Super Audobaun

Some of my former co-workers had this crazy idea to bike up to the base of Mount Audobaun and then hike up to the peak (~13,000 ft) from the base.  It sounded like quite an adventure, so I said sure.  What is worth noting is that at this point, I had just finished up probably the best racing season of my life and happened to be in good shape.  This probably wasn't the case for my two compatriots, but they were eager nonetheless.  We decided to meet at around 7 am, and here they are all excited to start from my former boss' house in North Boulder.

The first leg was a ride from Boulder up to Brainard lake.  This alone was probably a 2-3 hour ascent, and while it was fairly nice and warm in Boulder it had become fairly cold up top.  Here is Chris coming into the watering hole up at Ward.  He is joined by some of the locals filling up water jugs for their houses.

Here comes Shawn, bringing up the rear as a Clydesdale...though he took it to us skinny guys on the way back down.  Anyways, once we got to Brainard we ate some quick lunch and changed into hiking gear, knowing we had about a 3-4 hour hike ahead of us.  It was quite enjoyable, but about half way up it became clear that the route was still covered in a mix of snow/ice in the top half.  Having already been out for almost 4-5 hours, knowing we had a good hour hike back to the bike and another 1.5 hours back to Boulder on the bike descent, we put our egos aside and decided to turn around short of our goal.  I have to say, though my legs still felt strong by the time we got back to Boulder, I was quite happy to return after a solid 6-7 hour journey.  Maybe next year we can actually make the full trip.