Day 40 - June 12 - Holyoke, CO to Sterling, CO - Two Old Guys Take On A Continent

June 12, 2023

Day 40 - June 12 - Holyoke, CO to Sterling, CO

Rain Delay

John’s Story

We were certain when we went to sleep last night that we would be leaving Holyoke this morning togged out in rain gear for a wet day of riding. Wrong.

I woke up several times last night and looked out to see if it was raining yet. Nope.

The sky was certainly threatening this morning with dark low clouds, a chilly 55 degree temperature and wind, but the forecast had changed. The onset of rain was delayed until this afternoon. We hit the road at about 6:40 AM and hotfooted it for Sterling. The wind out of the southeast was a big help, as most of the ride we were traveling west-northwest. I averaged 13.6 mph today, the best so far. Before the hills returned and our trajectory turned west-southwest I was averaging 14.4 mph.

Today is the first day of the tour that I rode the whole day without perspiring. A miracle. I sweat while riding in snow and sleet, yet somehow today the combo of temperature, wind , topography and clothing kept me dry. I wish I could bottle it for future use.

Once we turned to the west-southwest, our direction of travel, the direction and speed of the wind and the large trucks passing by at 60-70 mph combined to give us some very turbulent riding conditions. A truck passing in the opposite direction blasted us with a wall of wind directly in our face. A lot truck passing us from behind practically lifted us off the ground with its bow wave. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so battered by truck swash before.

The sun even tried to peek out a few times. After the gloom yesterday and this morning it was nice to see my shadow occasionally.

I flushed a pheasant out of the grass by the roadside and watched it fly off. It made quite a racket flying, and it was the first time I ever heard the call of a pheasant.

I caught some blue sky at one point today. Note the heavily wooded landscape. We saw very few trees today, and those we saw were mostly cedars planted around farms as windbreaks.

As I write this it’s about 4:00 PM (we’re in a motel again), and the sun is shining. A check on the weather radar, however, tells me that may not last. There’s supposed to be a round of storms this evening and again tomorrow morning.

Looks like things are starting to heat up outside.

We met two motorcyclists at the convenience store at the I-76 junction as we approached Sterling who told us they had ridden through hail 6” deep on the road this morning south of us on Colorado 71 that had fallen last night. So the storms have been out there. We’ve just been lucky enough to avoid them so far.

These two are headed east and hope to get home to Iowa tonight, where perhaps it’s not so stormy.

Enough about the weather, and back to today’s ride. Once again it was “flat”, meaning gently inclining but without hills. Perhaps you can’t tell from the picture, but the horizons seem impossibly far away. About the time we turned due west then west-southwest the land started to wrinkle up into long hills. Most of the elevation we gained earlier in the morning was given back as the hills led us down into the valley of the South Platte River, which flows through Sterling. We’ll have to do that climbing again tomorrow. The river is high, almost up to the bottom of the bridge, and flowing fast. There is a flood watch in effect for this evening, so I’m glad we got across the river in case it should overflow it’s banks.

It’s a long way to anywhere from here. Oh, look, a few trees in the right background. I wouldn’t want to be caught out here in the sort of storms that have been roiling around the past few days. No place to hide.

Now for the botanical portion of our program. I though I’d give Bill Shaneyfelt a workout today

Same color as yesterday’s alfalfa, but definitely different.

Some sort of rudbeckia, Black-eyed Susan?

When we were at today’s highest elevation (about 4,400’) I started seeing small patches of what look like silver sagebrush. I stopped to look closer. I crushed a few leaves and it had that strong herbal aroma I associate with sagebrush.

Shortly after I first saw what I take to be silver sagebrush, the hills were covered with something that from a distance I at first took to be the same thing.

I stopped to take a closer look at what was covering the hillsides, and it was not the silver sagebrush. I have no idea what this is. I crushed some leaves, and it had a very mild herbal aroma reminiscent of sage.

This is the big mystery to me. The brown color is dried leaves or petals. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s about 6” tall and growing just along the roadside.

End botanical episode.

I’ve always been suspicious of the folks who stay at Ramada Inns.

