The Magnificent Seven, 2010

For those who have not seen the classic western movie, the Magnificent Seven is a tale of seven cowboys, horsemen and gunslingers who band together in pursuit of glory, to save Mexicans from certain peril against insurmountable odds.......

August 28th, 2010 this feat was re-matched by seven quad-slingers from the Colorado Front range who mounted their aluminum and carbon fiber steeds and accepted the insurmountable challenge of placing one of Colorado's largest mountains beneath our feet using only the power of our own bodies and the ingenuity of man's most elegant, un-motored invention...

Matt Sands-Joe Morales- Bryan Sendelweck-Nicole Drummer- Chris Hakulin- Todd Faestel-Alan Sage

The goal of this challenge was to create a ride more ridiculous and larger than any of the organized rides in Colorado, a state that has an un-balanced concentration of super-athlete meccas: Vail, Gunnison, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs. It was to make the Triple Bypass look like a heart murmur and to tower thousands of feet above the maximum elevation of the famous, Leadville 100.

The Challenge:

- Start: We will start at my house which lies on the border of Denver and Englewood.

- Destination: The summit of Mt, Evans, one of Colorado's largest peaks seen towering over any viewing point in the Denver Area. Have you seen it? If you're in Denver driving on I-25 just look west and find the largest peak behind the mountains that are behind the other mountains.. That's it! Now consider biking there from where you stand... and then back home....

- Distance: 131 miles

- Starting Elevation: 5,200 feet

- Elevation at the top: 14,200 feet.

- Oxygen Deprivation: With every 1000 feet in elevation gain, the air has 4% less oxygen for breathing. With a 9000 foot differential from Denver, We will be breathing air that has nearly 40% less oxygen atop Mt. Evans. Nearly the equivalent of losing an entire lung.

- Total Elevation gain: nearly 13,000 feet

- Route: Denver - Morrison - Evergreen - Echo Lake - Mt. Evans Summit - Echo Lake - Idaho Springs - Evergreen - Morrison - Denver

The Crew:
In hard core Colorado if you invite people to go on a standard, 15-20 mile bike ride, they will kindly tell you "maybe", but when you show up to the trail you will likely find yourself riding alone. When you tell people, "lets go on a ride that is 131 miles, climbing 13,000 feet in elevation and is said to be impossible and it will feel like you have only one of your two lungs", you are joined by six of the strongest people I know (some of which I had never met before the day of the ride). I present to you, the rest of the "Magnificent Seven" in the order that they accepted the challenge:

#1 Todd Faestel (and Co-Creator of the ride concept) as seen with his family and our incredible support Sherpas: Radar and Liz Faestel.

Childhood friend. The first time I ever saw this guy was in 7th grade as he set the city record for the mile. He was so much faster than everyone else, it didn't look like they were doing the same sport. Today Todd competes in marathons and Ironman triathlons at the highest levels as displayed in qualifying for Boston Marathon and Half Ironman world championships...

#2 Bryan Sendelweck

Mines fraternity brother. Bryan learned to ski before he could walk. From this seed, sprouted a renaissance athlete who can control any device on any terrain. It doesn't matter if he's on a raft, kayak, snowboard, skis, bike, feet, climbing shoes, rock, snow, water or pavement... he can command the vehicle and he can command it fast as shown on this ride which was only his 4th month owning a road bike. Quick study?

#3 Matt Sands

Mines Fraternity Brother. Hadn't seen Sands in years until Julie and I moved back from CA and we saw him at a party. We quickly started talking about bikes and now we'll go conquer a mountain from time to time (never quite this big though!).

#4 Nicole Drummer

The lone female in our crew. Supposedly a high school band geek (really?). Later in life Nicole embraced a strong coaching program that propelled her into triathlon. Today a certified triathlon coach at any level from sprint distance to Ironman. There is certainly no doubt of her skill as seen by a constant smile and a brisk pace no matter what the challenge. This chick is tough...

