Thursday -Saturday, September 2nd - 4th
It's been a while since I made a plug for our charity so will do it one more time. If you haven't made a pledge yet please do so at the link at the bottom of this entry, 100% of the money goes to helping support the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan. Healing Americas Heroes is working tirelessly to help those returning with a range of services, please do what you can.
Thursday was a little shorter ride than we expected but the vertical was substantial as we climbed for roughly 20 miles straight outside of Salida, no downhill until about 4pm after cresting Marshall Pass (10,842 feet). Marshall Pass was named after a guy in the 1800's who crossed trying to get to a dentist in Denver. A combination of a late start and a lot of uphill climbing made the day only 44 miles. We ended up spending the night in Sargent, CO in cabins next to a cafe/gas station. Interestingly the last couple of days have been void of the pine beetle infestation that has put a huge hole in the forest of northern Colorado but not in the southern part. Got the answer from a guy deer hunting with a bow the other day . . . gets too cold for them to make it down here.
On Friday we were out a little late as it was still too cold to ride until about 9am. Leaving Sargent we made great time getting to Doylesville, but then had to climb for a very long time after that. The land is wide-open and with little ground cover and the wind started to come up. John and I put in 67 miles on Friday with only 3,500 vertical feet of climbing. We ended up spending the night in a small space next to the road in Rio Grande National Forest. We pitched our tents quickly amid the extensive cow poop and ate our delicious freeze-dried dinners. Hit the sack just before 9pm. It really is true what they say - "eat, sleep, ride the Great Divide.". There really isn't a lot of time for anything else.
Saturday was my 28th wedding anniversary! It was hard not being with Colleen, especially as she holds down the fort in Minneapolis, shouldering the entire load while I am away. Honey, thanks for being my wife and putting up with so much! Love you.
From the campsite there was a 9 mile climb up a mostly modest grade, John and I did it without stopping. With nothing to see at the Carnero Pass (10,166 feet) we went right down. La Garita was our target for lunch as there was a food symbol on the map. Sure encountered a lot of dust from mostly oncoming vehicles, virtually no one slowed down to minimize it either. Made the cafe in La Garita by noon. Towards the end of lunch a group of mountain bikers walked in, one of them even had their names on the map for Del Norte as a cyclists only lodging. Had a great conversation with them, unfortunately we had already lined up our lodging for Del Norte a few minutes before they walked in. On the way down to Del Norte, on a very rough road we encountered the same sand as in Idaho on the converted train track, thick, deep and requiring a lot of caution to get down. We both made it without falling although there were several close calls. At least this stretch of the route was only a mile not like the other one that was over 30 miles of sand, hard to believe we made through all that several weeks ago.
In Del Norte we ran into the only cyclist riding the Great Divide we have seen since the second day of the trip! Alex a 23 year old from San Diego is doing it alone, the other guy decided not to come so he set off alone. This is not a trek that I would like to do alone.
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/113862939710452121802/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXlxP_J1Ib2Dw#
http://americasheroes.wufoo.com/forms/ride-the-divide-for-wounded-warriors/
http://trackleaders.com/divide