We arrived in Sterling at 11:15 AM, one of our earliest end of days. It was too early to get into the motel, so we wandered over to a neighborhood bar for a beer. Several locals already drunk with full pitchers of beer in front of them. We drank our beers and excused ourselves. The motel room is big enough we can completely pack our bikes in the morning before we roll out into the rain. And it is raining at last. It started while we were at dinner. We rode in the rain to the grocery store for a few items, then back to the motel. Fortunately we rode to the restaurant in our rain gear. Rake and a Ramblin’ Boy

I’ve decided that in a Star Trek frame of reference I am Mr. Spock, the science officer. My journaling reflects the flora and fauna and the alien life forms we encounter, the natural history of the area, the environmental conditions. Ed’s journaling reflects more of the ship’s log (his Navy background?): where we went, the time it took, the provisions we consumed, the problems we encountered. Ed is a cross between Scottie and Bones.

Pernell Roberts rides again!

Rake and a Ramblin’ Boy

Ed’s Story

Bike date 61233

This morning’s getaway wasn’t as quite easy as John suggested. We could have been out of there by 6:20 or earlier since we were up.

When John was pumping up his front tire, he somehow broke the valve stem and the tire depressurized completely. He had to replace the tube and that took some time. Luckily the stem is replaceable so he saved to tube to get it fixed in Ft Collins.

We left town and said goodbye to the expensive coffee shop we stopped at yesterday. We paid $4.50 for a basic cup of coffee. More than I would expect for a small town.

The ride was pretty much as John discussed. We rode and we climbed and we were lucky there was a tailwind. If the wind we had was a head wind it would’ve made the ride a lot harder.

We had a good berm for the majority of the ride. What is interesting is that most of the roads that intersected US 6 not only had a turn lane, but also an acceleration lane for people getting back on the road. They really don’t want to have people slow down on this road.

There weren’t very many interesting things to see, other than all the plants on the road. At one point when we are at about 4400 feet elevation you can almost see forever… that’s how far is the horizon was.

Once again, they were little to no services along the route. We stopped several times and only found one open grocery store. Other than that, the towns are small and seem to have been deserted.

We did see four oil containers, probably not the right word, as we approached Sterling. They were controlled by a company called Tailwinds Energy.

Must be underground pipes coming in and out because I didn’t see any way to get the oil in.

After we passed the interstate exchange we approached Sterling. We went over one bridge that was higher than the buildings around it. It also went over the railroad track.

This doesn’t show it very well but the bridge is higher in the building. The railroad track is very far below the bridge. A real picture would have been nice, but the traffic was sort of busy.

Once we got into Sterling, we rode to find the hotel we are staying in. I just wanted to ensure that it really existed and wasn’t a scam. Everything is being done online with no real Hotel website or people managing the hotel locally. We were lucky it did exist.

Lunch at the Family Food grocery store, then on to Henry’s pub where John has already talked about the drunks. When I mentioned that I had been on a submarine, one individual started talking about missiles and boomers, and how there used to be an ICBM site all around Sterling. He stated that Sterling would have been safe because by the time the Russians (or someone else) launched their missiles, the ones here would already have been launched. It is sort of odd talking about the end of the world.

While we were at the bar, we received the entry code for the hotel. It is one of the older hotels in downtown Sterling. It is a large room with not only two double beds, but also a kitchenette.

Another older small town hotel. Before the big buildup at the interstate, this was probably prime territory. We are in room number one, the one you see with the open door.

A nice sized kitchenette with a large refrigerator, stove and cooking utensils. We can make breakfast in the morning.

Had a great dinner with a Breckenridge Amber Ale (large of course).

I believe this is a chain restaurant, but the food was still very good.

Well, time to end a journal, I need to pack my bags so we can be ready to head out in the morning.

Tomorrow is a 61 mile ride to the Crow Valley recreation area maintained by the forest service. There are little or no services along the way there tomorrow.

There is no water there. We will have to fill up on water at the small store just prior to getting to the campsite. I tried to make reservations, but most of the sites are first come first serve. I am not sure what we will do when we get there and find a site; i.e. how we pay for it if you can’t reserve it.

Since it is so remote, we may or may not have an Internet signal there. But I guess we will find out.

Until then happy biking!

Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 2,021 miles (3,252 km)

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Nancy GrahamBetween the science lessons and the ship’s log, I am learning and enjoying ;’-). You find some good places to stay the night, and your kitchenette motel looks too grand for such an excursion.
I do think that prices for a hot beverage have gotten a bit ridiculous! $4.50 for a cup of coffee? I drink tea and if the charge is over $3.00 (or sometimes a bit less), I pass it by.
Stay safe and continue enjoying your journey.
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