#5 Alan Sage

The youngest in our crew. Alan moved to CO one year ago after finishing his service in the armed forces. He's conquered marathons and Half Ironmans at an age where many of us specialized in bar hopping for fun. I hear he was also quite a chick magnet at the summit with several flirting tourists swarming around...

#6 Chris Hakulin

"The Finn". A work buddy of Matt's who signed up at the last minute. He keeps in shape by bike commuting to work daily and running an occasional marathon. Using his status quo shape, not having time to specifically prepare for this ride, he was still one of the first to summit... This speaks so much for keeping yourself a well oiled machine and ready to go at any moment.

# 7 (Yours Truly)

While planning for this ride we agreed that the honor for being the first to summit Mt. Evans would be the penalty of wearing a yellow speedo afterward. It was to be an embarrassing consequence of striving for speed. The yellow was to commemorate the color of the yellow leader's jersey (The "Maillot Jaune") in major races such as the Tour de France.

If for no other reason than the other six riders loathing the speedo, or being injured, I proudly wore this honor in my descent of 15 miles from the summit of Mt. Evans to Echo Lake in 40 degree temperature while others put on their warm coats. I then had to hang out alone in this ridiculous thing for about 20 minutes on the stairs in front of Echo Lake Lodge before my clothes arrived in the support vehicle.

While Alan was at the top with cute young girls flirting with him, I was told by a seventy year old lady at Echo Lake Lodge, while she winked at me, that she thought I was the "best dressed cyclist on the mountain". Yeah baby!

It was hilarious. Entire cars of tourists summiting the mountain would cheer as I rode by. Tough guys on Harley's would almost crash in a attempt to recover from laughter as I bombed down the mountain and all the while I was quite literally "nippin' out" because it was COLD!!!

The flowers were the best attempt we had at finding a yellow speedo. Apparently it is an issue with transparency in the color yellow for that fabric.

The Ride:

In brief summary, we started before the sun rose and departed for Morrison as a group. We hit some challenges including a broken bike chain, injured knee and oxygen deprivation, but despite all of that, 100% of our crew was able to make the full summit to Mt. Evans, a total of 60+ miles of non-stop hill climbing. We all stopped in Idaho Springs and ordered Pizza at Beau Jo's for a tailgate party before the final journey home.

Due to complications, injury and safety, two of our crew made the smart decision to opt out at the summit and the remaining five were able to make the entire ride. An incredible accomplishment for everybody.

Some of the highlights:

Entire crew at Echo Lake Lodge

Sendelweck and Sands bound for summit

"The Finn"

Nicole - Always smiling no matter what

Jomo - deep in my own mind

Todd powering the climb despite an active knee injury..

Views keep getting bigger and bigger

and bigger.......

Still dedicated to the climb - we came from the place behind the mountains in the back

Sendelweck in good form.....

Followed shortly after by Sands

And Nicole looking like a pro...

Me approaching the final summit....

And the view from the top.....

Liz Faestel posted a photo gallery with many more photos from the ride:

GPS data of the ride looked like this.....

Nicole has also written a fantastic account of the ride with many more great photos... Please take a look on her blog, Banana Death:

The Glue:

No great thing can hold its integrity without some force holding it together, in-tact. In the case of our fearless ride, the glue was a fantastic team of "The Four Sherpas"

Liz Faestel, Radar and Julie Morales. They manned a fully equipped support vehicle with PBJ sandwiches, gatorade, pretzels, cliff bars, gels, water - whatever we needed. They were incredibly supportive. dedicating their entire day to the event showing up at key, predetermined locations to make sure everybody was safe and had what they needed to make the journey. They also helped prepare the food and house for the post party...

Raquel Morales (my mom)

Came over to our house early in the day, while we still had hours of riding left, and made sure the slow cooked tacos were cooking perfectly, setting up buffet tables and helping us keep completely organized at a party that would be laden with calorie deprived, famished cyclists...

Thank you so much for your time, energy and incredible support...

Post Party:

We were all pretty beat at the post party, happy to get protein in our bodies and happy to relax with a water, beer, protein drink etc...

Thank you so much to all of the riders and support crew for such an incredible day!