Friday, July 3, 2009

Day 3: Middle of nowhere to Del Norte

Day 3: Middle of nowhere to Del Norte
Scheduled for 53.5 miles
Thursday, July 9, 2009

On paper, this looked to be one of our easiest days (oh oh...)

We spent the night at an overpriced hot springs that was 40 miles away from the trail, but was the closest thing I could find. Shows how remote we were. The ride started with a nice paved 6-mile downhill stretch on CO 114.

Next we turned south on a dirt road, and had a climb up Carnero pass. This was scenic riding up in a canyon, and had very little traffic. We ate lunch at the summit, and Sagman agreed to meet us an hour (bike time) down the pass.


Along the Carnero Climb

Near the top of the downhill we came to a very scenic spot...the dirt road squeezes between a rock face on the left and a rock spire on the right...this likely once was an 'arch' but the top has eroded away. We stopped to take pics, and then Mom and Richie continued down.


Road squeezing through the rock face and rock spire

Duhnt duhnt duhhhhh....

I got on my bike and realized my rear tire was soft. I tried riding, but it quickly got flat. I called out and thought that Richie heard me, but it turns out he didn't.

Rich's perspective:
Bummer, but I should have been OK. I had a pump and spare tube, so I started fixing the flat. Unfortunately, in a moment of bright boneheadedness, I realized that my spare tube was for Richie's bike, and would not fit my 29" wheels. Further, the cause of the flat was a faulty valve, so my patch kit was useless. I put my flat tire back on the bike, and could do nothing but start to walk my bike down the remote pass. Not one car passed me going down the hill.

Mom & Richie's perspective:
They rode down the pass for about 2.5 miles, then stopped in a beautiful meadow full of wildflowers to wait for me. After 5 minutes, they joked that I must be taking lots of pictures. After 10, 15, then 20 minutes they realized that something was not right. They made a good decision to ride down to find Sagman. They both started envisioning worst case scenarios (perhaps I rode off a cliff, for instance.) It is an understatement to say that they were worried.

Sagman's perpective
10 miles down the pass Sagman was pulled over peacefully reading a book, when Richie rushes up in a semi-panic and says 'We gotta go find Daddy!'

I had walked down to the same meadow that Mom and Richie had been waiting in when I saw the red sag car coming up the pass. As Bill would say, all's well that ends well...I fixed my tire (I had an 'extra' spare tube in the sag car) and we resumed our ride.

We got close to the town of La Guarita, and still had 15 miles to go to get to our destination of Del Norte. It was hot, and we had a strong headwind. We struggled into the wind for a slow 5 miles, then decided to end our day. The photo album contians some funny pics of our day's end.


Mom not digging the name of our next road

Given the trauma of losing me and the headwind at the end of the day, this turned out to be a much tougher day than we expected.

Next up...Day 4 and Indiana Pass...our most challenging terrain.

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Click here to open Day 3 album in a new window


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Click on 'View Elevation' button for full interactive map of Day 3

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