Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
DAY 51 - Going to Cuba
We found out today that Ghost Ranch, where we camped last night, was the location for a couple of movies, City Slickers and parts of Indiana Jones (latest i think?) That's cool. It was also where Georgia O'Keeffe (American artist, famous for provocative flower paintings??) had a home and spent a lot of time painting.
We left earlyish as we had a big day planned, about 100km.
All pavement today so we thought it would be a relatively quick day, wrong! We ended up doing lots of "rollers" and climbed over 1000m. Was nice and warm though and the scenery was quite nice. The few little "towns" we went through were, shall we say, a little run down and a bit depressing. having said that everyone is super friendly and wave constantly when driving past.
We are definitely in a new State now. Not only has the landscape changed but also the faces that we are seeing. It is very Hispanic here with lots of Mexican" looking" people and constant Spanish town and feature names etc. Very Catholic too with little shrines to the Virgin Mary and plenty of Churches.
Tonight we are in Cuba, not the country, but a small town. We got in late and found that they do not have a campground so we are in a cheap motel.
The other day riding into Del Norte we had our minds on Subway, today it was McDonalds!! It wasn't such a surprise today though as we had been told there was one in town and that is what got us craving McD's. There chips really are the best thing at the end of a long hot day!!!
Off into an area without internet access for the next couple of days.
Hope everyone is well? Please post comments as it is always great to hear from people :-)
DISTANCE: 100.1km
AVERAGE: 17.4km
RIDE TIME: 5.55hrs
ASCEND: 1075mtrs
We left earlyish as we had a big day planned, about 100km.
All pavement today so we thought it would be a relatively quick day, wrong! We ended up doing lots of "rollers" and climbed over 1000m. Was nice and warm though and the scenery was quite nice. The few little "towns" we went through were, shall we say, a little run down and a bit depressing. having said that everyone is super friendly and wave constantly when driving past.
We are definitely in a new State now. Not only has the landscape changed but also the faces that we are seeing. It is very Hispanic here with lots of Mexican" looking" people and constant Spanish town and feature names etc. Very Catholic too with little shrines to the Virgin Mary and plenty of Churches.
Tonight we are in Cuba, not the country, but a small town. We got in late and found that they do not have a campground so we are in a cheap motel.
The other day riding into Del Norte we had our minds on Subway, today it was McDonalds!! It wasn't such a surprise today though as we had been told there was one in town and that is what got us craving McD's. There chips really are the best thing at the end of a long hot day!!!
Off into an area without internet access for the next couple of days.
Hope everyone is well? Please post comments as it is always great to hear from people :-)
DISTANCE: 100.1km
AVERAGE: 17.4km
RIDE TIME: 5.55hrs
ASCEND: 1075mtrs
Saturday, September 26, 2009
DAY 50 - Echos and Ghosts
It was nice to not wake up to a frozen tent this morning!!
After getting organised we hit the road for a leisurely 80km road ride towards Abiquiu Dam.
We are now in New Mexico, supposedly our last state. We are currently looking at changing the finish point so we are closer to Tuscon, Arizona which is where we fly out to LA from. We think we will leave the GDMBR at Silver City and head more Southwest to a boarder town Douglas in Arizona.
Anyway, I digress, back to today. We are travelling by paved road today to get back on route. it is amazing how much quicker you can ride on sealed road.
Not long after leaving town we spotted paddocks full of Prairie Dogs. Cute little gofer type mammals. We stopped and took a couple of photos and carried on.
About ten minutes after lunch we passed a farmer riding around on his quad bike with a rifle shooting the cute little Prairie Dogs!!!! Apparently farmers don't think they are so cute??
We stopped on our way to check out Echo Amphitheatre. This is a huge natural rock ampitheatre on the side of the road. We went in not really knowing what to expect. We are definitely in New Mexico now. The rocks are very sheer and really colourful. We had fun calling out and listening to the echos.
We are at a place called Ghost Ranch tonight which is a pretty cool spot surrounded by awesome red cliffs and rocks.
Off to a town called Cuba tomorrow.
Catch up soon, S and J
DISTANCE: 79.9km
AVERAGE: 20.1km
RIDE TIME: 3.58hrs
ASCEND:510mtrs
After getting organised we hit the road for a leisurely 80km road ride towards Abiquiu Dam.
We are now in New Mexico, supposedly our last state. We are currently looking at changing the finish point so we are closer to Tuscon, Arizona which is where we fly out to LA from. We think we will leave the GDMBR at Silver City and head more Southwest to a boarder town Douglas in Arizona.
Anyway, I digress, back to today. We are travelling by paved road today to get back on route. it is amazing how much quicker you can ride on sealed road.
Not long after leaving town we spotted paddocks full of Prairie Dogs. Cute little gofer type mammals. We stopped and took a couple of photos and carried on.
About ten minutes after lunch we passed a farmer riding around on his quad bike with a rifle shooting the cute little Prairie Dogs!!!! Apparently farmers don't think they are so cute??
We stopped on our way to check out Echo Amphitheatre. This is a huge natural rock ampitheatre on the side of the road. We went in not really knowing what to expect. We are definitely in New Mexico now. The rocks are very sheer and really colourful. We had fun calling out and listening to the echos.
We are at a place called Ghost Ranch tonight which is a pretty cool spot surrounded by awesome red cliffs and rocks.
Off to a town called Cuba tomorrow.
Catch up soon, S and J
DISTANCE: 79.9km
AVERAGE: 20.1km
RIDE TIME: 3.58hrs
ASCEND:510mtrs
DAY 49 - Cumbres and Toltec scenic railroad
We awoke this morning to our heaviest frost yet. It had rained most of the night so when we tried to get out of the tent we had a little trouble. The zip was frozen. In fact the moisture on the inside of the inner tent froze too, brrrrrrr! Lucky we both have good sleeping bags.
As we only had a short ride into the town on Antinito we missed breakie and got away quickly. It was a very chilly 20minute ride and by the time we arrived Scott was in a touch of pain with frozen fingers.
After a pancake breakfast we headed to the TRAIN!!! We had decided to take a steam train from Antinito, Colorado to Charma, New Mexico as we had heard good things about it and it was a cool thing to do on a rest day.
It was awesome. It wound it's way through some amazing country, above a couple of beautiful canyons and past beautiful Fall colours.
We all had a great day taking lots of photos and videos. We were quizzed constantly by interested people about our trip.
As you may have noticed in the first video, the weather changed at lunchtime but the snow just made it more pretty.
We found an interesting Motel in Charma for the night which was good as our tent was absolutely soaked from the thawing of the ice!!! The room was like a laundry with two tents drying.
We went to a very nice restaurant/saloon for dinner and then spent the night watching the Weather Channel!!
As we only had a short ride into the town on Antinito we missed breakie and got away quickly. It was a very chilly 20minute ride and by the time we arrived Scott was in a touch of pain with frozen fingers.
After a pancake breakfast we headed to the TRAIN!!! We had decided to take a steam train from Antinito, Colorado to Charma, New Mexico as we had heard good things about it and it was a cool thing to do on a rest day.
