Paonia-Carbondale, CO: We are in the mountains now.

July 4, 2017

There is one train that goes through Paonia in the wee hours of the night. The engineer is sure to blow the whistle a number of times. Ahem.

I was warned last night not to come to breakfast early. I've been piddling around, wasting time. I went downstairs and checked the bikes. They were there, all tires had air. I checked the back brake. I guess I fixed it. It's not rubbing again this morning. Jacinto thinks it was my imagination but it definitely was not.

All of the restaurant doors are locked right except the side door. I let myself in and knocked on the kitchen door. The lady didn't look too happy, but her face rearranged when I only asked for ice. They have crushed ice here. A rarity nowadays. I have my bottles ready to go.

Marilynn- I've asked Marcela to bring my stainless steel bottle when she comes to meet us for dinner tonight. I'm also getting another bag of my favorite meal replacement, Spiz. Jacinto had requested his good flip flops. These stylin flag ones aren't too sturdy. He got a goat head thorn in them at the motel parking lot in Delta. Little devils.

Ok. Its finally breakfast time.

Based on our experience at two restaurants in Paonia, do not go to eat hungry. Go about an hour before you anticipate being hungry. Service was glacial again this morning. Since this is a farm fresh place with emphasis on fresh, I guess waiting for the food to be prepared is reasonable. But coffee should flow! It only flowed when I hunted down the waitress. We were the first people in the restaurant, they filled up pretty well. I asked a waiter who showed up later if they were crazy busy for the holiday, trying to give them an excuse for the slow service. Nope. Today was a slow day. Okay . . . . I guess they don't get many people eating breakfast who are also wanting to bicycle up the pass before the heat starts. Too late on the wind, I already had the 'down the hill in the morning' headwind. Jacinto assured me I should wait for afternoon for the wind to die down. My problem is I get hot. Climbing in the hot sun saps the energy right out of me.

Despite the mild headwind, I was happy to be on the road. Things were being set up downtown for the 4th of July parade. I about squashed a little boy who ran right out in front of me. His mom yelled, which made him double back. I took evasive action but he put the brakes on so fast he fell down. There were lots of people with red, white, and blue and a disc jockey spinning 70's tunes. Jacinto stayed for the parade and was given a bigger American flag by a parade participant. I didn't get out of town until 9 AM with the slow breakfast. Jacinto left at 11.

I had checked all of the tires in the morning. I thought they felt fine. Jacinto said his rear tire was a little squishy before he left, so he topped it off. He thought it would be fine for the day. Wrong. He was ever so wrong.

My day consisted of the headwind, which was eventually annoying enough that I took down my flag. I enjoyed the beautiful mountain scenery. This is the full monty of mountain riding. You can't get better than this. I thought of our good cycling friends Jim and Genny and how they enjoy the real deal. Yep - today would have been the day for them.

I arrived at Somerset, 9 miles down the road. A huge train was being filled with coal. I wondered how long it took to fill that many cars. I also noted that the train was heading downhill. There's no way one engine could pull that many loaded cars up the hill.

Ignoring the wind, life was mighty fine. I was ticking away the miles and the feet of elevation gain. Today would be our biggest day so far, with ~4,600 feet of gain. Originally we planned to stay in Redstone, but with the last minute reservations, we ended up another 17 miles down the road in Carbondale. I have been hoping for days to not have a headwind between Redstone and Carbondale. I knew I'd be tired at that point.

I had taken most of my breakfast as leftovers. I ate the pancake with sheep's milk ice cream on top. I had a few bites of the breakfast skillet, but took most of it to go. Jacinto is rubbing off on me. I think I need real food at the top of the pass. I brought a bar a day to eat on this trip and haven't had even one so far. That's a pretty weighty bag!

I finally got to the bottom of the pass. Six miles to the top, the sign says. I had exactly 26.81 miles at that point. You can be sure I was watching those numbers turn, ever so slowly, but they turned. I got hotter and hotter the slower I went. I was hungry also. Maybe I should have eaten more of that breakfast. I mixed up another bottle of Spiz. There was no eating solid food at this point, my body was busy working.

I saw a road biker loitering by the side of the road. He was of retirement age, lean, with shaved legs. He was waiting for his lady friend. She is a new cyclist and had ridden to the top in tennis shoes, but she was very slow descending. I said I would wave great big when I saw her. But I didn't see her. I kept watching and watching. How could she be this far back? Downhill is downhill, after all. Surely he didn't make up the lady friend? It must have been a full half or or more when I finally saw her. She yelled something at me, but I couldn't understand.

I was really starting to feel the sun and was just on this side of bonking. I should have eaten one of those miracle tablets Oren gave me. I think they're a Hammer product. The Redstone side of McClure Pass is only a three mile climb, but it goes straight up. This side is six miles officially, but you're climbing a long way before the sign. The grade is more reasonable on this side, probably 7% or so - but it goes on forever. I was really wanting forever to end. I stopped I don't know how many times. Forget zipping right up the pass like I did on Gore Pass the beginning of June. I was just hoping to make it without walking! In the very back of my mind is the thought that we are climbing the hard side of Independence Pass in two days. If I think this is suffering, just wait.

Finally, finally, I got to the top. I took my box of food off of the handy, dandy rear rack that I now have just to carry food. When I opened the box I was sure that Jacinto had gotten into my food - there sure wasn't as much food in there as I wanted. Darn. I had no trouble finishing the leftover breakfast skillet. Jacinto had mentioned maybe we could take a photo together at the top of the pass. I waited around about a half hour, and then decided Jacinto could still be in Paonia. Remember day one when I had 50 miles in and he was just leaving town?

