Pikes Peak or Bust

Well, we arrived at the Air Force Academy on Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday morning we got up, fixed us some eggs, country ham & bacon, and sunny side ups eggs with some buttermilk Grands, butter & honey. Hmmm!  We only do this about twice a month.  Other times it's whole/multi grain cereals & fruit & Silk (soy).  So, after a breakfast like that, why not climb Pikes Peak?

We picked a nice day to go.  It was 88 degrees when we left the Academy around 10 and was a short drive of about 25 minutes.  I had some reservations about going up there, but I had hydrated for a couple of days, so decided to do it.  After we paid our $22 (I got a $2 discount for being a vet.) off we went, Miss Jeepy & us.

Met this & many more brave (translated: crazy) souls biking up this 19 miles into the sky, over 14, 000 feet elevation.  Super lungs!

Can you see the tiny little gnats on the windshield?  Yuk!  They got in the Jeep & in our hair & eyes.

Miss Nancy took most all the pics as I tended to other business, ie, keeping Miss Jeepy on the right side.

It's a long way down there.

Our lucky day!  We passed all these modified hill climbing vehicles all the way up to this point, about half way up the Peak.  Ha!  The 91st running of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.  They qualify for three days, rest and do PR things on Sat while the TV crews set, and then race on Sunday.  There are like three different classes I think.  The world’s most famous hill climb and America’s second-oldest motorsports race will be live streamed online for the first time in its 91-year history. The live stream will kick off on June 30, 2013 at 10 a.m. EDT and run until 8 p.m. EDT.

 New records are anticipated especially since Sebastian Loeb and his Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak ran a blistering 3:26.153 on the lower portion of the climb. (below) He is the most successful driver in WRC history, having won the world championship a record nine times in a row.

 

Sebastien Loeb Dominates the First Pikes Peak Qualifying Unlimited Class Session

       23 seconds separated the first and second qualifiers

 

 

This guy zigged when he should have zagged.

Awesome views.

But I'm getting a little light headed now...

We finally rolled on to the Peak parking lot, and there were a hundred cars up there.  It was 52 degrees. Check out our nav system elevation numbers.  Whew!  Above, see the men on the roof of the snack bar/gift shop?  Well, it just so happened that they re-pitching the roof.  OK, no big deal.  Well, at least not till we got out, walked over to the doors of the shop, and the wind is blowing ALL the smoke fumes from the tar kettle right past these doors. There's not much air to suck up there anyway, and when these pre-meditated oxygen depriver sons-a-guns took that away, well, I was down & out for the count.  Well, not all the way down, but close to it. There was an EMT there (stationed there full time for old fogies like me), and I think someone called ahead and said Joe was coming, so you better get an EMT there. Well, all he did was teach me how to La Maz breathe, as Nancy learned when we had our babies, and I was ok.  Chugged down another quart of water (my fourth of the morning), let Nancy get a few post cards, and off we went, back down the hill.  I held my breath outside the doors. (Sons-a-guns $&%#@!*&)

Not sure what class this old boy was entered into, but sure he howled all the way up in first gear.  Sorry!

Nancy caught me taking pics of the bikers coming down the hill. (Crazies)

...and I caught Nancy looking miles away...

Nancy picked us up a couple of T's here at this little shop about 2-thirds the way up...

Here I am in front of the qualifying sheets for the different classes.

Well, that about does it for our trip up the Peak.  Above is the Cog Train.  For a fee of about $25, it will take a slow ride up & down the mountain.  We elected to drive it and save a couple of bucks & take stops whenever we wanted.  So, it is Saturday night here in Elk Lodge & RV Park in Estes Park, CO and we'll be heading out for Casper, WY in the morning, and hopefully find us a church service in Cheyenne along the way.  So, the next blog, RVing Beach Bums bid adoo!