July 7, 2009
Rifle - Redstone: Easy cruising to warm up our legs.
Lodging: Redstone Cliff Lodge 888-652-8005 Kathy and Mitch Cabin #1 Queen Bed $92.
It's amazing how much gear for a hotel trip weighs. We did have some extra clothing for this trip. Weather here in Colorado has been unseasonably wet and cold this year. We each brought one more long layer than we would typically carry. Jacinto was excited to be taking his new Surely Long Haul Trucker on it's maiden voyage. He had purchased the bike only the week before. This will be quite a test ride.
Jacinto and I almost made it in time - only 15 minutes late. Moni had drawn a special Slum starting line in chalk in front of the movie theatre.
We agreed to stick together to the start of the bike path in Glenwood as it can be a bit confusing for out of towners. Jacinto took us the back way along the river road. Everyone enjoyed being away from the traffic. We had one group rest stop where I took advantage of a pee break behind a sign. Later Moni told me I shouldn't have squatted quite so deeply . . . ah, well . . . hopefully the guys were busy looking at the fabulous scenery.
We stayed on the river road to New Castle where we stopped at the grocery for a cold drink and a bathroom break. I was amazed that City Market does not have cold Gatorade - many other drinks, but not Gatorade. We ended up with vitamin water.
We took another back road - delaying our exposure to traffic until the last possible minute. Finally we had to get on the interstate for seven miles heading into Glenwood Springs. It's a quick seven miles - I think the vehicles passing by sucked us right along.
Finally we were on the nice bike path. It's called the Rio Grande Trail and goes all the way to Aspen. If you are traveling in the area, it is a wonderful ride. We had ridden 70 mile round trip from Glenwood to Woody Creek Traven last week with Tim and Dustin. Don't you bicycle for food also? : )
We enjoyed trading spots as we rode along, getting to know each other. Fred was the only other recumbent rider - he's on a Lynx Optima. Fred lives right on the Pacific Coast and does mini tours up and down the coast - lucky fellow.
Ken is from Texas. He's extra quiet, but is great fun to talk to and is always laughing. He has taken the summer off work to ride his bike. Lucky us, Ken thought a couple of weeks in Colorado would be just the thing. Ken has vacationed and cycled in Colorado before, so he was familiar with many of the roads. Ken's bike is very tricked out. I enjoyed looking it over at rest breaks to see if I could find all of the modifications he'd made.
You are all familiar with Moni from her many crazyboy journals. It's quite a sight to ride behind here. She's a tiny little thing, mounted on her bike with huge panniers. But she moves right along down the road, far faster than I go. Moni says that her panniers may be big, but they don't have too much weight in them. She has all kinds of patches sewn on her panniers from her many travels.
John is from New Mexico - he travels 2-3 months out of the year. If we could all retire in such a fashion! I was surprised when he pulled up with a Bilinky road bike rather than a recumbent. John said his butt was in shape from mountain biking, so he brought the road bike. John's a lean, mean grizzled riding machine.
We all stopped at Subway in Carbondale for lunch and ice in our water bottles. Some folks hit the grocery store for evening supplies. From here it was a straight shot to Redstone up highway 133. The further we rode, the narrower and more scenic the canyon got. Riders spread out as we took our typical touring pace.
I rode along quite a way with Fred, talking recumbents. Moni caught up with us. She had been eating cherries along the way - said she was planting trees.
There had been heavy rain storms in the area over the weekend. There had been five mudslides with depths from 1-5 feet that had closed the highway all afternoon. The highway department was still working on getting the slides cleaned up - good thing for us the weather was sunny and bright for the first day of our tour.
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As I pulled into Redstone I found most of the group talking to the local pastor and his wife. It turns out they were tandem riders who had done Ride the Rockies. They offered that the camping members of the group could stay at the church right next to the river. They would leave the back door of the church open for restroom access. How nice! Cyclists are such great people.
We had a cabin at the Redstone Cliff Lodge. I was highly disappointed to find that my favorite restaurant next door was closed, but we wandered downtown after showering for an ice cream before dinner. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Eat dessert before dinner when cycling? Most of us went to the one open restaurant - Moni said she had been carrying her food - by golly, she was going to cook and eat it. The rest of us continued to get acquainted over dinner.
Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 60 miles (97 km)
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