"You Got it, Baby!"

July 5, 2013

Day 12: Denver Creek Campground to Estes Park, Colorado

It was a cold and rainy night, and I had a hard time making myself get up at 5:00. I was able to get everything packed up in record time, because I was worried that it would start raining again.

It was extremely chilly as I rode down the mountain, and the bike had the worst shimmy I've ever experienced. Had I packed things wrong? I stopped a couple of times to check, but could never determine the cause of the shimmy. Oddly, it went away later. Very strange.

I ate a gigantic breakfast at a cafe in Granby, then got on US 34, or "Trail Ridge Road", which is the highest continuous paved road in the United States. For the first several miles, however, it was relatively flat. About ten miles after entering Rocky Mountain National Park, the climbing began. The shoulder want away, the switchbacks began, it got steeper, and the holiday tourist traffic increased. I saw lots of cyclists on the climb, all riding light, unloaded road bikes. Many of them wore the serious "roadie face" and didn't acknowledge me, but a few made supportive or at least pleasant comments as they zoomed past me ("zooming" in the sense that they were going 10 mph while I was going 5 mph):

"Hey - check out the human powered vehicle, panniers and all!"
"Where's the kitchen sink?"
"You got it, baby!"

I've done lots of climbs, including the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, but this one was the toughest due to its length and the altitude reached. I was in the small chain ring for hours, almost the entire way up. The visitor center, which is hundreds of feet lower than the highest point of the road, was a zoo, with hundreds of people milling around. I ate one of my Payday bars instead of standing in the incredibly long line to get an $8.00 ham sandwich.

I felt a real aversion to getting back on the road to do the remaining 1.5 mile climb, and the long, long windy descent. But what else could I do? It was not as if I could ask someone with an SUV to carry me and my stuff down the mountain, right? I'm ashamed to admit that I did in fact briefly contemplate this. Eventually, though I got back on the now even busier road and rode into the wind. For about a mile on the climb I took the lane and let traffic back up behind me; no way was I going to get close the edge and the frankly terrifying drop off.

The descent itself was actually exhilerating. The quality of the pavement was good enough that I felt comfortable letting the bike go the 35 mph speed limit (or a little more.) I wasn't so fearless that I passed any cars on the way down, although I did witness one roadie do that. That seems like asking for trouble to me.

At one point I led a group of cars down the mountain for a two or three miles. When the road leveled out, I pulled over to let them around me, and got several thumbs-ups and "You're awesome!"

So much nicer than "Get the fuck off the road!" or something similar.

I arrived in Estes Park without specific directions to the home of my host, Marilyn, but eventually figured it out with her help. Marilyn provided a delicious (and atypically for me, healthy) dinner and the use of her comfortable home. Thanks, Marilyn!

Today's ride: 82 miles (132 km)
Total: 1,034 miles (1,664 km)

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