
In addition to favoring well in the high altitudes, the bikers encountered good weather, as Colorado experienced what locals classified as a heat wave. “I was hoping the weather was going to be good, and it turned out better than I had expected,” said Skelton.
The heat wave did not interfere with the pair’s ride, as they explained it is less of a humid heat and more of a dry heat. “It was unusual because you didn’t notice yourself sweating. Out there, you didn’t really feel it,” said Sketlon. “And at the end of the day, you would notice this little white powder on your pants, because they are black so it would show up, and you could see you were losing all that salt,” he continued. “So you were still losing the water, but you just didn’t know it.”
In the altitude it just dries up. You lose water just breathing,” explained Mahoney. “Exhaling, you don’t even realize how much you lose over the course of eight hours.”
The toughest time the two experienced was on the morning of the fourth day, when they faced 30 miles per hour winds while biking uphill. “We were averaging, for the first 28 miles, two hours and forty-five minutes, because you are just up against the wind the entire time. Then once you are up there, you are saying, wow, we’ve still got another 76 more miles to go. So that one was a nine and a half hour ride,” said Mahoney. “We hit the road that day at 6:30 a.m. and we had to Blue Mesa Summit, against that wind and up the mountain. It was pretty brutal. After that day, I was done.”
In the end, the two completed the 435-mile ride, and though exhausted, took a great deal away from the trip. “It was a life experience,” said Mahoney. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Both Mahoney and Skelton plan to continue riding in other challenging tours in the future, having found a deep passion for long distance riding after the amazing adventure they experienced.
Erin Patricia Griffiths' e-mail address is GriffithsE@northjersey.com.
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