It was awesome. It wound it's way through some amazing country, above a couple of beautiful canyons and past beautiful Fall colours.
We all had a great day taking lots of photos and videos. We were quizzed constantly by interested people about our trip.
As you may have noticed in the first video, the weather changed at lunchtime but the snow just made it more pretty.
We found an interesting Motel in Charma for the night which was good as our tent was absolutely soaked from the thawing of the ice!!! The room was like a laundry with two tents drying.
We went to a very nice restaurant/saloon for dinner and then spent the night watching the Weather Channel!!
Especially for Mark Todd and John Atkinson, enjoy
This is a section of the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, America's highest and longest!!!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
DAY 48 - Change of plans #2
Thought we would open the tent to snow on the ground today - but no, just a very hard frost!!
While we were cooking breakfast snow flakes again started falling but did not settle.
We headed out of camp about 9am & started straight into a 6km climb to Stunner pass, at the top the sun was out & the sky was blue, but the day was still very cold.
We headed down to a town called Platoro where we stopped at the shop for some morning tea, got chatting to the owners there & they showed us photo's of the snow they get during the winter - incredible! Snow up past the gutters of the buildings.
After leaving town we headed on for another 37km to the next town of Horca, we stopped here for a drink, we had decided to head to Charma for the night.
Back in Del Norte while flicking through a magazine we found out there is a Steam train that runs from Antonito to Charma which we all said would be a fun thing to do, so while having our drinks in Horca we decided instead of riding to Charma we would ride to Antonito (same distance as to Charma) & have a rest day tomorrow while riding the Steam train to Charma.
So we managed to book our spots on the train & we headed to the closest RV park to Antonito which is were we are tonight.
Tomorrow we ride.... toot toot
DISTANCE: 76.7km
AVERAGE: 17.7kph
RIDE TIME: 4.18.20hrs
ASCEND: 465m
While we were cooking breakfast snow flakes again started falling but did not settle.
We headed out of camp about 9am & started straight into a 6km climb to Stunner pass, at the top the sun was out & the sky was blue, but the day was still very cold.
We headed down to a town called Platoro where we stopped at the shop for some morning tea, got chatting to the owners there & they showed us photo's of the snow they get during the winter - incredible! Snow up past the gutters of the buildings.
After leaving town we headed on for another 37km to the next town of Horca, we stopped here for a drink, we had decided to head to Charma for the night.
Back in Del Norte while flicking through a magazine we found out there is a Steam train that runs from Antonito to Charma which we all said would be a fun thing to do, so while having our drinks in Horca we decided instead of riding to Charma we would ride to Antonito (same distance as to Charma) & have a rest day tomorrow while riding the Steam train to Charma.
So we managed to book our spots on the train & we headed to the closest RV park to Antonito which is were we are tonight.
Tomorrow we ride.... toot toot
DISTANCE: 76.7km
AVERAGE: 17.7kph
RIDE TIME: 4.18.20hrs
ASCEND: 465m
DAY 47 - The Big Day
We were slow leaving De Norte this morning as we could see a dusting of snow on the hills above town so we decided to wait till 8am to call the Forest Service to see if we could get an update on how much snow had fallen in the hills - they did not help - the guy on the phone was just like "yeh... looking out the window here there is a bit of snow on the hills" - NOT helpful!!
We decided to just go for it anyway, as this was our biggest pass of the Great Divide Route & we all felt we would be disappointed if we did not at least try.
The going was slow for the 18km leading to the 20km climb. The actual climb up to the pass - the weather had again clouded over & about 3/4 of the way up there was snow settled on the side of the road, all the puddles were frozen & snowflakes were falling.
The wind was chilling - one of those really cold winds that just cut right through you.
We stopped for a short while at the top - the snowflakes were still falling.
We rugged up for a small descent and passed a huge mine - one of the biggest in the USA that has badly contaminated all the streams & rivers in the area & they are now spending lots of $$ trying to clean it up.
The day was getting colder & colder & we finally arrived into camp about 6pm.
Our hands & feet were freezing, so we got a campfire going & stood around drinking hot chocolates.
There was only 1 other RV in the entire campsite & the people arrived back just after we arrived.
The lady, Sharon, came over to say hi & we had a chat - they were from Arkansas & they had been there for 2 weeks as her husband is a bow hunter (uses Bow & arrow to hunt) & it is the season to bow hunt Elk at the moment.
About 10mins after she left she arrived again - obviously feeling sorry for us being so cold she invited us over to there RV to warm up & have some dinner...ahhhhh perfect!
We could not turn down an offer like that so we pitched the tents, spruced ourselves up a little & headed over.
We had lovely sandwhiches with fresh fillings - home smoked pork, avocado, tomatoes (home grown), lettuce, cheese, pickles - lovely!!
After dinner the sweets came out - biscuits, chocolate bars...yum! we were very spoilt.
Had a early night as we were all very tired from our big day of climbing & crawled into our tents just as the snow started falling again....
DISTANCE: 69.4km
AVERAGE: 12.1kph
RIDE TIME: 5.44hrs
ASCEND: 1570m
We decided to just go for it anyway, as this was our biggest pass of the Great Divide Route & we all felt we would be disappointed if we did not at least try.
The going was slow for the 18km leading to the 20km climb. The actual climb up to the pass - the weather had again clouded over & about 3/4 of the way up there was snow settled on the side of the road, all the puddles were frozen & snowflakes were falling.
The wind was chilling - one of those really cold winds that just cut right through you.
We stopped for a short while at the top - the snowflakes were still falling.
We rugged up for a small descent and passed a huge mine - one of the biggest in the USA that has badly contaminated all the streams & rivers in the area & they are now spending lots of $$ trying to clean it up.
The day was getting colder & colder & we finally arrived into camp about 6pm.
Our hands & feet were freezing, so we got a campfire going & stood around drinking hot chocolates.
There was only 1 other RV in the entire campsite & the people arrived back just after we arrived.
The lady, Sharon, came over to say hi & we had a chat - they were from Arkansas & they had been there for 2 weeks as her husband is a bow hunter (uses Bow & arrow to hunt) & it is the season to bow hunt Elk at the moment.
About 10mins after she left she arrived again - obviously feeling sorry for us being so cold she invited us over to there RV to warm up & have some dinner...ahhhhh perfect!
We could not turn down an offer like that so we pitched the tents, spruced ourselves up a little & headed over.
We had lovely sandwhiches with fresh fillings - home smoked pork, avocado, tomatoes (home grown), lettuce, cheese, pickles - lovely!!
After dinner the sweets came out - biscuits, chocolate bars...yum! we were very spoilt.
Had a early night as we were all very tired from our big day of climbing & crawled into our tents just as the snow started falling again....
DISTANCE: 69.4km
AVERAGE: 12.1kph
RIDE TIME: 5.44hrs
ASCEND: 1570m
DAY 46 - Dreaming of Subway
Woke this morning to a very wet & now frozen tent.
We knew we had a very short riding day - mainly downhill to Del Norte so we were not in to much of a hurry to leave. Also the very cold temperature made it hard to leave!
