|
||
|
|
|
|
Monarch Pass. 11,312 feet. Today we crossed the Continental Divide, the highest point in our trip. It was another beautiful day. It started out cold - reportedly got down to freezing last night, but warmed up to 45 by the time we left at 8:00. (It's been in the 90's at home.) I left with shorts, tights, and two jerseys, and shed down within the hour. Unfortunately, Dan succumbed to altitude sickness at 8000 feet. When he couldn't remember how to shift, he realized it was time to get off the bike. A bunch of stayed with him until the van came. And why not - it was a nice day, and we weren't in any hurry. Of course, the treatment for altitude sickness is to get the victim down to a lower altitude, but Dan had to go up another 3000 feet before he could start coming down. It was a long, slow (but beautiful) ride up the mountain. I don't have an inclinometer, so I can't tell you what the grade was. I measure slope by my speed. Mount Rose was 4.8 mph. This was mostly 5.2-5.7 mph. I'm usually a slightly stronger climber than Andy, but he was right on my tail the whole time. We stopped every mile or so, and eventually summitted around 2pm.
Route rap, where we discuss the next day's schedule and route, turned into a raging argument about when people can drop off their luggage and start riding. I walked out, and several other people followed. Andy had the remote control for the TV, and we ended up watching The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Fun fun fun in Salida. |
|
We had lunch in the summit cafeteria, bought the "I Biked Monarch
Pass" T-shirts and a lot of postcards, and rode the tram up another
700 feet to the observation tower. There's a fantastic 360 degree
view from there.
The ride down was fast fast fast - I hit 50 mph, and averaged 42 mph
in the first 10 miles of the descent. It was a lot of fun, but Mount
Rose (