I was curious to see if I had a headwind or a tailwind. I think I had both at different times. I lost near 3,000 feet of elevation from the top of the pass to Carbondale. Even with the wind, I was moving just fine.

All day long there was a notable lack of traffic. Especially for the holiday. What a nice surprise. Probably a good half or better of the traffic was motorcycles. All of the trip I've had several people a day give me friendly honks, waves out the window, thumbs up, etc. Maybe everyone is in a good mood with the holiday. I don't usually get quite this many happy motorists.

At Redstone there were cars parked all up and down Highway 133. There is not room for vehicles to park on both sides of the road, but there they were. Holiday parade? People were walking back to their cars and heading downhill with me. Quickly there was way too much traffic on the narrow road. Luckily everyone was driving friendly and I soon hit the bike path and could get off the road altogether.

Five miles to town. Yay! I was ready for the day to be done. This was a long day for me, seven hours. Following Bertha's ever accurate directions, I made a slight right on to 8th Street and followed it clear to Cowen Drive and our very deluxe Comfort Inn room. I could get used to this sort of life. Fresh cookies and coffee in the afternoon. A spacious room. "How many bottled waters would I like", a full hot breakfast buffet in the morning. Ah! This is not Old Station. Tomorrow almost feels like a day off. We have only 30 miles to ride to Aspen. 2,000 feet of elevation gain. If I play Jacinto's game and wait for the afternoon wind up hill, life will be easier. But it's a balancing act with the heat.

Speaking of Jacinto - he had quite a day. First he had the slightly squishy tire, but he thought he could pump it up and fix it in town. Wrong. By Somerset at mile 9, he decided he'd better fix it. This is one of the famous Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires that are never supposed to get flats. Jacinto has some crazy luck that he runs over nails and screws and things that make holes in the tire. Last year in Canada, he tried an emergency road repair of Gorilla Tape over the nail hole. I strong armed him into buying another tire in Nelson, BC (what's the chances of finding a store that stocks Marathon Plus?) - he carried that $90. CAD tire the whole summer and the Gorilla Tape held just fine.

Tread is good on this tire, but it has several Gorilla Tape repairs. Jacinto says a couple of sharp little rocks got in just at the taped areas and flatted the tire. Since he happened to have the folding tire (remember the one he took from me?) - he decided to skip the issue of the repaired areas of the Marathon tire, and just put on the brand new Compass fold tire that Jim had brought us last year in Canada. Jim had had trouble with the Compass tires, but they warrantied them with new tires and this one was supposed to be good.

Yep - it was such a good tire it lasted a whole 40 minutes. Luckily Jacinto was still on the climb. He felt the tire going thump, thump. He got off the bike to look at it. The tube was bulging out a big split in the tire. Kaboom! There it went. At least Jacinto had saved the Marathon tire to throw away in town. Now it went back on the bike. He did have a man stop and offer him a ride, but you know Jacinto. He'd hate to miss a good pass.

With all of that fuss with the tire, Jacinto was only a half hour arriving at the pass after I left. He kept trying his phone, but didn't have service. Finally he got through. Our daughter was driving up from Rifle for dinner with us. Could she bring him a new pump, a new tire, and the big panniers? I didn't even ask details. I just repeated the list back and called her quickly so she wouldn't get too far down the road.

How did I describe the tire? I said to get in the closet with all of the tires and pick the heaviest one. She wanted me to tell her the name, but I assured her it was easiest to go by heft. It took her no time at all to find the correct tire. The pump I was puzzled about. It turns out he wanted a pump with a gauge.

Jacinto and Marcela arrive about the same time. We went for Chinese food. It was better than Paonia, but I ordered the wrong thing. I read shrimp and broccoli, but somehow missed the breaded part. Darn.

Our evening went way to fast. Here it is right now 9:30 PM and I'm just finishing up the journal. I'm looking forward to breakfast in the morning. I hope it isn't prefab eggs and sausage on the 'hot' buffet. I will be very sad.

This is what he looks like AFTER coffee!

Sheep's milk ice cream on my gluten free pancake. The ice cream was good, creamy. The pancake was dense and heavy.

Holiday or not, this long train was being loaded with coal.

We stayed here several times before it was turned into a private compound. Those rich folks! This is right at the turn for Kebler Pass and Crested Butte.

I bet all cyclists stop for a photo at the Paonia reservoir.

I look much fresher at the bottom of the Pass!

I don't look great at the top of the pass. I even combed my sweat soaked hair. I had to wash the salt off my helmet straps when I got to town.

I'm almost to Carbondale. That is Mount Sopris in the background.

Typical scenery in the valley. Aren't we spoiled?

Jacinto is smiling despite all of his tire trouble. What? Tire trouble?

Look at that mountain of rubber on his rack. Yep, there's a big story.

Jacinto's photo on the downhill into Carbondale.

You will note in the text above that I said the tread on his Marathon Plus was fine. This is not fine. Fenders do hide tires, for the good and the bad. Had I known his tire looked like this . . . . Laid back Jacinto says no problem, the tire is still plenty thick, even if the blue is showing. In his opinion the only problem is that little rocks seem to find the nail holes and work their way in to give him a flat.But there is a Marathon Plus puzzle. Jacinto bought this bike in 2009. Marathon Plus tires. He replaced the rear in 2015. It had six years of riding on tour and at home. Who knows how many miles, but significant miles for six years. It was worn when he replaced it, but not down to the blue. This tire is down to the blue after 2.5 years and to my estimating, far fewer miles than the original tire. Both were used exclusively on the rear. Who knows why one wore faster than the other. Sometimes it's interesting to see how the numbers work out for those who keep detailed records. That's not us.

Today's ride: 59 miles (95 km)
Total: 222 miles (357 km)

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