June 13, 2022
Saguache - Salida, CO
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I was awake as soon as the birds started chirping this morning - at 4:45 AM. I know they were only doing their bird thing, but they were doing it far too early!
I had leftover pizza from last night for breakfast, thinking it would be tastier than oatmeal. I was wrong. The pizza wasn't good when it was fresh, time did not help. I supplemented that with yogurt. It wasn't the breakfast of champions. Hopefully I wouldn't need to dig deep today.
The plan was to leave at 8. We should have a bodacious tailwind all day today. Jacinto said he would ride with us. That meant he started 15 minutes after we did, met up with us at the intersection of Highway 17, and that was the last we saw of him. So much for riding together.
I think the thunder storm from yesterday started a fire. The Lopez fire. The mountains are obscured by smoke and Saguache is under an evacuation order. At this moment, the fire is 88 acres, and 0% contained. The wind is strong today.
I ate a Quest bar, and an apple today. Because of the strong tailwind the entire day, it didn't feel like we did much work. My legs were tight from yesterday's exertion. I was happy for an easy day today.
We had light traffic and a wide shoulder for the 14 miles to the intersection. Then our highway 285 merged with highway 17. Suddenly traffic quadrupled and the shoulder shrunk to two feet. It was doable, but not as much fun.
Oren was interested in a potty stop. There wasn't a tree or bush to be seen for miles. We came upon Villa Grove. The store was closed. That's a shame. Oren stopped at the pot store - that's new since we were here last. I guess he decided he didn't need a restroom that badly. He didn't go in.
Poncha Pass from this side is very gradual. Add in a strong tailwind, and we went flying to the top in the middle chain ring! I climbed most of the pass at 10 mph or more. That's not a mere mortal sort of number!
The downhill had a few curves and a few bobbles in the pavement. The curves changed the wind direction this way and that. I was relieved to get to the bottom.
From Poncha Pass, we were still flying downhill. I'm not sure what we did to deserve today. In the back of my mind the entire day was how strong the wind is supposed to be tomorrow and that we will be headed south. I don't want to pay in spades for today. It was fun, but not fun enough to suffer for tomorrow. Talk about ruining my own good time!
Jacinto called to say he had gone straight to the bike shop. They said he would have to buy a new seat post. Absolute Bikes has three mechanics on duty at all times and doesn't take appointments. They took his bike right in. That sounded perfect. Then he waited, and waited. He had also asked about a screw on his rack that seemed to be running into a piece of the Rohloff hub. The screw wouldn't insert all of the way. I thought some locktight would help. He wasn't sure what their solution was, but they said they could fix it, and it would be ready later in the afternoon. Jacinto started walking back to the motel in his flip-flops.
Salida has a vibrant downtown area. Many of the stores and shops are right on the river. It's a great place to hang out and soak up the vibes. Unfortunately, there is no lodging downtown, besides the hostel. We are 1.5 miles away, on the boring highway strip.
We ate breakfast for lunch at the Patio Pancake across the street. They had gluten free pancakes. I ordered them with my omelet. By the time I ate the pancakes, I was too full for the rest of my food! As we ate, Oren asked in detail about where we would eat dinner. Yes, food is a major topic of conversation for us. The weather is as frequently discussed. Tomorrow doesn't look good. In fact, the wind looks really bad. We ride almost 25 miles along busy Highway 50 squashed in the canyon by the river. I'm not looking forward to that at all. You can be sure I will be moving through there as quickly as I can. Then we ride up and away from the river on a nasty steep climb. I remember it not being fun either. The rest of the day I am concerned about strong side winds blowing me into the traffic. The forecast is 25 mph with gusts to 40. I guess we will deal with it the best we can. My long bike is tough to handle in the wind. Thinking about tomorrow took the fun out of our tailwind day today, for me.
Jacinto just got back from the bike shop. He has a new seat post, and a new screw in his rack. The old one wouldn't screw in all the way because it hit something on the Rohloff hub. Supposedly he is good to go now, although I wonder just what it is they did, because they gave Jacinto another screw as a back up. Jacinto said Absolute Bikes was a hopping place. Everyone thought he was doing the Great Divide. Salida is right on route for it. Jacinto said he didn't see anyone else loaded. He said the shop has all kinds of e bikes for sale. It seems e bikes are the wave of the future. I was a little surprised Absolute Bikes has them also. They have such a big reputation, I'd think they wouldn't need to go E. Our new local bike shop has been there one year. Troy isn't doing e bikes at all. He says it's like the wild, wild west right now with e bikes. That it is hard to say what companies will still be there in a year, or five years. He's going to wait for it to settle out, to try and judge what companies will stick around and stand behind their product. I can see the wisdom in his opinion. I have a friend who ordered an E bike from Ebay. She then wanted an extra battery for more range. Cybil said it was $700. for another battery, or $1,100. for another bike. She thought she would order a new bike, and keep the second one for friends to borrow.
I am sitting on the sofa in our delightful suite. We were upgraded because there aren't any king rooms on the main floor. I think having a suite is a fine thing.
We ate dinner at a steak house across the street. They have an interesting business model. They serve one thing - filet mignon. That is it. You can choose how many ounces. It comes with a salad, and a baked potato. It made deciding on dinner easy. $13.95 for a 6 oz. $16.95 for a 9 oz. That's a good price for beef in today's market. It was tasty. Unfortunately, they had only one other table besides us. It was a large restaurant.
Breakfast starts at 6. Oren and I are eating then, and plan to be on the road at 7. Neither of the guys are worried about the wind. They think it will be a cross tailwind and will be helpful. Oren's bike is just as long as mine. He still isn't worried.
When we exited the restaurant, the sky was completely gray with smoke. The most recent report says that the fire is ten miles north of Del Norte and that firefighters have managed to hold the size. There must be more smoke here because of the direction of the wind. It also said now Saguache is under a pre evacuation order, instead of evacuate.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penstemon
2 years ago
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Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 396 miles (637 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 5 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 7 |
Although I agree they are probably now a permanent feature of the cycling landscape, trends and fads are too. Fifty years ago it was banana seats and ten speeds. Then it was mountain bikes in the 80s and hybrids in the 90s. I dunno about the next 20 years because I was not in the market for a bike. Then it was high end road bikes, triathlon bikes, and time trial bikes. Solid disc wheels. Bladed spokes. Carbon fiber wheels. Titanium and carbon fiber have supplanted aluminum, which displaced Reynolds 531 and 535 steel tubing and lugged frames.. Elliptical chain rings have come and gone and come again.
Now its 29ers, "gravel bikes" (whatever that means), and ebikes.
Through it all, a bike designed for loaded touring has been a sub sub sub niche and choices have been few in the mainstream market. I think that's still true.
2 years ago
Salida is our favorite Colorado town.
2 years ago
I had called the Woodland. The man said the rooms were small, we would have to stay upstairs, and the size of my bike would be a problem. So. Here we are on the vanilla strip.
I don’t think you will ever revisit Colorado, but if you decide to give it a try, I think I could come up with a low traffic route.
2 years ago
So that time we didn't ride to Salida on bikes.
I hadn't thought about the difficulty getting your long recumbent to the second story. We do remember the upstairs rooms as being nice and roomy (we might have paid more for a larger room each time), but maybe he didn't have any of those left.
Thanks for your offer on Colorado routing. I might take you up on it; I feel like I haven't given Colorado a fair chance, because it seems like I always spend too much time on bad roads there. Or maybe the roads are ok, but I'm in a bad mood, haha.
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