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Day 15 - June 22 - Price, UT to Green River, UT - 66 miles
Back into the desert. This was supposed to be an easy day - follow US-6/191 to I-70, downhill for 65 miles. However, there were several long climbs, and some really nasty headwinds.
The wind was out of the south today, and we were mostly heading south, so it was mostly in our faces. It picks up around mid-morning, probably when the earth and the air start to warm up, and gusts on and off until things start to cool down again in the late afternoon. It was particularly bad when we were merging onto I-70, when it was trying to push us into traffic. (We're done with I-80, but I guess we're not done with the interstates.) No more flats, but back in the motel room, I pulled 2 wires out of the rear tire. I've been using these Nashbar "self-healing" tubes, which probably just re-branded Slime tubes. In any case, they seem to have been doing their job, as I only lost about 20 pounds of pressure.
Dinner was a buffet at a truck stop - boiled beef slices, fried chicken, boiled vegetables, iceberg salad bar, and really good brownies. Since tomorrow is a long day in the desert, I may want more than the 2 water bottles I carry. I have a Nashbar hydration pack that comes with a Hydrapak bladder. However, the Hydrapak bite valve has got to be the worst ever designed. It has a solid core, with a flexible rubber sleeve that's supposed to seal around the core, but doesn't. At best, it dribbles; at worst, it sprays. I stopped putting Gatorade in it shortly after I bought it (a couple months ago), because who wants a sticky bike and sticky legs? Anyway, I bought a Camelbak bite valve to retrofit onto this. Only problem is that the Hydrapak tubing is a just little bigger than the Camelbak, so I ran a zip-tie around it. We'll see if it holds. |
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Day 16 - June 23 - Green River, UT to Grand Junction, CO - 95 milesSay goodbye to Utah, hello to Colorado. That's 3 states down, 10 to go.
Also reminiscent of Nevada was the complete lack of anything out there. For 55 miles in between Thompson UT and Mack CO, there isn't even a truck stop. There are occasional exits for ranches, but that's it. The store/deli at the first sag stop didn't have any food, so Emily and Neil drove back to Green River to get supplies, and made everyone sandwiches at the second sag stop (which was under the higway at one of those ranch exits). I pulled 5 more wires from my rear tire today. The Slime tubes are heavier than regular inner tubes, but anything that saves me from having to change a tire at the side of the highway in the desert is worth it. Wind was out of the south again, and we were heading primarily east, so it was mostly a cross-wind, trying to blow us into traffic. The last 6 miles were the longest I've done in a long time. The wind was especially hard, and it was carrying a lot of dust, grass debris, and the like, and driving it around my glasses and into my eyes.
We almost lost Carol today. She's been having a really rough time of it, and decided last night that she was going to catch the Amtrak home from Grand Junction. Andy and I got wind of this, and rode with her to the first sag stop, because no one should have to ride alone on their last day, especially in the desert. I didn't begrudge it, but I was mentally estimating how long it would take to do 95 miles at 8 mph. In any case, Carol took the van from the first sag stop to the second, and Andy and I picked up the pace. Furthermore, Carol decided not to leave today; she can always leave tomorrow. |
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Day 17 - June 24 - Grand Junction, CO to Montrose, CO - 75 milesThank you, God, for yet another chance to improve myself. When we look back on the ride, this is the one we'll call The Windy Day. At least, I hope so, because I don't want to see worse. It started out well enough. Sue, a local who rode the Fast Ride last year, gave us an alternate route out of the city, to avoid some bad construction on Route 50. There's a bike path along the Colorado River, where I saw a couple of Great Blue Herons, a handful of quail, and enough rabbits to fill a bathtub. In other places, it ran through brownfields that were being reclaimed with native wildlife, but were currently, well, brown. Overall, it was beautiful, and well worth doing, but it turned out to have added an extra 5 miles. Just before 9:00, the wind started - out of the south/south-east at 25 mph, with gusts to 40 mph. It blew non-stop for about 2 hours, then gusty for the rest of the day. When you're pedalling as hard as you can to go 8 mph downhill, that's a headwind. It took forever to reach the sag stop - I knew the bike path had added some to the mileage, but didn't know how much, so I was looking and looking, and getting blown around. I couldn't afford the energy to curse the wind; I just tucked, and soldiered on. And on. Andy and I rode through all the way to Montrose without stopping for lunch. Rather than waiting two hours to have lasagna and iceberg lettuce at the Red Barn, we had Chinese across the street instead.
