June 18, 2024
Day 48 - Guffey
Took off from Canyon at 7am knowing I had some climbing ahead of me. I passed dozens of signs for Royal Gorge which has the highest suspension bridge in the US, a whopping 1,000 feet above the Arkansas river. I recall that my wife and I may have actually visited this bridge in 1986
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My Garmin bike computer displays a bunch of different items as I ride. It also has a feature called ClimbPro. Any hill that meets certain criteria for distance and steepness will be categorized as a ClimbPro hill. As I approach one of theses hills the display on my Garmin changes. Below is the 2nd hill I hit today. Hills are rated according to gradient, this hill had a 5.3% average gradient
Here is a primer on bike gradients
- 0%: A flat road
- 1–3%: Slightly uphill but not too difficult
- 4–6%: A manageable gradient that can cause fatigue over long periods
- 7–9%: Can be uncomfortable for experienced riders and very challenging for new climbers
In western Virginia and Eastern Kentucky I was hitting a lot of hills with 7-9% gradients. Once I finished that 2nd hill today I found myself at 7,200 feet where the air is starting to get thin. Below is how my Garmin typically looks displaying current speed, average speed for that days ride, distance, time, calories burned, elevation, and time actually pedaling
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2 months ago
I did 5,650 feet of ascent today. Here was my last hill, not steep with a 3.5% gradient but it went on forever
I had lunch at the Mountain Aries market where Bob fixed me a great smoothie
I am staying in Guffey, CO tonight in a bunkhouse owned by Bill. Bill has been in Guffy since 1972 and hosted riders who did the first Transamerica ride in 1976. He has hosted riders ever since. I pulled up in front of Guffy’s garage, met Bill, and the first thing he asked me is if I wanted a cold beer.
A few minutes later, Colin from the Netherlands rode up and we had ourselves a party.
Guffey is a bit of a ghost town which still a bunch of residents. The two pictures below along with the earlier photo of Guffey’s garage gives you a taste of what the center of town looks like
Bill regaled us with stories about the towns past (gold mining and lumber) and the hundreds of bikers he has met over the years
Here is the bunkhouse where Colin and I are staying tonight. It was built in 1880 and is where miners brought their gold to have it weighed and get paid
Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 2,247 miles (3,616 km)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |
That’s impressive stuff Mr. Henderson.
2 months ago
2 months ago