Judy, a nurse practioner I worked with in Colorado Springs, plans a bike trip every year with her friends. Its a loop and usually takes 4-5 days. I went with her last year and we road around through Frisco, Leadville, Aspen, Glenwood Springs, and Vail. It was an amazing experience and I was so excited she invited me again. I couldn't wait to share the experience with Zach. Neither of us are avid cycleists, but we do enjoy riding our bikes and had prepared both of our bikes for this tour. The plan was to ride from Ridgeway back to Ridgeway going through Silverton, Durango, Doloras, and Telluride. Zach and I had just driven most of the route backwards, so we had some idea how steep the mountain passes could get. Every time our car started going downhill, we both got a little more nervous and worried about being able to ride up on our bikes. The area we drove through was beautiful and we were excited to be able to ride through and experience it at a different, and much slower, pace.
We all met at a hotel in Ridgeway. Vicki, Jill, Judy, and Scott were our group members and I enjoyed introducing Zach to my cycling buddies. Dinner was our first priority and we ate at a restaurant called True Grit. Apparently, John Wayne's True Grit movie had been filled in Ridgeway and the restaurant had a lot of memorabilia and fun facts. I enjoyed being there and thinking about the Duke hanging out in the same town we were in:)
It was off to bed after that. Zach and I got permission from the motel to sleep in our van in the parking lot. She offered us towels and blankets and anything we needed! It was a great and we felt much more at ease sleeping. We never woke up thinking we were getting towed there:)
DAY 1
Our third day was started in Durango where we were awoken by the warm sun! We had missed it so much and were so thankful for the warm rays! Drying out didn't take too long with the high alitidude and intense sun! We knew the sun was short lived because the reminents of hurrican Norbert were headed our way. The forecast called for 80% chance of rain all day! We packed our rain layers on top and headed out to meet the group. Staying together was fun on our ride to Doloras. We had intermittent rain and then it started raining pretty hard and consistnetly. We passed by another couple who were touring and headed in the same direction as us. Turns out we saw them everyday until the end and enjoyed our brief chats.
With 5 miles left to our lunch destination of Mancos, we heard a loud thunder clap and the rains of Norbert came upon us. Norbert was not finished apparently and drenched us all from head to toe, dispite our fancy rain gear. Six drown rats pulled up on our bikes to a lovely little lunch spot in downtown Mancos and parked outside. You couldn't keep the warm drinks coming fast enough! All of us had to warm up and were so happy to be out of the rain. We all had such a blast that day and really enjoyed dealing with the elements!
Zach and I did camp again that night. It was raining the entire time we set up camp and then stopped abruptly as we set out to meet the the crew for dinner. It was and extra 2 miles back into town for dinner, but we were hungry and decided our little butts could handle a few more miles on the bike seats. Dinner was lovely, but we wanted to head back before dark. It was getting close as we set out for our tent. There were two deer running beside the road as we rode home. I realized how big they really were being on my bike. I did not want to hit one of those suckers while cycling. They gingerly hopped across the street in front of me and carried on their way. We safely returned to our campsite and settled in for the night.
The day was beautiful! It was going to be our longest day (70 miles), so the sun was a welcomed partner to our journey! Doloras to Telluride crosses over Lizard Head Pass. It was not a steep ascent, which helped the mile markers pass by a little faster. Mile 56 was the steepest and we all shifted down quite a few gears! It was exciting to once again get to the top! My shifter cable wasn't worker right, so I couldn't get down to the lowest gears, but I survived. We arrived in Telluride tired and ready to find our motel. Zach and I were lucky enough to recieve a free hotel room from another couple who had to cancel on coming for the bike trip. The king sized bed and TV were luxuries we had not had in quite awhile, so we were pretty happy that night.
Our dinner was a delicious Thai restaurant a block from the motel. Zach likes his food hot hot hot and happily ate the hottest dish they offered. I tried somebody's meal who ordered mild spice and thought my mouth was going to burn off, so I stuck with the no spice option:) It was then off to bed to rest up for our final day of riding!!
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| Vicki enjoying a break by the river. |
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| Zach enjoying the view. |
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| Our beautiful blue skies!! |
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| Sweet Jill hanging out with us. |
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| Jill finishing up the last mile up the pass! |
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| Cross Mountain..it looks more like bird flying straight out of the ground to me. |
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| Scott, Judy, Vicki, Jill, Sarah, and Zach at the top of Lizard Head Pass |
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| Making our way down into Telluride. |
DAY 5
We had to get up and go to a bike shop to fix my shifter cable. Judy and Scott went with us to get their tires aired up. Jill and Vicki bravely set out to conquer the final day! After the bike tune ups and repairs, we set out to leave Telluride! It was an amazing first 16 miles of down hill! We had blast with only one mishap of Zach dropping his MP3 player. It survived the fall and still played his music as we coasted downhill. What goes down always goes back up in Colorado, so we eventually had to climb up our last uphill. It wasn't too bad but our bodies were tired. We thought we were climbing the final hill of our trip so we pushed hard and rode as fast as we could. As we crested to top of the hill, we realized this wasn't the top...we slowed back down and kept climbing. Finally, we got to go down! We were flying down when a bee struck me in between the eyes. It got stuck behind my sunglasses and freaked out! I got stung before I could flick him away. I was able to keep control of the bike and pull over. Zach came in and saved the day by getting the stinger plucked out. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it did hurt pretty bad. I had 4 miles to go at this point and so we hopped on our bikes and kept going.
Pulling into the parking lot and seeing our van was so exciting! We were home!!! Thanks for an amazing ride Judy, Scott, Vicki, and Jill! Its something we will never forget:)
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