How this came about was a bit of a coincidence. They don't own a TV, but they've been watching a lot of motel TV, and happened to see a special on testicular cancer, with instructions on self-examination. Dan found a lump, and had it checked out at the local hospital. (He only went to the hospital at that point because there was already a hospital run for the people with strep.) Anyway, it's definitely Something, so they're going back to Philly to get it biopsied and possibly removed. They're currently back in Grand Junction, and they're going to take the Amtrak tomorrow, so John rented a car, and we (John, Andy, the other Dan, Tom, and I) drove back to have dinner with them before they leave. On the bright side, this gets rid of the surplus Dan. Now whenever I refer to Dan, I don't have to specify amputee-Dan. We lose the surplus John (Andy's and my roommate) in Pueblo, so the only John will be Dutch John. There's also a surplus Paul, but I think I can keep straight which one is him, and which one is me. |
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Day 18 - June 25 - Montrose, CO to Gunnison, CO - 63 milesThis was payback for yesterday. It was just a beautiful, beautiful day. Of course, it was not without flaws. Breakfast was at a Denny's 3 miles away from the hotel in the wrong direction. Furthermore, the directions were "2.1 miles - Rt 50 towards town, left on Townsend," implying that it was only 2 miles to the Denny's, rather than 2 miles from the turn. We still had the rental car, so we drove. The only bikers we saw at breakfast were Paul and Barb, on the tandem. Most opted for the continental breakfst at the hotel. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to add 6+ miles to my ride, to get a $3 breakfast special. That aside, it was a great day. There were two big climbs, but there was no wind, plus fabulous blue skies and beautiful scenery. Just unbeatable. Climbing gives you time to appreciate your surroundings. I took pictures of the wildflowers and grasses. I saw a mule deer fawn, not to mention the cows. Did I mention I had a good day? We didn't take the optional side trip to Black Canyon, but our roommate John did. It was about 14 miles round trip with 1700 feet of climbing, all before the first hill on the regular route. He said it was spectacular scenery, but we were content to beat him to the hotel (for the second and probably last time). Addendum: Dutch John didn't have such a good day after getting in. He was hit by a car while biking through town. He has a bruised hip - nothing broken - but his bike is a bit of a mess. So far, 1/3 of the riders have gone to the hospital, and the ride is about 1/3 over. Hmm... |
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Day 19 - June 26 - Gunnison, CO to Salida, CO - 66 milesMonarch 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. |
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Day 20 - June 27 - Salida, CO to Pueblo, CO - 95 milesIf the morning was any nicer, I would have wet myself. It was a beautiful run, mostly downhill, along the Arkansas River. At one point, we stopped to watch a pair of deer on an island, until Andy scared them off. It really couldn't have been finer. Stopped in Cañon City to go to the post office to get stamps to mail postcards (it's in the mail, honest), and ended up chatting with the visitor information volunteers for about 20 minutes. Past Cañon City, it turned back into desert, and got at least 10 degrees hotter. Michael's parents were waiting for him at the second sag stop, and his dad rode with him into Pueblo. Pueblo West (West Pueblo to normal people) is a sprawling, soul-less expanse of subdivisions and strip-malls, despite the sign proclaiming it a "planned community". So no reason to stop there. Pueblo itself has a large downtown area, but I'm not sure I ever found the center. I biked downtown to a bike shop, but there didn't seem to be a lot of there there, if you know what I mean. Dinner was at the Golden Corral, a buffet restaurant that's actually much better than it has any right to be. It's Carol's birthday today. Her sister-in-law's sister Kathy, who left the ride in Salt Lake City, came back just for the event. Carol has been having a much better time since she realized that she can always go home tomorrow. I suspect that, if she makes it as far as St. Joseph, where her family will be waiting for her, she'll make it all the way. Fast John, Vicki, Bob, and Corey are all leaving us tonight. We (Andy and I) are especially going to miss John, as he's our roommate, so we're going to have to break in a new roommate. John and his brother-in-law are going to bike back west on US-50 to Florence, then up to Colorado Springs and Boulder. John's mom Sally (who just retired) is going to sag for them. The brother-in-law is really fit, but is not a biker, so John plans to ride him into the ground. There's a big street rod convention in town, at the state fairgrounds. A number of the cars are parked here at the Holiday Inn, as well as hotels and motels all over town. We've been seeing these cars pass us since Gunnison, if not before. After the bar closed, we ended up in a long conversation with the owner of a silver 1929 Graham Parker, or some such (oh, I'm going to get in such trouble if I get it wrong). |
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Day 21 - June 28 - Pueblo, CO - Rest Day
There were two class-5 rapids, and several class 3 and 4. The water was reportedly running much higher than last summer, but down from its peak of two weeks ago. Still, it was quite the adventure, and a first time for most of us. The rest of the day was pretty dull - laundry, cleaning the bike, wandering around on foot, looking for a bank (found one) and a bookstore (didn't). This part of Pueblo is an endless succession of strip-malls, chain stores, and chain restaurants, isolated from each other by parking lots. There are wide sidewalks, but no one walks in this area, because no one lives here - they all drive here from somewhere else. The weather system that's been dogging the east coast has finally moved west, and we got a drenching thunderstorm about the time I was looking for dinner. My usual dinner companions had already (finally?) left the bar, and I ended up eating alone in the deserted hotel restaurant. I'm normally something of a loner, but I've gotten really used to having people around, so it was kind of a downer. Even more of a downer was finding out that my old college friend and housemate Strider died last night. We hadn't been in close touch for many years, but we hadn't been really out of touch either. Strider was a relentless traveller, and probably knew more about Pueblo than I ever will. He made friends easily, and had a really lively spunk. That's the Strider I remember. Damn. |
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1000 miles! We've come 1000 miles from San Francisco, and we're still
in Utah. The states are bigger here than I'm used to.
A lot of the roadway is gravel pressed into tar, which is supposed to
provide traction in the rain and snow or something, but it makes for a
rough ride. The rumble strip runs down the center of the shoulder,
and you can't even see it. They seem to follow 
The hotel room, by the way, is huge. It has 3 double beds, so no one
has to sleep on a roll-away tonight, and there's enough open space in
the middle of the room to hold a barn dance. On the other hand, the
air conditioner doesn't work, and the mosquitos are bad.
The cue sheet was reminiscent of Nevada - get on I-70 for 95 miles,
get off at the hotel.
I took a nap as soon as I got in, still filthy and in my biking
clothes. Naps are becoming a regular part of my lifestyle.
Philly-Dan and Marnie are going home to treat a suspected testicular
cancer.
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 (
In the morning, a bunch of us went white-water rafting. We drove back
to Cañon City, and rafted a 10-mile section of the Arkansas River,
through the Royal Gorge, under the tallest suspension bridge in the
world. (We could have biked across it yesterday, but Andy has this
thing about heights.)