Day 41: Kremmling, CO to Walden, CO

July 12, 2006

78.42 Miles, 6:08:46 Ride Time, 12.99 Average Speed, 40.7 Maximum Speed

I woke up much later than I had planned (a recurring theme in this journal...), because I had stayed up so late last night trying (unsuccesfully) to get my broken laptop computer working.

I decided to skip breakfast at a restaurant in town, and just ate some granola bars I bought yesterday. I didn't ride out of the motel parking lot until 9:00 - and this was Mountain Time; it was 11:00 back home. Hopefully it won't be too hard to readjust to Eastern when I finish this trip.

For the first time, my maps had me heading East for several miles. It felt odd having the sun in my eyes on this bright, slightly chilly morning.

I met a dozen or so cyclists this morning, apparently training for some sort of race or event - each group was wearing matching uniforms. Watching them zoom past, I felt ridiculously slow on my heavily loaded bike; I'm really looking forward to riding it without all the stuff, when I get home (that's assuming that I ever feel like riding a bicycle again when this is over, of course...)

I rode East along the Colorado River for much of the morning - an easy, scenic ride without a lot of traffic to contend with.

After a nice long descent, I followed the Colorado River through Byers Canyon. I hadn't read or heard anything about the canyon, so I was surprised to find that it was some of the most rugged, spectacular scenery yet - a few twisty miles along the river, with high walls of rock on both sides of me. The traffic was a little scary through the canyon - the road was so curvy that there wasn't a lot of visibility. I just pulled over onto the shoulder and took pictures when I saw a truck or motor home behind me.

After a few miles in the canyon, I emerged into the town of Hot Sulphur Springs (pop. 521). By now I was ready for a real breakfast, so I stopped at the County Seat Grill & Pub, where I had my customary large stack of pancakes. This place was memorable for having the friendliest waitress and customers I had seen in a while. I had glanced at my "Bicycling the TransAm" book before leaving the motel, and saw that the mileage from Kremmling to Walden was supposed to be 60.5; this wasn't a big day, so I felt like I had time to chat with the locals.

I left Hot Sulphur Springs after my leisurely breakfast, and after 7.5 miles turned on to a less busy road, SR 125, where I saw a road sign that said "Walden - 55 Miles." What?! I had expected it be about 35 miles to Walden. (Later I learned that Adventure Cycling had apparently changed this section of the route in the last few years. I met some cyclists who had older versions of the map, and it was about 60 miles. They didn't get to go through the scenic "Byers Canyon" route, however.)

The road I was on now was much less busy, but without a shoulder. I slowly climbed for 21.5 miles until I got to Willow Creek Pass (elevation 9,621 feet), and crossed the Continental Divide for the second time. Only the last couple of miles were slightly steep - much easier than the ascent to Hoosier Pass a few days ago.

It was mostly downhill the next 10.5 miles to the town of Rand. Rand was virtually a ghost town - the only open business there was a surprisingly well-stocked bookstore (all the books were Colorado-related). The store did have a cooler with cold drinks, and a few snacks. While I talked to the husband and wife who owned the store, it started to rain, although it only lasted ten minutes. I decided to buy a coffee-table book of Colorado photos and have it shipped home as a birthday gift for Mom. By the time that transaction was completed, it had stopped raining.

Before I left, I used the store's telephone to call a few motels in Walden. It was getting a little late in the afternoon, and I wanted to be sure I would have a place to stay. Both places I called had rooms (cheap), but I was shocked to hear that neither place had air conditioners in the rooms - What?! I decided I would check out the motels when I got to town.

It was sunny as I rode away from the store, but I could see dark storm clouds behind me. I was able to ride fast enough to outrun that storm, but as I rode toward Walden, I could see another storm in front of me. I met a local guy on a road bike going the other direction; while we stopped on the side of the road discussing the direction of the storm(s), the first in a string of obnoxious-driver incidents occurred: A guy in a pickup truck (who apparently thought that the other cyclist and I were taking up too much of the minimal shoulder), swerved around us and flipped us off. Jerk.

The last twelve miles to Walden were among the tensest and least-fun of the trip - a half dozen drivers (mostly in large trucks) gave me no room at all as they passed me (this despite the fact that they had an entire passing lane to use), and I thought I might actually have a confrontation with the worst offender, who I gestured at vigorously, after he passed me with only inches to spare (he slowed in front of me, as if to stop; I had my pepper spray at the ready, but he sped off, fortunately for me, probably...)

The couple of hours this afternoon wins Colorado the "worst traffic" award - I had more trouble this afternoon than in all of Missouri, which has such a bad reputation.

By the time I rode into Walden (pop. 734), unscathed from the bad drivers, and the storms that never materialized, it was sunny, and my mood was already lifting. I rode down the main drag, and saw the usual gas station, cheap motels, restaurants, public library that was only open a few days a week, etc. I asked a couple of local women (sitting in lawn chairs on the sidewalk) about the places to stay. The confirmed that nobody used air conditioners in Walden - at the high elevation, they weren't necessary, although, yes, they agreed, they might be nice during this unprecedented heat wave...

Based on their recommendation, I went to the Roundup Motel, and talked to the nice woman, Bobbie Scott, who owned the place. By now, I had learned to ask to see the rooms before paying. She gave me the keys to three of them, and I checked them out, choosing the one that seemed the coolest. As Bobbie had promised, the room was old, but clean.

I ate at a pretty fancy place (for this frontier town, anyway), because the other places seemed to be closed. It was the kind of place where they paid attention to the "presentation" of the piece of chocolate cake I ordered, drizzling chocolate syrup in a pretty pattern on the plate...

After dinner, I walked around the town some more, then returned to the Roundup Motel, where I talked to Mark and Bobbie as Mark washed their Gold Wing motorcycle. He agreed that the truck traffic in the area could be bad - scary even on a motorcycle.

I washed some clothes in the bathroom sink, watched a little television, then went to bad fairly early - it was still barely light outside. Except for the few hours dealing with the rude drivers in the afternoon, this had been a good day - interesting scenery and nice people.

The Colorado River - Getting ready to enter Byers Canyon

I had breakfast at this place in Hot Sulphur Springs. I talked to the man in the picture, James Hildred (as he explained, "Like Mildred but with an 'H'")

On the long, lonely stretch to Willow Creek Pass

Today's ride: 78 miles (126 km)
Total: 2,630 miles (4,233 km)

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