2008 Colorado Hajj

For those of you who don't know the Hajj, it is the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. Millions of Muslims make the journey every year as a show of solidarity to Allah, typically in December. I'm not Islamic and live no where near Saudi Arabia, but like the idea of a yearly pilgrimage, so a few years ago my fiend Pat Schwinghammer invited me on a rather adventurous climb, and we had so much fun we decided to make it a yearly thing, thus the Colorado Hajj was born. The ride starts at the steps of the Capitol in Denver, tops out at the summit of Mt Evans, then you turn around and ride back. All in all its about 150-ish miles and 14,000 ft of climbing.

This year I rode with Seth Levine, a first timer. Being from Boulder, he'd never ridden a single leg of the trip - not Lookout mountain, Idaho Springs to Echo Lake, or up to the top of Evans. Combine that with his bike setup of two chainrings (weekend warrior hill climber types like me have three) and its easy to see how the guy is a little crazy or a glutton for punishment. Or perhaps both.

We started our day at 3:40am to get to the capital at 4:00am. From there it was out 32nd to Golden, up Lookout to Gennessee (where we literally ), Evergreen and then breakfast in Idaho Springs before the last 27 mile, 7,000 foot climb. Breakfast this year meant Breakfast Burritos at Two Brothers Deli. Chorizo and eggs might not be the best choice nutritionally, but after 4 hours in the saddle it beats a powerbar.

The ride to Echo lake was beautiful, and the weather held for the trip to the top and back down to Echo lake again. Over squaw pass we weren't so lucky. Rain in your face at 30mph is about as fun as, well, rain in your face at 30mph, and it lasted until Evergreen...

All in all it was a great day - this was the first year that the ride was tweeted, next year we might upgrage to our own hashtag.

Update: The 2009 Colorado Hajj is going to be on June 20th this year. Starts @ 4:00am at the Capital, likely will last 13 hours. The ride is unsupported. And yes, we'll stop by Two Brothers for Burritos.