Del Norte had a population of 1,900 people so we decided there must be a Subway & that is where we were heading for lunch!!
After about 20km of downhill riding through yet another amazing canyon we hit a gravel road all the way to Del Norte.
The wind had picked up & we had a very strong wind for the last 5km into town.
Hooray - the town did have Subway so we ordered a foot long each, chips, drink & a cookie - delicious.
We then booked ourselves into the local RV park, showered & did some laundry.
The weather was very windy & we had been warned that there was a cold front coming through & snow is expected.
About 4:30pm hunger pains hit us again so we headed into town to a cafe for a 'snack' & to have a discussion as to what we will do if we can't ride Indiana pass tomorrow. (Indiana Pass being our highest pass at nearly 12,000 ft)
After leaving the cafe we headed to the supermarket - the wind was getting very cold & the temperature had dropped to about 5'c.
After leaving the supermarket the weather was bitter - the wind felt like there was definitely snow close by so we decided to check with the only motel in town to see if we could get a deal on a room, it turns out we could, so we booked in - went back to the campsite, packed up & made a bee line to the motel (even got our $$ back from the RV park!)
DISTANCE: 53km
AVERAGE: 16.9kph
RIDE TIME: 3.11hrs
ASCEND: 105m
We knew we had a very short riding day - mainly downhill to Del Norte so we were not in to much of a hurry to leave. Also the very cold temperature made it hard to leave!
Del Norte had a population of 1,900 people so we decided there must be a Subway & that is where we were heading for lunch!!
After about 20km of downhill riding through yet another amazing canyon we hit a gravel road all the way to Del Norte.
The wind had picked up & we had a very strong wind for the last 5km into town.
Hooray - the town did have Subway so we ordered a foot long each, chips, drink & a cookie - delicious.
We then booked ourselves into the local RV park, showered & did some laundry.
The weather was very windy & we had been warned that there was a cold front coming through & snow is expected.
About 4:30pm hunger pains hit us again so we headed into town to a cafe for a 'snack' & to have a discussion as to what we will do if we can't ride Indiana pass tomorrow. (Indiana Pass being our highest pass at nearly 12,000 ft)
After leaving the cafe we headed to the supermarket - the wind was getting very cold & the temperature had dropped to about 5'c.
After leaving the supermarket the weather was bitter - the wind felt like there was definitely snow close by so we decided to check with the only motel in town to see if we could get a deal on a room, it turns out we could, so we booked in - went back to the campsite, packed up & made a bee line to the motel (even got our $$ back from the RV park!)
DISTANCE: 53km
AVERAGE: 16.9kph
RIDE TIME: 3.11hrs
ASCEND: 105m
DAY 45 - New company
After a good night sleep - helped I am sure by the beers we had the night before - we headed off down the road after our extended good byes to the Sideways Crew.
Jerry's wife Debbie, who is also a very keen cyclist, decided to ride with us for a couple hours while Jerry packed up camp & he picked her up further down the road.
It was nice to have another person ride with us - even if it was only for a couple hours.
We headed downhill for a while - nice way to start the day - but the mornings are getting cold so it can be rather chilly!
We then started riding up into a really nice canyon - the scenery here in Colorado is beautiful - hugs rock cliffs & gulches everywhere.
We had another pass crossing ahead today (10166ft), at the top we only had a 7km downhill to the campsite for the night - we arrived at the campsite to find the water pump broken & the site just not being very inspiring to us as the weather was changing & the black clouds were rolling in - we knew another campsite was about 6km downhill so we decided to push on.
We arrived & the campsite was much nicer so we were all plsed we had made the extra 6km trip.
Just as we were setting up our tents the wind picked up & the rain came down so we all huddled in the foyer of the restroom for about 20mins waiting for a break in the rain.
We finally got one & we dashed out & finished putting the tents up & managed to cook some tea.
Scott & Alan went gathering fire wood as we decided a fire would be great as it was quite cold.
The fire was lit & just as it got going well the wind picked up again & the rain came down... so we called it an early night & into the tents we dashed - it was only 8pm - nice!
DISTANCE: 58.7km
AVERAGE: 16.3kph
RIDE TIME: 3.36hrs
ASCEND: 755m
Jerry's wife Debbie, who is also a very keen cyclist, decided to ride with us for a couple hours while Jerry packed up camp & he picked her up further down the road.
It was nice to have another person ride with us - even if it was only for a couple hours.
We headed downhill for a while - nice way to start the day - but the mornings are getting cold so it can be rather chilly!
We then started riding up into a really nice canyon - the scenery here in Colorado is beautiful - hugs rock cliffs & gulches everywhere.
We had another pass crossing ahead today (10166ft), at the top we only had a 7km downhill to the campsite for the night - we arrived at the campsite to find the water pump broken & the site just not being very inspiring to us as the weather was changing & the black clouds were rolling in - we knew another campsite was about 6km downhill so we decided to push on.
We arrived & the campsite was much nicer so we were all plsed we had made the extra 6km trip.
Just as we were setting up our tents the wind picked up & the rain came down so we all huddled in the foyer of the restroom for about 20mins waiting for a break in the rain.
We finally got one & we dashed out & finished putting the tents up & managed to cook some tea.
Scott & Alan went gathering fire wood as we decided a fire would be great as it was quite cold.
The fire was lit & just as it got going well the wind picked up again & the rain came down... so we called it an early night & into the tents we dashed - it was only 8pm - nice!
DISTANCE: 58.7km
AVERAGE: 16.3kph
RIDE TIME: 3.36hrs
ASCEND: 755m
DAY 44 - Getting Sideways
Even though the stretcher beds in the tee pee were extremely dodgy & we had the resident mice running around the tee pee we all had a very cosy sleep.
We woke to find very thick fog outside.
Our packing up & getting away was a little slow as the fire in the tee pee keep calling us back in..
We headed away about 8:30 just as the fog was lifting, the 1st 20km of the ride today was on sealed road - down hill so we made nice time.
We turned off onto a country road & started 'up'-dulating for the next 20ish kms stopping for lunch on the side of the road with a view into a lovely canyon, from there we keep on truckin' for another 22kms before starting our climb of 11kms up Cochetopa pass (another Continental divide crossing @ 10,067ft) after reaching the top we were all sitting in the sun dreaming about how nice a cold drink would be right now, beer, coke, chocolate milk - anything?
We pushed on another 3km to the nights designated campsite & being a Sat night we were hoping there would be room for us as we were thinking the campsite would be full of hunters.
We pulled into the camp to be greeted by Jerry & the 1st words that came out of Jerry's mouth were .........."hey I have a beer for you" Oh my god - our preys of a cold drink had been answered.
It turns out that Jerry was part of the 'Sideways crew' & group of friends that met in college & have been camping together the 3rd Sept of each year since then - this was there 25th year!
They all welcomed us with open arms & even invited us to there 'pot-luck' Saturday night dinner (could this get any better?) yes - we also got desert!!
After a fabulous dinner of fresh salads, meat, Hot dishes & of course desert, we all sat around the campfire listening to stories & having lots of laughs.
