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Today I rode up the Left Hand Canyon Road. This is second time this year. As usual, the last one mile proved to be a hell, and my legs are still sore.

Left Hand Canyon road is a very popular among Boulderites, and the road gets very busy with cyclists on weekends and holidays. I usually ride this 3 or 4 times every year, but due to some pre-summer travel, I managed to ride up this road only once till today this year.

This road starts from US-36 (5750ft) and climbs all the way up to Ward (9150ft), and is 16.3 miles long. I reached the US-36 intersection at about 7.50am and started riding a few minutes later. My goal was to ride this non-stop, and in under two hours for the climb. I managed to ride non-stop, but missed the time goal. I thought I would reach my goal till I reached the mile 15 marker, but then, as the hell began, I lost time quickly. The last 1.3 miles of this road is very steep, with grades averaging between 8-10% non-stop. My climb took about 2 hours 10 minutes. Not my slowest. My fastest was about 2 hours last year, with some break along the way.

The descent back was fun, and took just about 40 minutes, and I was back to the parking area by 11am. Here is the route and elevation profile.

Here is a picture of nice little coffee shop at the end of the climb.