Yampa-Kremmling, CO: Gore Pass - the only pass of the trip. - Eschewing glitz and glamour

June 8, 2017

Yampa-Kremmling, CO: Gore Pass - the only pass of the trip.

Kremmling elevation - 7,313 feet. High point for the day - Gore Pass 9,524 feet.

At the Van Camp Cabins the beds have feather beds. I've never slept on one before. I had to wiggle around to get a body shaped spot. Then it was comfy and warm. Which was a good thing because it was down in the 30's.

We had agreed on a delayed departure of 8 AM because of the relatively easy day. There is some irony that the only day with the pass is the easy day. I thought we would all be outside tapping our toes, but we were 20 minutes late leaving. Jacinto was even up for a photo opportunity. Jorge needed to stop by the cafe. Steve and Joe went with him. Marty and I headed down the road.

Ugh. This is quite a stiff headwind. What the heck? Isn't it a bit early for a headwind. It's a good thing we only had nine miles of this. Traffic on Highway 40 was fairly light. Which was good, because there was perhaps 6" of shoulder. The elevation profile showed a very gradual uphill. Uphill with a headwind. Sure, we need more training.

Marty and I agreed that the guys should be right along. Nope. No sign of flashing headlights. Since Jorge bought a headlight in Steamboat, three of the guys have flashing headlights. It's quite handy to see them coming down the road as the light shows from quite a distance.

A commentary on tail lights - Four of us have the newest model Dinotte. Steve and Marty both have Cygolite 100. The Dinotte is $180. The Cygolite brand is $39. At a close distance, they are quite similar. As the bikes get further away, the Dinotte is more obvious. We have done several riding tests and had a couple of conversations about visibility. The end opinion is that the Dinotte has four lights and takes up more 'real estate'. Two of the Cygolite brand would accomplish the same purpose for far less money. Marty notes that there is also the 150, which is brighter.

Back to the ride- considering the headwind, we made good progress. We had been told the Topanas store was closed, but it was open. We didn't go inside to see the selection.

As soon as we took a left, cycling was much easier. It didn't matter now we were on the actual approach to the pass. Take the wind away and my attitude improves. I'd rather climb any day than fight a headwind.

Scenery was more of the same - excellent. We are spoiled. We had lots of flowers, aspen trees, and pine trees. I'd estimate 70% of the pine trees were dead because of beetle kill.

We had a fairly stiff climb to a false summit, a little downhill, and then a nice surprise of a couple miles of middle chain ring climbing before dropping back to the granny. We had a two miles to the top sign. I was monitoring my Garmin, ticking away the tenths of a mile. Remember when I used to stop every mile on the mile? Now I've lost 70 pounds, I don't need to stop all the time! Yay for me. Cycling is so much easier with less weight on the engine and on the bike. But, I got to what I estimated to be the very last turn and decided I was going to stop short. Now was the time. It's funny how my mind works. This was the spot and it didn't matter I could see the top.

Marty and I got to the top. So where was the pass sign? I knew there was a sign. I kept pedaling. There it was, slightly past what appeared to be the crest. We did the photo thing and agreed we should get going. That black cloud overhead looked threatening. It was 12:08. I had warned the guys to be off the top by noon or 1 PM to miss the afternoon storms. It looks like they were right on time.

We were just ready to pull away, when here came Steve. That's the first time we had seen him since this morning. He whooped and hollered and I rang my bell in return. We did the photo thing again. Next was Jorge and then Joe. All of us were at the top at the same time. We needed a group photo!

We all took off at the same time with taillights flashing. This was a nice downhill. Clean, good pavement, just let her roll kind of downhill. The guys don't like to use their brakes. They were soon ahead of me. I stopped to take a photo and they got even further ahead. I came around a curve and saw all of these flashing red lights ahead of me. Oh, dear. It looks like a bunch of emergency vehicle lights. No! It's the guys. I was quite happy at how visible they were at a distance. Lights have come a long way.

We had a few sprinkles on the downhill, but outraced the afternoon storm as we descended. The bank clock in town said 80 degrees. It felt cooler than that to me. Cloud cover is cooling.

Highway 134 was a 27 mile delight. Once we hit the intersection of Highway 40, we had six miles to town. The view was excellent the entire distance with the Gore Range in front of us. There was no shoulder except in the reservoir area. Traffic was fast and impatient. The most impatient was a state patrol car. What the heck. I am happy we have minimal time on this busy road. Tomorrow we turn south on Highway 9 for only two miles. Then we are on a dirt road, Trough Road for 24 miles, clear to State Bridge. Coming out of State Bridge is a huge, honking climb. This is our biggest climbing day of the trip - 4,500 feet of climbing. Our dinner will taste very good tomorrow. Speaking of dinner, we are going to a Mexican restaurant tonight that Steve has eaten at previously and says it's good. I'm happy to hear we will have a good meal.

Update - We agreed over dinner on a 6 AM depart. Except for Jacinto. Who knows when he will leave. The weather forecast is for afternoon wind 16mph from the SW by 1 PM. That is completely against us. High of 85. We've had good weather so far. Jorge mailed home a box of winter clothes today. He wanted to know what the box weighed. The clerk told him not to worry because it was a flat cost box. No, he really wanted to know. She thought he was quite strange, but told him 2.5 pounds. Jorge was happy to not carry that weight tomorrow.

I'd better get to bed!

In anticipation of the easier day, we delayed departure until 8 AM. Jacinto was even up, if not riding.

Those flags were not in our favor. We had a very slow 9 miles to the turn at Topanas.

Marty tries out the payphone at the Topanas store. It did not have a dial tone.

Jorge takes the best selfies. It's amazing we were all at the top at the same time.

A favorite part of touring is riding through a nice aspen grove.

The Gore Range on the approach to Kremmling.

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 217 miles (349 km)

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