Huge thanks to Jerry & all the other sideways crew for making us feel so welcome, giving us beer & feeding us.
Your generosity is a highlight for us on this trip & it will be a memory we will always remember & will tell everyone when we get back..
DISTANCE: 78.8km
AVERAGE: 15.6km
RIDE TIME: 5.02hrs
ASCEND: 925mtrs
We woke to find very thick fog outside.
Our packing up & getting away was a little slow as the fire in the tee pee keep calling us back in..
We headed away about 8:30 just as the fog was lifting, the 1st 20km of the ride today was on sealed road - down hill so we made nice time.
We turned off onto a country road & started 'up'-dulating for the next 20ish kms stopping for lunch on the side of the road with a view into a lovely canyon, from there we keep on truckin' for another 22kms before starting our climb of 11kms up Cochetopa pass (another Continental divide crossing @ 10,067ft) after reaching the top we were all sitting in the sun dreaming about how nice a cold drink would be right now, beer, coke, chocolate milk - anything?
We pushed on another 3km to the nights designated campsite & being a Sat night we were hoping there would be room for us as we were thinking the campsite would be full of hunters.
We pulled into the camp to be greeted by Jerry & the 1st words that came out of Jerry's mouth were .........."hey I have a beer for you" Oh my god - our preys of a cold drink had been answered.
It turns out that Jerry was part of the 'Sideways crew' & group of friends that met in college & have been camping together the 3rd Sept of each year since then - this was there 25th year!
They all welcomed us with open arms & even invited us to there 'pot-luck' Saturday night dinner (could this get any better?) yes - we also got desert!!
After a fabulous dinner of fresh salads, meat, Hot dishes & of course desert, we all sat around the campfire listening to stories & having lots of laughs.
Huge thanks to Jerry & all the other sideways crew for making us feel so welcome, giving us beer & feeding us.
Your generosity is a highlight for us on this trip & it will be a memory we will always remember & will tell everyone when we get back..
DISTANCE: 78.8km
AVERAGE: 15.6km
RIDE TIME: 5.02hrs
ASCEND: 925mtrs
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Hi from an interesting little "town", Sargents.
Today we left Salida with a 36km climb ahead of us! As it turns out the climb was pretty easy as it was on another old railroad. The ride up to Marshall Pass was beautiful as we wound our way through Aspen and Pine trees.
We reached the top of the pass (3305m) after about 4hours and headed down towards dark clouds. After stopping several times along the way to take photos and videos our weather "luck' ran out, it started to rain, then hail. It had cooled down loads and we all put on vests, then wind jackets, then waterproofs!
We pushed on past the books recommended campsite to the town of Sargents.
As we pulled in Scott noticed some Teepee's so we have booked ourselves into a teepee for the night! It comes complete with a gas fire and fairy lights, oh so authentic!!
For tonight Scott is to be known as Chief Grey-fox
We are riding with Alan which is a real pleasure.
Catch up in a couple of days.
Today we left Salida with a 36km climb ahead of us! As it turns out the climb was pretty easy as it was on another old railroad. The ride up to Marshall Pass was beautiful as we wound our way through Aspen and Pine trees.
We reached the top of the pass (3305m) after about 4hours and headed down towards dark clouds. After stopping several times along the way to take photos and videos our weather "luck' ran out, it started to rain, then hail. It had cooled down loads and we all put on vests, then wind jackets, then waterproofs!
We pushed on past the books recommended campsite to the town of Sargents.
As we pulled in Scott noticed some Teepee's so we have booked ourselves into a teepee for the night! It comes complete with a gas fire and fairy lights, oh so authentic!!
For tonight Scott is to be known as Chief Grey-fox
We are riding with Alan which is a real pleasure.
Catch up in a couple of days.
Friday, September 18, 2009
DAY 42 - Rest Day - Salida Colorado
Hi everyone,
Well we did decide to have a rest day today as we had been riding for the last 6 days & it looks like we have 4 pretty big days ahead.
Caught up with Alan last night for dinner at funky little restaurant called Amica's (wood fired pizza & Micro Brewery)
We managed to convince Alan to take another day off & we are all going to ride together again for a while which will be nice.
Day started with a sleep in to 8:30 - longest sleep in yet.
We mucked around in the morning chatting to others in the campsite while cooking breakfast, people seem so fascinated with us & what we are doing.
We had to laugh today as 1 of the RV's near us opened the door & a lady came out with a cat on a lead (trust me the cat did not look impressed) she then tied the cat to the picnic table for about 20mins of 'outdoor fresh air' I guess.
Then later we saw the same lady walking her 2 dogs + the cat around the campground! so funny (the dogs were the same size as the cat)
After some supermarket shopping we packed up the tent & headed to the Day's Inn hotel as we decided we would shout ourselves a hotel for the night.
Alan is staying there also so we thought we can get organised & away together tomorrow.
After lunch we headed to down town Salida to check out the shops which were really cool & quirky.
Good vibes from this town - lots of bikes everywhere & the people are really friendly.
Spending the evening chilling out in the room & getting organised for tomorrow, flicking through the 50 cable channels we have available - but still we can't find anything to watch!!
bye
Well we did decide to have a rest day today as we had been riding for the last 6 days & it looks like we have 4 pretty big days ahead.
Caught up with Alan last night for dinner at funky little restaurant called Amica's (wood fired pizza & Micro Brewery)
We managed to convince Alan to take another day off & we are all going to ride together again for a while which will be nice.
Day started with a sleep in to 8:30 - longest sleep in yet.
We mucked around in the morning chatting to others in the campsite while cooking breakfast, people seem so fascinated with us & what we are doing.
We had to laugh today as 1 of the RV's near us opened the door & a lady came out with a cat on a lead (trust me the cat did not look impressed) she then tied the cat to the picnic table for about 20mins of 'outdoor fresh air' I guess.
Then later we saw the same lady walking her 2 dogs + the cat around the campground! so funny (the dogs were the same size as the cat)
After some supermarket shopping we packed up the tent & headed to the Day's Inn hotel as we decided we would shout ourselves a hotel for the night.
Alan is staying there also so we thought we can get organised & away together tomorrow.
After lunch we headed to down town Salida to check out the shops which were really cool & quirky.
Good vibes from this town - lots of bikes everywhere & the people are really friendly.
Spending the evening chilling out in the room & getting organised for tomorrow, flicking through the 50 cable channels we have available - but still we can't find anything to watch!!
bye
Thursday, September 17, 2009
DAY 41 - The day of the Badger
We decide to get up & away earlier today as we wanted to get to Salida as early as we could to get laundry done.
Now that the days are getting cooler & shorter it is very hard for us to get to camp & do hand washing & get it dried so we now need to rely on towns & laundry's
We started along the road & the 1st 20km was again deserted nothingness!! must say it was really quite boring scenic riding - not even cows to look at!
But guess what we did see - a Badger!! just off the side of the road it wondered than sat by its badger hole & let us stop & take photo's of it - it did not seem too bothered about us - very exciting as we have been wanting to see a Badger but they are night creatures generally.
