Day 54: Valley View hot spring to Johnson Village

June 21, 2010

I got on the road at about 10AM after soaking and walking around at Valley View hot spring. It was mostly downhill on the gravel road back to highway 17. Then easy riding going north, level with a tailwind. There were many entertaining messages painted on the road for the "Ride the Rockies" cyclists that passed through yesterday. Some kind of Chuck Norris obsession...

Valley view from Valley View hot spring.

I stopped a the cafe in Villa Grove for an excellent breakfast burrito. The town is really dead, though.

I had an early lunch at the Villa Grove store/cafe.

Eventually the road climbs gradually with unobstructed views as the Sangre de Cristo range to the east gets closer to the Sawatch range to the west. Poncha pass is the saddle between the two mountain ranges.

First view of big mountains to the north beyond Poncha pass.

Farm at the base of the northern Sangre de Cristo mountains.

Climbing Poncha pass is easy, only an 800 foot climb on this side. Poncha pass is one of the rare passes that actually has a good view in both directions.

Both rivers flow to the Gulf of Mexico. The Arkansas river is a tributary of the Mississippi river.

View north from Poncha pass. The Sawatch range.

View south from Poncha pass. Sangre de Cristo range.

North of Poncha pass is a very long descent to the Arkansas river. Fun. It's obvious that this area gets more rainfall than the arid San Luis valley. I went through the town of Poncha Springs on the way down. It's not as economically depressed, but it was nothing more than charmless businesses lining the highway.

Descent from Poncha pass to the Arkansas river.

Crossing under four large water pipes. Water supply for the city of Colorado Springs.

The Arkansas watershed is greener than the San Luis valley.

The Arkansas river has a huge rafting industry. I saw many rafting businesses and was passed by many buses pulling raft trailers. The Arkansas river drops 4700 feet in 120 miles, so there are frequent rapids all the way from here to Royal Gorge.

Looking into the sun at the Arkansas river and 14,269 foot Mt. Antero.

Arkansas river near my motel in Johnson Village.

I planned to camp but didn't see any appealing places to camp. A motel room seemed good after 3 nights camping with terrible mosquitoes. So at 6:30 PM I got a motel room in Johnson Village (population ~1000, elevation 7851 ft.). $64. The A/C and TV remote control were broken. But I had excellent Wi-Fi and AT&T cell service.

Today had a high of 85F. Very pleasant. Today's climbing was mostly gentle but my right hip is sore for some reason. Biking is fine but it hurts to walk. The cyclocomputer decided to work all day without resetting.

Distance: 62.2 mi. (99.5 km) 7 mi. on gravel

Climbing: 2734 ft. (828 m)

Average Speed: 10.8 mph (17.3 km/h)

Maximum Speed: 36 mph (57.6 km/h)

Today's ride: 62 miles (100 km)
Total: 2,511 miles (4,041 km)

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Charmaine RuppoltHope you got a discount on your hotel room, since the A/C and TV remote control were broken!
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