Day 28, Circle K Guest Ranch to Ridgway, CO: High In The Rockies, Sis Gets Off Track

August 19, 2017

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Mileage Today; 73 Total So Far; 1,340 Remaining; 261

Climbing Today; 4,855 Total So Far; 78,316 Remaining; 16,098

Max Grade Today; 8.3% Average Uphill Grade; 2.4%

Average Speed While Riding; 9.7 mph

Mechanical Issues; None

Photos Credit; Bud, unless noted otherwise

****

Bud speaking;

This morning was definitely a cold fingers morning. And we’re going the longest distance and climbing the most today that we will do in any 1 day in Colorado; but that sort of pales in comparison to the distances and climbing we have done earlier on this trip. Still, it’s destined to be a reasonably hard day, so we got a fairly early start and were on the road by 5:00 am. As we headed up the first climb to Lizard Head Pass, the wind commenced rolling off the mountain and gave us a nice little headwind; hence the cold fingers. Here’s a pic of Sis and Doc heading up a climb, and 1 of me as well;

We rolled into the small town of Rico and had a nice surprise when we found a coffee shop open early;

This Coffee Shack Was A Welcome Surprise On A Cold Morning

We all enjoyed a latte and Doc shared his carrot cake with me. We were cold and it was nice to stand inside a bit and enjoy the warmth. It’s a nice place, stop in if you pass through, the crew is very friendly and industrious. But we had to continue on, and here’s Doc and Sis navigating a winding set of curves on the climb.

As you can see, Sis is now riding with a high handlebar position to alleviate the pressure that caused her to get some nerve damage. It will be a few months before she gets complete feeling restored in her wrist, but for now the high handlebars allows her to ride.

Sis's High Bar Placement Eliminated The Wrist Pressure And Allowed Her To Continue (Photo Credit; Doc)

As we were climbing up, we met Tom who was heading down;

Tom Has Crossed The U.S. 3 Times On Bicycle, and Australia Once

Tom had ridden across the U.S. 3 times with his brother in his younger days, and once he rode across Australia. He recommends the Australia crossing, but only in their winter cause the summer’s just too brutal.

Avalanches must be common up here as we saw lots of Aspen trees that were bent over from what appeared to be avalanche damage. We passed a half-dozen or so of these signs which mark the location of avalanche-busting bomb launcher sites;

We’re getting high enough to see snow on occasion. With a little luck we may be able to touch some snow when we crest Monarch Pass and cross the Continental Divide.

These Mountains Separate The Continental Drainage; Soon We Cross The Continental Divide

And here’s a bit of scenery from today’s ride;

One of Many Cascading Rapids On The Dolores River

Prior to reaching the pass, I stopped and talked to a couple of Colorado Highway Patrol Troopers who had been investigating a vehicle accident. I’m gathering some data on this journey using some home-made equipment to record the lateral distance that vehicles pass me, and the Troopers were interested to hear about that research, so we chatted a bit.

Pushing on, we all eventually reached the pass. We were at a slightly higher elevation in Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah, but this is the highest we will get until we cross Monarch Pass. Here I am securing the tripod to the bike and preparing the delayed shutter to allow me to get in the group photo.

Bud Uses His Bike To Mount A Tripod For Group Photos (Photo Credit; Doc)

And here’s the glory shot;

The Trio Of Three-Letter Names at Lizard Head Pass, Elev. 10,222 Feet

We met a family of cyclists who were preparing to ride a trail down from atop the pass. There were a couple of youngsters, and Grandad was going to follow them down on his e-bike.

This Gentleman Mounts His Crutches Behind And Uses An E-Bike To Ride With His Grandchildren (Photo Credit; Doc)

After climbing Lizard Head, you begin the descent but it is soon interrupted and you have to climb a bit more before you can enjoy the long downhill ride towards Sawpit. Today’s cultural moment consists of a couple of photos of old buildings, just because I like to do that.

Sawpit had a store where we could get a cold drink and sit outside and eat our sack lunches that we brought from the Circle K Guest Ranch. So what exactly is a sawpit? Here’s the answer, as photographed in the Men’s room;

Today was going to be a moderately hard day with the mileage and the climbing. Long distance cycle touring is 95% mental, and the rest is in your head; I know you’ve heard me say that before. Sis began losing focus at Sawpit and started getting caught up in some ongoing family squabbles and legal issues. She says she is tired and needs a rest day, but we don’t get a rest day for 2 days yet. She’s convinced herself that she can’t make it. This was absolutely the worst possible time for this to happen, because we still have to climb up to the Dallas Divide today, and then descend to Ridgway. In other words, there was still a lot of hard work to do, and we needed to be focused. I rode on ahead, and Sis and Doc slowly followed. Here I am at the Dallas Divide;

And here’s Doc and Sis;

Doc At The Dallas Divide (Photo Credit; Sis)

Sis At The Dallas Divide (Photo Credit; Doc)

I descended to Ridgway and checked in. I was worried about Doc and Sis, but soon they showed up. Sis had decided that she was done, that she couldn’t go on. She refused to go eat, and was looking for some way to rent a car and go home. When that didn’t pan out so easily, she eventually decided to go eat with us, and after eating she started feeling better. Eventually she decided that she would continue. Gee whiz, I really love the drama…

Walking back from eating, we stopped at the Family Dollar store to look for some gloves big enough to fit over our cycling gloves; we had all suffered cold fingers this morning. The young lady that helped us was Family Dollar’s best sales rep; she was cheerful and funny and took us “on this adventure together” as we searched the store for gloves. Family Dollar management; if you are listening, you better keep this young lady happy so she stays with you because she is a real gem. We did find just what we needed; for the whopping sum of $2.50 I bought 2 pair of gloves (they were bundled such that you had to buy 2 pair) and gave Doc a pair.

So life is good for me right now; I have gloves to keep my fingers warmer tomorrow morning, Sis managed to work her way past a bit of irrational behavior, the next 2 days are expected to be only moderately difficult, and then we have our final rest day. Sigh – good night…

Today's ride: 73 miles (117 km)
Total: 1,339 miles (2,155 km)

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