They are quite big - maybe the size of a medium sized dog. (stand by for photo's to come...)
About 30km in we stopped for lunch (10:30am) as we knew we had a 12km hill climb ahead so though we would fuel up before tackling that as we did not know what it was going entail.
When we reached the top of the watershed divide, 50km into the days ride we were faced with a awesome 18km downhill to the town of Salida.
We are now in Salida sitting in the Laundromat waiting for our washing to get done.
After we have done here we are going to go & find our new friend Alan who is also back on the Route, do some supermarket shopping as we have 4 days between descent towns ahead so need to stock up on food to get us through, maybe have some dinner & a beer.
It looks like we have 4 days of quite solid riding ahead including our highest pass Indiana Pass & we have been riding for the past 6 days so we are currently deciding if we should have a rest day here in Salida tomorrow.
DISTANCE: 77.6km
AVERAGE: 17.4km
RIDE TIME: 4.24hrs
ASCEND: 705mtrs
For those who are interested here is a typical days eating for us...
Breakfast:
Porrage with Dried Cranberries
Hot drink
Pre Morning Tea (10km into day):
2x Muesli Bars each or 1x Powerbar
Morning Tea:
Bagel with Nutella (or Peanut Butter - Scott)
Lunch:
Bagel with Cheese slices & Pepperoni x2 each
Piece of fruit (if been in town day before)
End of ride snack:
Muesli Bars or Powerbars
Or if we are lucky & end up in a town, Potato Chips & Chocolate milk or soda of some kind.
If we are really lucky burger & fries..
Dinner:
If we are cooking- Pasta & Sauce , or a Rice Risotto with Tortillas.
If in a town we usually dine out - burger & fries again
After Dinner Snack:
M& M's or skittles while reading our books.
Heathly diet or what!!!! just hope we don't carry on eating like this when we get home!
Could be hard habit to break!
Now that the days are getting cooler & shorter it is very hard for us to get to camp & do hand washing & get it dried so we now need to rely on towns & laundry's
We started along the road & the 1st 20km was again deserted nothingness!! must say it was really quite boring scenic riding - not even cows to look at!
But guess what we did see - a Badger!! just off the side of the road it wondered than sat by its badger hole & let us stop & take photo's of it - it did not seem too bothered about us - very exciting as we have been wanting to see a Badger but they are night creatures generally.
They are quite big - maybe the size of a medium sized dog. (stand by for photo's to come...)
About 30km in we stopped for lunch (10:30am) as we knew we had a 12km hill climb ahead so though we would fuel up before tackling that as we did not know what it was going entail.
When we reached the top of the watershed divide, 50km into the days ride we were faced with a awesome 18km downhill to the town of Salida.
We are now in Salida sitting in the Laundromat waiting for our washing to get done.
After we have done here we are going to go & find our new friend Alan who is also back on the Route, do some supermarket shopping as we have 4 days between descent towns ahead so need to stock up on food to get us through, maybe have some dinner & a beer.
It looks like we have 4 days of quite solid riding ahead including our highest pass Indiana Pass & we have been riding for the past 6 days so we are currently deciding if we should have a rest day here in Salida tomorrow.
DISTANCE: 77.6km
AVERAGE: 17.4km
RIDE TIME: 4.24hrs
ASCEND: 705mtrs
For those who are interested here is a typical days eating for us...
Breakfast:
Porrage with Dried Cranberries
Hot drink
Pre Morning Tea (10km into day):
2x Muesli Bars each or 1x Powerbar
Morning Tea:
Bagel with Nutella (or Peanut Butter - Scott)
Lunch:
Bagel with Cheese slices & Pepperoni x2 each
Piece of fruit (if been in town day before)
End of ride snack:
Muesli Bars or Powerbars
Or if we are lucky & end up in a town, Potato Chips & Chocolate milk or soda of some kind.
If we are really lucky burger & fries..
Dinner:
If we are cooking- Pasta & Sauce , or a Rice Risotto with Tortillas.
If in a town we usually dine out - burger & fries again
After Dinner Snack:
M& M's or skittles while reading our books.
Heathly diet or what!!!! just hope we don't carry on eating like this when we get home!
Could be hard habit to break!
DAY 40 - Into the eye of the storm
After leaving the comforts of our plush hotel room in Breckenridge we headed out about 9:30am.
We had our 2nd highest divide crossing today Boreas Pass 3,500mtrs, although the climb was about 15km long we had a very gentle grade of climb as the road we were on used to be an old railway track back at the start of the century so the going was good, saw another red fox on the way up - it was obviously used to seeing people as it just wondered down the road in front of Jo & she even managed to stop & get a photo of it.
After a really nice downhill from the top of Boreas pass we came to a town called Como which we decided to stop for lunch as it had a shop & we could not pass up a cold drink to go with our bagels, but unfortunately the shop had a 'Back at 2pm' sign on the door (maybe they had gone home to watch some Oprah?) so we just had to eat our bagels & drink our water instead.
After leaving Como we started biking into huge open fields - these had been old ranches that somebody had vision of becoming lifestyle subdivisions but they never eventuated into anything - just lots of lovely named roads, they had even created playgrounds & baseball diamonds in the middle of nowhere that were now all over grown - seemed a little eerie!!
Afternoon thunderstorms have been forecasted for the next week & as we were riding along the black clouds started rolling in & then the thunder & lightening started - that was quite a show in front of us - but we were riding right into it so it did start to get a little too close for comfort.
They take Lightening strikes very seriously over here especially when you are high up in the hills, alot of trail heads even have posters informing people of what to do if in a thunderstorm!
Lucky for us we managed to ride around the edge of the storm that was in front of us & just got caught in a down pour from the edge of it.
We arrived in a town called Hastel which showed on the maps & guide book that there was actually no camping spots in town - so after talking to the nice man at the service station we decided we would just carry on down the road & find a spot on the side of the road (out of view) for the night - which we did successfully , just as we got the tent up the rain came down - more thunder & lightening all around us , this continued most of the night.
DISTANCE: 84km
AVERAGE: 16.8km
RIDE TIME: 4.59hrs
ASCEND: 720mtrs
We had our 2nd highest divide crossing today Boreas Pass 3,500mtrs, although the climb was about 15km long we had a very gentle grade of climb as the road we were on used to be an old railway track back at the start of the century so the going was good, saw another red fox on the way up - it was obviously used to seeing people as it just wondered down the road in front of Jo & she even managed to stop & get a photo of it.
After a really nice downhill from the top of Boreas pass we came to a town called Como which we decided to stop for lunch as it had a shop & we could not pass up a cold drink to go with our bagels, but unfortunately the shop had a 'Back at 2pm' sign on the door (maybe they had gone home to watch some Oprah?) so we just had to eat our bagels & drink our water instead.
After leaving Como we started biking into huge open fields - these had been old ranches that somebody had vision of becoming lifestyle subdivisions but they never eventuated into anything - just lots of lovely named roads, they had even created playgrounds & baseball diamonds in the middle of nowhere that were now all over grown - seemed a little eerie!!
