July 28, 2017
Day 6, Black's Inn to Kirkwood: The Meaning of "Up"
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Mileage Today; 36 Total So Far; 207 Remaining; 1,388
Climbing Today; 5,833 Total So Far; 16,292 Remaining; 83,826
Max Grade Today; 12.2% Average Uphill Grade; 4.5%
Average Speed While Riding; 6.8 mph
Mechanical Issues; None
Photos Credit; Bud, unless noted otherwise
Bud Speaking:
We left Black’s Inn early in the morning hoping to get a good start on the climb before the Friday weekend traffic kicks in. Slowly we climbed, and for each foot we climbed Sis and Doc set new personal Bicycle Altitude Records (BARs).
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Construction had traffic backed up. We cycled on the right side of a couple dozen vehicles that had passed us earlier, and when we reached the Flagman he told us to go on and just watch for oncoming traffic. The path ahead was steeply downhill, and I’m sure many folks were envious as we zoomed off down the hill while they had to wait.
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We stopped at Kit Carson for lunch at the lodge restaurant and had a nice break.
I usually take a decongestant each morning to help with my plant allergies, but since I was in a different environment now than my native Oklahoma, I had forgone taking my Claritin-D this morning in the hope that I wouldn't need it. However, that turned out to be a mistake as my ears begin to feel plugged up as they do at home when I don't take my allergy pill. At this altitude my plugged up ears wouldn’t pop and I got dizzy and begin to feel rather woozy. Finally reaching the summit of Carson Pass spur, I pulled over and set on a rock to enjoy the view and take some photos. I felt extremely fatigued, like you do when you have altitude sickness. I was so tired that it was difficult just cycling the flat mile and a half to reach our accommodations at Kirkwood.
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We checked into our lodging at Kirkwood and took an elevator from the garage to our floor with our bikes. Afterwards, Sis left to get some supplies from the nearby General Store. Somehow, Sis became a little confused after wandering across the way to the general store, and as she returned to our room she went into the wrong building. She entered an elevator and became trapped because the elevator wouldn't let her out without a room key for that building. If she had read the instructions on the elevator, she would have realized that she could have gone to one floor of the building that the elevator would let her exit without a key. However, she simply pushed every button on the elevator except for the only one that would work, and felt like she was trapped. She became claustrophobic and panicked and pushed the various alarm buttons and the call button but no one answered. Finally, she pushed the right button and went to the floor where the elevator would allow her to exit. She called Doc in a panic and he walked over to find her in the other building and rescue her.
As they were exiting the building, they encountered some of the building management and Sis lit into them pretty good; she was quite shaken from the experience. Things would have been okay, but they tried to explain to her that nothing was wrong with the elevator; at that point she broke loose and tore them a new one. She explained to them that no elevator should allow somebody to enter it without a key but then require them to have a key in order to exit. So that's the story of how Sis became trapped by the elevator, and she still insists that it isn’t at all funny.
We ate dinner at the grill directly across from our accommodations, which was the only place available to eat. The food was good and quite plentiful. Tomorrow there's going to be a convention at the lodge which is being called "Bikes and Brews." Already there are tents set up outside to house various micro brewery operations and bicycle paraphernalia. Too bad we can't stick around to observe it, but we will be departing before first light in the morning. Today was our first serious test and we passed it, although I didn't exactly ace it myself. While we did a lot of climbing, we were doing so in the mountains where there were trees and shady spots to rest. As we roll over into Nevada tomorrow the trees will practically disappear. Shade will be a real premium and for most of the distance between towns there will be none. But that's tomorrow. We still have a bit over 1000 feet of the Sierra Nevada to climb before we exit California. Time for me to get some rest, good night all...
Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 206 miles (332 km)
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