We woke up today at 5:45, which is on the early side for most Spokes mornings (our median wake-up time is around 6:30). At this point, we’ve fallen into a morning routine. Everyone packs up their sleeping bags and belongings first thing in the morning, and after eating breakfast we split up the tasks of packing the car, preparing the cooler, inflating bike tires, and filling up our water jugs. On the first day of the trip we didn’t get out the door until 1pm. Now we’ve shaved down our morning routine to a little under two hours. So today, after a delicious egg breakfast (thank you to our Steamboat Springs hosts for letting us use their chickens’ eggs! It was lovely staying with you) and the usual tasks, we were ready to go. We were planning on setting up Katherine’s GoPro today, but the straps on it proved challenging to our uncoordinated fingers. Maybe if we spent more time sewing and less time biking, but alas. Perhaps by the time tomorrow’s blog post rolls around we’ll have some crisp, HD GoPro footage to share.
Today was supposed to be one of the Big Days, our first day of crossing the Rocky Mountains. 9 hours of biking, 5000 feet of elevation gain. It was intimidating, but unlike the climb over the Sierras, I felt equipped. I was excited for the challenge. The ride started innocuously enough. The first stretch was a flat bike path passing through Steamboat Springs. Parth’s bike had some troubles, but it would be a weird day if it didn’t. They peeled off to go to a bike shop to get it fixed, and the rest of the morning bikers – Sophia, Vincent, Aja, and I – pressed onward.
Our first rest stop. The road is steeper than it looks! Photo courtesy Parth.
After about half an hour, the dreaded uphill stretch came into view. Really, it was just a mountain with a road blasted out of its side, snaking around the edges. And for the rest of the leg, the road went up. It didn’t flatten or dip. It just kept going. At the bottom of the hill I turned on my “Drum n bass classics” playlist, put my head down, and 1800 vertical feet later stumbled across the gravel to the rest stop, where Joel had laid out our picnic blanket. We snacked on apples and oranges (thank you Joel and Katherine for getting fruit!) and forced down some nuts for protein, and half an hour later we were back on the road. By this time Parth’s bike was fixed (I’m learning that “fixed” is a temporary state of grace, and not a permanent condition), so they, Sophia, and I took off together while Vincent and Aja wrapped up their breaks.
a majestic mountain view. photo courtesy of Parth
Leg 2 was much easier. 1300 feet of climbing, but still mostly downhill. And the scenery was beautiful. Green in every direction, streams cutting through the grass, rows of impossibly narrow pines, a family of cows that stared at us as we biked by (if only the GoPro could have captured it). We wrapped up Leg 2 at 12:30, feeling optimistic for the rest of the day.
If there’s one thing this journey has taught me, it’s that something can always go wrong. Today, that something was the weather. Our third stop was in a town called Kremmling, at a coffee shop / ice cream bar. 20 minutes out, and I felt a couple drops of water on my face. 10 minutes later, and the rain was pelting down in dime-sized globs. By the time I arrived at the coffee shop, we were in the middle of a thunderstorm which was expected to last until 7. Another cyclist, who was trapped inside the shop for the same reason, warned us that lightning storms in Colorado are “pretty deadly.” So we heeded his advice, drove to pick up the remaining Spokes on the road, and then hunkered down. A half-hour break turned into an hour, and then an hour and a half. After a while it became clear that our prospects would not improve any time soon.
The remaining Spokes (Aja not pictured) wait out the storm by playing cards. Photo courtesy Parth.
Being the kind soul that she is, Katherine offered to shuttle the Spokes the remaining two legs in the car to our Frisco hosts’ house. I was lucky enough to be in the car for the first trip. She, Vincent, and I arrived forty five minutes later and unloaded the car in the pouring rain. Then Katherine rushed off to pick up the others, and Vincent and I took showers and chatted with our hosts, who were generous enough to cook us a lasagna dinner. After a delicious, energy-dense communal meal, I peeled off from the group to write this.
That’s about all from me for today. Tomorrow is more climbing, but then we’re out of the Rockies (supposedly).
Till next time,
Timothy