Afternoon thunderstorms have been forecasted for the next week & as we were riding along the black clouds started rolling in & then the thunder & lightening started - that was quite a show in front of us - but we were riding right into it so it did start to get a little too close for comfort.
They take Lightening strikes very seriously over here especially when you are high up in the hills, alot of trail heads even have posters informing people of what to do if in a thunderstorm!
Lucky for us we managed to ride around the edge of the storm that was in front of us & just got caught in a down pour from the edge of it.
We arrived in a town called Hastel which showed on the maps & guide book that there was actually no camping spots in town - so after talking to the nice man at the service station we decided we would just carry on down the road & find a spot on the side of the road (out of view) for the night - which we did successfully , just as we got the tent up the rain came down - more thunder & lightening all around us , this continued most of the night.
DISTANCE: 84km
AVERAGE: 16.8km
RIDE TIME: 4.59hrs
ASCEND: 720mtrs
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
DAY 39 - Damn those Squirrels
I must say as nice as the forest campsite we stay in are with all the tress etc… it was nice today to wake in a campsite that you get direct morning sun into the campsite.
Usually our campsites are surrounded by very tall trees & it takes a long time for the sun to get through, making the morning quite cold.
On our bikes we have bento boxes - these are small nylon box with a mesh lid that is velcroed to the top tube of the bike that we carry our muesli bars / lip balm etc..
Usually every night we make sure these are empty as we don’t want to encourage wildlife, but last night we forgot & as Scott was packing his bike this morning he noticed the mesh top of the Bento box had been gnawed & a muesli bar had been opened & slightly nibbled in his box….mmmmmm
As he looked at it the guilty party arrived to finish what he had started a Squirrel… so cute yet so naughty!!
We watched as he managed to drag the muesli bar out of the bento box & make off with it into the trees!!
5 mins later he was back… trying again for another right in front of us - these creatures are so cheeky!
We videoed him for a while jumping from 1 bike to the other trying his best to get more food!
He finally gave up when he smelt our food panniers sitting on the ground & just started climbing all over these trying his best to get in…we will be sure to post the video next time we have spare time to download this.
We decided to only head to Breckenridge today as we both wanted an easy day & to have a look around town, so we had a 26km easy ride on a bike path the entire way which was very pleasant riding.
We did not make it all the way to town before our stomach’s started demanding more food so we stopped at a trailhead which as we found out is also a very popular mtn biking start point. Just as we were making our lunch a truck pulled up & 2 guys got out as they were heading out for a ride, 1 of the guys pulled out a slab of Red Bull energy drinks & offered us some …godsend!
We have found on this ride we are not shy of taking food or drinks or offers of any kind from strangers if they will favour us…so the Red Bulls went down a treat..
After arriving in Breckenridge we needed somewhere to camp for the night so what would you normally do ? Go to the info centre & ask for some information- Right??
Well this is what we did, but the 2 ladies there were frustratingly helpful - NOT
It just got all a bit too hard so we ended up asking for a cheap Hotel for the night - they knew of one ‘The Lodge & Spa’ telling us it was just up the road on Boreas Pass (where we are heading tomorrow) after us trying to explain over & over we wanted to be close to town they assured us that it was located close enough & on a free shuttle route so we booked.
It turned out to be quite a climb to the ‘The Lodge & Spa’ about 5km climbing out of town…!
We managed to get booked in & the lady on the reception must of felt sorry for us so she upgraded our room to have a view of the town & ski fields - our room is very plush & has rustic ski feel to it .
We spent the afternoon looking around town & had a early dinner before heading back to our hotel for some R & R.
Tomorrow we finish riding up Boreas Pass - our 2nd highest contentinal divide crossing 11'400ish ft
DISTANCE: 41km
AVERAGE: 14.6km
RIDE TIME: 2.49hrs
ASCEND: 420mtrs
Usually our campsites are surrounded by very tall trees & it takes a long time for the sun to get through, making the morning quite cold.
On our bikes we have bento boxes - these are small nylon box with a mesh lid that is velcroed to the top tube of the bike that we carry our muesli bars / lip balm etc..
Usually every night we make sure these are empty as we don’t want to encourage wildlife, but last night we forgot & as Scott was packing his bike this morning he noticed the mesh top of the Bento box had been gnawed & a muesli bar had been opened & slightly nibbled in his box….mmmmmm
As he looked at it the guilty party arrived to finish what he had started a Squirrel… so cute yet so naughty!!
We watched as he managed to drag the muesli bar out of the bento box & make off with it into the trees!!
5 mins later he was back… trying again for another right in front of us - these creatures are so cheeky!
We videoed him for a while jumping from 1 bike to the other trying his best to get more food!
He finally gave up when he smelt our food panniers sitting on the ground & just started climbing all over these trying his best to get in…we will be sure to post the video next time we have spare time to download this.
We decided to only head to Breckenridge today as we both wanted an easy day & to have a look around town, so we had a 26km easy ride on a bike path the entire way which was very pleasant riding.
We did not make it all the way to town before our stomach’s started demanding more food so we stopped at a trailhead which as we found out is also a very popular mtn biking start point. Just as we were making our lunch a truck pulled up & 2 guys got out as they were heading out for a ride, 1 of the guys pulled out a slab of Red Bull energy drinks & offered us some …godsend!
We have found on this ride we are not shy of taking food or drinks or offers of any kind from strangers if they will favour us…so the Red Bulls went down a treat..
After arriving in Breckenridge we needed somewhere to camp for the night so what would you normally do ? Go to the info centre & ask for some information- Right??
Well this is what we did, but the 2 ladies there were frustratingly helpful - NOT
It just got all a bit too hard so we ended up asking for a cheap Hotel for the night - they knew of one ‘The Lodge & Spa’ telling us it was just up the road on Boreas Pass (where we are heading tomorrow) after us trying to explain over & over we wanted to be close to town they assured us that it was located close enough & on a free shuttle route so we booked.
It turned out to be quite a climb to the ‘The Lodge & Spa’ about 5km climbing out of town…!
We managed to get booked in & the lady on the reception must of felt sorry for us so she upgraded our room to have a view of the town & ski fields - our room is very plush & has rustic ski feel to it .
We spent the afternoon looking around town & had a early dinner before heading back to our hotel for some R & R.
Tomorrow we finish riding up Boreas Pass - our 2nd highest contentinal divide crossing 11'400ish ft
DISTANCE: 41km
AVERAGE: 14.6km
RIDE TIME: 2.49hrs
ASCEND: 420mtrs
DAY 38 - Damn those 'Coons
After a night of strong winds & rain on the tent we awoke to a lovely sunny day - not a cloud in the sky.
We set off knowing we had a 90ish km day ahead but from all accounts it looked like it was a reasonably easy ride today with just a 7km climb up Ute pass.
We stopped for morning tea at Williams Folk Reservoir then continued another 25km to a lovely campsite by a river for lunch, after lunch we tackled the 7km climb which was actually quite a nice steady grade so that was a nice surprise for us.
