September 20, 2021
There are Bears Here
Eagle to Vail
Jim, Kelly and I all started the day with a very nice (for a hotel) hot breakfast with plenty of coffee. Then things went sideways as we aired out some trip expectation differences. After some tense moments, we all summoned our inner adults and we worked things out.
In the end, all three of us, Jim, Kelly and I left the hotel and started the day on a bike path that followed the railroad tracks and Hwy 6 towards Vail. Kelly did an out ‘n back for a total of 20 miles, then drove the van to Vail. Jim and Genny rode to Vail for a total of 30 miles. We gained about 2000 feet in elevation-Vail sits at 8150 ft above sea level. Us flatlanders definitely noticed the thinness of the air today while we rode.
About 15 miles from Vail we had our first major wildlife sighting-a bear hopped out of the trees onto to road shoulder about 20 feet in front of us. We quickly stopped in surprise; the bear looked equally surprised at seeing us, kind of did a double-take and hopped back into the trees. It all happened too fast to get a pic though.
On we rode, noting some pretty scenery along the Eagle river, some changing colors up on the ridges, some snow on higher peaks from the recent front that blew through, and quite a lot of road construction along the way-we rode past no less than 3 flag men controlling traffic today.
Ski resorts began 6 miles out of Vail proper. First we saw the multi-million dollar mansions, then the condo developments that seem ubiquitous to ski resorts. Downtown Vail sits right at the base of one of the primary ski mountains and consists of large hotels, restaurants and shops with high dollar outdoor clothing and equipment or kitschy tourist items, all interconnected by a maze of walkways designed to get you lost so you have to walk by more shops as you try to get your bearings. We experienced this first hand attempting to find a recommended diner for a late lunch. It was comical as we ran into other parties just as lost as us. And when we did find the diner, it had closed a few minutes prior. Fortunately there were many other choices so we didn’t starve.
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Rather than brave the Vail maze in the dark, we ate at one of the hotel restaurants and had pretty good Indian food. We ate lunch so late, none of us were especially hungry, but tomorrow is our first big pass of this trip-Vail Pass with 2,743 ft of climbing topping out at 10,666 ft. So we must fuel up (Kelly and Jim are climbing tomorrow and I am sagging but that did not stop me from chowing down as well.)
Our hotel here is the Evergreen Lodge-very reasonable for the price but the shower is complicated enough that there are directions for how to use it.
Well when I used it I managed to squirt myself in the head while turning it on so I warned Jim about that. But he managed to do exactly the same thing.
Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 91 miles (146 km)
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