58 miles
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
No falls today, so that is a good thing. Even though the mileage was quite a bit longer than yesterday, and we had to climb a pass at the end of the ride (after we had already gone 40 miles), we agree that today was easier than Day 1. Today’s ride split into 3 segments:
We started with a 13 mile ride on paved and busy CO 50 from Sargents to Doyleville. This was a gradual downhill most of the way, so we had an easy start.
Next up was a long stretch on a dirt road to cut up to CO 114. This had no pass, but it was mostly uphill with several steep sections. It was arid terrain with not many trees…so this had some of the feel of last year’s South Park death march, though today was considerably more scenic.
Arid stretch after turn from CO 50
Finally we climbed up and over Cochetopa pass, all dirt, to rejoin CO 114. Quite a bit of this continued to be in dry treeless land, though we finally reached Gunnison National Forest and got up into the trees. The pass was mostly gentle, though the final 1.5 miles were quite steep.
Another Divide Crossing--Cochetopa Pass
I crashed early (ooh bad choice of words…I mean I fell asleep early) last night and woke up quite sore. But as usual, Advil helped ease the pain, and once I got on the bike and started pedaling I felt OK. I have a bruise on my left hand from where I hit it yesterday, and all the bumpy riding does not help that situation. Otherwise I am not too affected by my spill on the first day.
The weather has been fantastic…not one drop of rain yet (CO has had a ton of rain this summer) and temps in the 80’s. A tad warm at times, but it has been great, and I think we are in for continued good weather.
I did not have any cell coverage since leaving Salida, so I was unable to send my normal nightly email updates. This is one of the downsides of the lonely terrain we rode on this year in southern CO. The northern sections of this route in Colorado are significantly more populated.
Time for bed, we are scheduled to hit some form of civilization tomorrow night in Del Norte.
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