We had a 10km downhill on the other side to meet the Highway #9 then unfortunately we turned into a headwind & slight uphill for the 20km ride to Silverthorne which made the going just that little tougher, just as we were getting tired.
Silverthorne was quite a surprise for us - it appears it is the home to the Outlet factory stores even a Pearl Izumi store (which Jo bought new glove as hers have fallen to bits)
After checking out a few other outlet stores we headed out of town to the designated campsite only to find Mc Donald’s on our route - so we had to stop for a quick refuel of Cheese burgers, fries, chocolate sundae‘s & Cokes
We finally reached the campsite about 6:30pm which was a lovely site but the Dillon Reservoir.
We cooked tea but thanks to our Mc D’s entree we could not actually finish it!
After cleaning up from cooking & getting all the panniers put away in the vestibule of the tent we went for a short walk to register our site , upon returning Jo hopped into the tent to find that the panniers seem to have fallen against the inner tent wall so she unzipped the door & found there was a missing food pannier, after asking Scott what he had done with it , Scott went investigating to find a cheeky Racoon dragging it off into the bushes….What The!!!
He managed to convince the Racoon to leave it & we put it back in the vestibule.
About 30mins later we were quietly sitting in the tent reading our books to hear a very loud sniffing outside of the tent - we figured it was the friendly (hungry) campsite Racoon back so we clapped our hands & made some noise - but to no avail - it was after the food for sure .
Scott unzipped the tent door to come face to face with the cheeky Racoon, it took off & we took off after it trying to get a look at it… typical kiwi’s
We then got busy hanging our food panniers & placing rocks around the edge of the tent to try & discourage the Racoon from entering the tent again, we figured a Racoon caught under the vestibule of the tent & not being able to get out would not be good for the Racoon or the tent!
As we were finishing our handy work it started to rain so we did not hear from our new Racoon friend again.
DISTANCE: 95kmkm
AVERAGE: 15.5km
RIDE TIME: 6.07hrs
ASCEND: 1170mtrs
We set off knowing we had a 90ish km day ahead but from all accounts it looked like it was a reasonably easy ride today with just a 7km climb up Ute pass.
We stopped for morning tea at Williams Folk Reservoir then continued another 25km to a lovely campsite by a river for lunch, after lunch we tackled the 7km climb which was actually quite a nice steady grade so that was a nice surprise for us.
We had a 10km downhill on the other side to meet the Highway #9 then unfortunately we turned into a headwind & slight uphill for the 20km ride to Silverthorne which made the going just that little tougher, just as we were getting tired.
Silverthorne was quite a surprise for us - it appears it is the home to the Outlet factory stores even a Pearl Izumi store (which Jo bought new glove as hers have fallen to bits)
After checking out a few other outlet stores we headed out of town to the designated campsite only to find Mc Donald’s on our route - so we had to stop for a quick refuel of Cheese burgers, fries, chocolate sundae‘s & Cokes
We finally reached the campsite about 6:30pm which was a lovely site but the Dillon Reservoir.
We cooked tea but thanks to our Mc D’s entree we could not actually finish it!
After cleaning up from cooking & getting all the panniers put away in the vestibule of the tent we went for a short walk to register our site , upon returning Jo hopped into the tent to find that the panniers seem to have fallen against the inner tent wall so she unzipped the door & found there was a missing food pannier, after asking Scott what he had done with it , Scott went investigating to find a cheeky Racoon dragging it off into the bushes….What The!!!
He managed to convince the Racoon to leave it & we put it back in the vestibule.
About 30mins later we were quietly sitting in the tent reading our books to hear a very loud sniffing outside of the tent - we figured it was the friendly (hungry) campsite Racoon back so we clapped our hands & made some noise - but to no avail - it was after the food for sure .
Scott unzipped the tent door to come face to face with the cheeky Racoon, it took off & we took off after it trying to get a look at it… typical kiwi’s
We then got busy hanging our food panniers & placing rocks around the edge of the tent to try & discourage the Racoon from entering the tent again, we figured a Racoon caught under the vestibule of the tent & not being able to get out would not be good for the Racoon or the tent!
As we were finishing our handy work it started to rain so we did not hear from our new Racoon friend again.
DISTANCE: 95kmkm
AVERAGE: 15.5km
RIDE TIME: 6.07hrs
ASCEND: 1170mtrs
Sunday, September 13, 2009
DAY 37 - The mighty Colorado river
After a great nights sleep we headed away - saying good bye to Alan as we has decided to leave the route for a few days to head to a place called Leadville to try & bag a 14er(for those who are not up with outdoor lingo he is going to go hike up a 14oooft mountain!).
Hope to catch up again with Alan later on the Route.
The morning was quite chilly 4'c when we headed off, the mornings are definitely getting cooler here as Fall approaches & the nights are getting darker earlier, when we arrived it was not dark till nearly 10pm now it is well dark by 8 - boo!
We had an undulating 1st 15km to start the day, passing by many hunters campsites along the way, one in particular had a young guy sitting out the front who spoke to both of us as we went by & neither of us had any idea what he actually said - but just agreed - ha
He then caught up to us on his ATV about 30mins later & stopped for a chat - eek, we still do not really know what we chatted about as neither of us could understand him properly, we are sure it was english he was speaking - just a small town banjo english!!
Today the guide book told us we had 1 of the biggest downhills on the route descending 2000 feet in just a few miles & they weren't wrong, that was a nice way to finish the morning stopping in a small place called Radium, a picnic area on the Colorado river.
Just before the descent we
After lunch we had a lovely scenic 3km steepish climb followed by another climb of 6km to Whiteshed divide, although the climbing was quite steady the scenery was great - going up through a canyon.
This part of the Colorado river must be an extremely popular white water kayaking & rafting spot as nearly every car that passed up has either boats or rafts on there roofs or trailers.
After reaching the top we then has a nice descent for 10km to a town called Kremmling.
We have parked ourselves up for the night at an RV park & showered which felt great as the last 2 days have been very dusty & we felt caked in dust!
One thing we have observed when we have been staying in RV parks is how lazy people are... we have seen people drive there cars from there RV's to the toilets & tonight we watched a lady drive her car from her RV to the laundry to check on her washing - it is unbelievable!! this RV park we are in tonight only has 45 sites so it is not very big!!
It makes you feel that all you try to do to save the planet you might as well not bother when people can't even walk 100mtrs to get somewhere!
DISTANCE: 69.9km
RIDE TIME: 4.58hrs
AVERAGE: 14km
ASCEND: 1085mtrs
Hope to catch up again with Alan later on the Route.
The morning was quite chilly 4'c when we headed off, the mornings are definitely getting cooler here as Fall approaches & the nights are getting darker earlier, when we arrived it was not dark till nearly 10pm now it is well dark by 8 - boo!
We had an undulating 1st 15km to start the day, passing by many hunters campsites along the way, one in particular had a young guy sitting out the front who spoke to both of us as we went by & neither of us had any idea what he actually said - but just agreed - ha
He then caught up to us on his ATV about 30mins later & stopped for a chat - eek, we still do not really know what we chatted about as neither of us could understand him properly, we are sure it was english he was speaking - just a small town banjo english!!
