begging for money!

[mtnhack]

OP, you should also be clear about riding at altitude. A lot of this is over 9K feet and that will sap you at the least and could really make you ill or stop your ride pretty quick. KB Tomorrow, go ride Evergreen to Mt Evans as training to see how you handle the altitude and some volume. You don't even need to go all the way to the top to get an idea of what these passes are like.

[Sawin]

OP, you should also be clear about riding at altitude. A lot of this is over 9K feet and that will sap you at the least and could really make you ill or stop your ride pretty quick. KB Tomorrow, go ride Evergreen to Mt Evans as training to see how you handle the altitude and some volume. You don't even need to go all the way to the top to get an idea of what these passes are like.

That is also very true. I've not spent any length of time at altitude this year, so I'm sure I'll probably feel it worse than ever. Fortunately for me in years past, I've never felt like the altitude was as much of a factor as the pitch and overall length of the ride. Subconsciously I know breathing hard is just part of the game, so I guess I just count on constantly breathing hard and haven't "compared" it to rides down here. I'm sure I just go slower.

[KestrelBike]

OP, you should also be clear about riding at altitude. A lot of this is over 9K feet and that will sap you at the least and could really make you ill or stop your ride pretty quick. KB Tomorrow, go ride Evergreen to Mt Evans as training to see how you handle the altitude and some volume. You don't even need to go all the way to the top to get an idea of what these passes are like.

I don't know where that is : ( Can you give google-mapable address as a start & end point, and I'll try to figure it out from there?