Today the guide book told us we had 1 of the biggest downhills on the route descending 2000 feet in just a few miles & they weren't wrong, that was a nice way to finish the morning stopping in a small place called Radium, a picnic area on the Colorado river.
Just before the descent we
After lunch we had a lovely scenic 3km steepish climb followed by another climb of 6km to Whiteshed divide, although the climbing was quite steady the scenery was great - going up through a canyon.
This part of the Colorado river must be an extremely popular white water kayaking & rafting spot as nearly every car that passed up has either boats or rafts on there roofs or trailers.
After reaching the top we then has a nice descent for 10km to a town called Kremmling.
We have parked ourselves up for the night at an RV park & showered which felt great as the last 2 days have been very dusty & we felt caked in dust!
One thing we have observed when we have been staying in RV parks is how lazy people are... we have seen people drive there cars from there RV's to the toilets & tonight we watched a lady drive her car from her RV to the laundry to check on her washing - it is unbelievable!! this RV park we are in tonight only has 45 sites so it is not very big!!
It makes you feel that all you try to do to save the planet you might as well not bother when people can't even walk 100mtrs to get somewhere!
DISTANCE: 69.9km
RIDE TIME: 4.58hrs
AVERAGE: 14km
ASCEND: 1085mtrs
DAY 36 - Easier than expected - Like that!!
After leaving Steamboat Springs with very fully tummies (thanks to the complementary breakfast) we headed off down the road, the 1st 25km were nice undulating relativity flat sealed road through farm land, obviously a very popular road cycling route as we were passed by many road cyclist.
We hit gravel & were riding by a beautiful river when we both mentioned to each other that we bet our new friend Alan won't be able to resist stopping for a fishing somewhere along here & just around the next corner there was his bike & trailer parked up against a tree & Alan was in the river fishing.
Unfortunately for him the fish were not biting so he decided to carry on with us for another 6km to a lovely dammed lake where we found a nice spot by the lake side in the sun to eat lunch together.
The guide book told us that we had a steady 6.5km climb ahead followed by another 12km climb to reach Lynx pass & the campground we were planning on stopping at for the night. The 6.5km climb was surprising gradual & passed without any issues, we then had a stunning 10km ride through beautiful trees & farmland, we crossed a stream & the 12km climb started but to our surprise it was not exactly the climb we had expected, 9km felt relatively flat with only a 3km steady climb to the top of the pass so the day was surprising easier than we had though.
We arrived at the campsite & it was quite full of hunters apparently it is Elk hunting season at the moment but you are only allowed to shoot them with musket loading guns? & it costs $US450 dollars for a permit to hunt if you are not a Colorado resident - That is alot of $$ to try & shoot something & no guarantees that you will!
So nearly everyone in the campsite but us was dressed in full head to toe camo outfits (they sure do love their Camo outfits over here) driving around & around the campsite on their 4 wheeled ATV's (it seems these are a must have also to go on the back of your Dodge Ram Truck or Ford F350)
Alan arrived 15mins after we had got there & decided to camp with us for the night so we all just chilled out for the evening around the great campfire that was built by Scott & Alan.
DISTANCE: 63.7km
AVERAGE: 14.8km
RIDE TIME: 4.17hrs
ASCEND: 900mtrs
Dany & Elmar: Thanks for the email, plsed to hear you have been out on the road bikes - D keep it up it will become easier - promise.
You will also be plsed to hear we have Nutella back in our food pannier - phew!
Doris & Darryn: Thanks for your email - sounds like you guys had a great time in Melbourne.
will be sure to mail some more postcards your way for the new cork board...
We hit gravel & were riding by a beautiful river when we both mentioned to each other that we bet our new friend Alan won't be able to resist stopping for a fishing somewhere along here & just around the next corner there was his bike & trailer parked up against a tree & Alan was in the river fishing.
Unfortunately for him the fish were not biting so he decided to carry on with us for another 6km to a lovely dammed lake where we found a nice spot by the lake side in the sun to eat lunch together.
The guide book told us that we had a steady 6.5km climb ahead followed by another 12km climb to reach Lynx pass & the campground we were planning on stopping at for the night. The 6.5km climb was surprising gradual & passed without any issues, we then had a stunning 10km ride through beautiful trees & farmland, we crossed a stream & the 12km climb started but to our surprise it was not exactly the climb we had expected, 9km felt relatively flat with only a 3km steady climb to the top of the pass so the day was surprising easier than we had though.
We arrived at the campsite & it was quite full of hunters apparently it is Elk hunting season at the moment but you are only allowed to shoot them with musket loading guns? & it costs $US450 dollars for a permit to hunt if you are not a Colorado resident - That is alot of $$ to try & shoot something & no guarantees that you will!
So nearly everyone in the campsite but us was dressed in full head to toe camo outfits (they sure do love their Camo outfits over here) driving around & around the campsite on their 4 wheeled ATV's (it seems these are a must have also to go on the back of your Dodge Ram Truck or Ford F350)
Alan arrived 15mins after we had got there & decided to camp with us for the night so we all just chilled out for the evening around the great campfire that was built by Scott & Alan.
DISTANCE: 63.7km
AVERAGE: 14.8km
RIDE TIME: 4.17hrs
ASCEND: 900mtrs
Dany & Elmar: Thanks for the email, plsed to hear you have been out on the road bikes - D keep it up it will become easier - promise.
You will also be plsed to hear we have Nutella back in our food pannier - phew!
Doris & Darryn: Thanks for your email - sounds like you guys had a great time in Melbourne.
will be sure to mail some more postcards your way for the new cork board...
Friday, September 11, 2009
Link to a map of the route - FINALLY
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=112695328976832403070.00044e41240731118e654&ll=41.376809,-110.654297&spn=23.04538,37.353516&z=4&source=embed
Now this is of the US portion only and is taking from Simon Kennett's blog. The dates at the side are cut offs for the race. Nothing to do with us!!!
Now this is of the US portion only and is taking from Simon Kennett's blog. The dates at the side are cut offs for the race. Nothing to do with us!!!
Some links to people and things we like
Our new friend Alan's Blog
http://www.xcountrybike.com/tgd_blog.html
New Belgium Beer - brewers of Fat Tire, yummy
http://www.newbelgium.com/
Jo wants one of these:
http://www.nirve.com/womens.asp?cat=cruiser&cid=543.1
Cruisers are everywhere. They are uber cool. Don't be surprised if we are seen zipping around ChCh on one of these this summer.
There's even a magazine all about them
http://kickstandmag.com/
http://www.xcountrybike.com/tgd_blog.html
New Belgium Beer - brewers of Fat Tire, yummy
http://www.newbelgium.com/
Jo wants one of these:
http://www.nirve.com/womens.asp?cat=cruiser&cid=543.1
Cruisers are everywhere. They are uber cool. Don't be surprised if we are seen zipping around ChCh on one of these this summer.
There's even a magazine all about them
http://kickstandmag.com/
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