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
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Sunday - Wednesday, August 29th - September 1st
Sunday was a short ride of about 17 miles from Silverthorn to Breckenridge, all on the bike path but worth doing as we went around Dillion Reservoir. Robert and Joe joined us for the entire ride, sure was a pleasure to have them along. I was still elated from Robert's surprise visit on a dirt road coming out of Radium, that memory will be with me for the rest of my life.
John and I needed a second rest day and took it in Breckenridge to let the bodies rest and to catch up on a lot of emails and other things. Spent all of Monday walking the town looking for various list items to get done. Got most of them checked off.
Tuesday we had a big climb up Boreas Pass, about 2,000 feet of vertical to 11,500 feet. Ended up this was one of our easiest climbs of the trip. The dirt road was originally a narrow gauge railroad bed built from 1880 to 1884 for mining and transportation from Como to Breckenridge and Leadville and beyond. The grade was gradual and we were not huffing and puffing to get up, wish all our climbs were like that. The views are something else, Mount Silverheels over 13,000 feet with multiple colors of green, red, and silver was spectacular. The descent was also long and gradual dropping us in Como, a town waiting to be reclaimed from abandonment 80 plus years ago. With nothing open we moved on. The rest of the ride was through rolling hills in a long wide open valley. The wind picked up and blew us sideways for a couple of hours. We stopped behind a hill for the usual lunch of gorp and jerky. Reached Hartsel, our planned stopping point by 4pm, a little early for terminating the day. Had buffalo burgers and a little ice cream and decided to keep going, there was no place to stay there anyway. While in the cafe a minister from San Antonio came in with his daughter and niece, struck up a conversation about what we were up to. Before he left we held hands in the middle of the cafe (we were the only customers) and he said a prayer for us. Really is amazing the people you meet on a trip like this.
Ended up pedaling another 14 miles to a place next to the road, with stubby grass, a lot of rocky soil and private land, we found some area to camp. John pitched his tent about 20 feet from the road. I put mine in the ditch on a small patch of grass hoping it wouldn't rain and that traffic would be minimal, had luck on both counts. Another reason for moving along that evening was I had a conference call at 3:30pm the next day, with only 35 miles to ride that was not going to be an issue, 50 miles would have been a little tight.
Wednesday we were out of our campsite by 8am with Salida as our destination. Made great time until we hit a watershed divide summit, which we have grown to view skeptically. The last couple of watershed divides have been bigger obstacles than the maps indicate and this one was no exception - a long climb with a sharp steep finale and at 9,800 feet. The descent to Salida provided us with a breathtaking view of the Sawatch Range with many peaks over 14,000 feet it is gorgeous. You have to look at the pictures to get the beauty of these mountains. Made it to Salida by 12:30pm, got a room and put the bikes in for final maintenance since there are no bike shops between Salida, CO and Mexico. My brakes and back tire had worn down to a point that the next 900 miles would exceed their usefulness. Also had to get a final resolution on my water filter pump which hadn't worked since A&M Reservoir way back in southern Wyoming. Had to buy a new one and ship the broken one back. We are going to need a pump for New Mexico as the water will be a bigger issue to filter. At Salida we have 62% of ride behind us and only a few hard climbs left. By the way, Salilda is an eclectic little town with a lot of art galleries, cafes and shops, worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood.
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
Sunday was a short ride of about 17 miles from Silverthorn to Breckenridge, all on the bike path but worth doing as we went around Dillion Reservoir. Robert and Joe joined us for the entire ride, sure was a pleasure to have them along. I was still elated from Robert's surprise visit on a dirt road coming out of Radium, that memory will be with me for the rest of my life.
John and I needed a second rest day and took it in Breckenridge to let the bodies rest and to catch up on a lot of emails and other things. Spent all of Monday walking the town looking for various list items to get done. Got most of them checked off.
Tuesday we had a big climb up Boreas Pass, about 2,000 feet of vertical to 11,500 feet. Ended up this was one of our easiest climbs of the trip. The dirt road was originally a narrow gauge railroad bed built from 1880 to 1884 for mining and transportation from Como to Breckenridge and Leadville and beyond. The grade was gradual and we were not huffing and puffing to get up, wish all our climbs were like that. The views are something else, Mount Silverheels over 13,000 feet with multiple colors of green, red, and silver was spectacular. The descent was also long and gradual dropping us in Como, a town waiting to be reclaimed from abandonment 80 plus years ago. With nothing open we moved on. The rest of the ride was through rolling hills in a long wide open valley. The wind picked up and blew us sideways for a couple of hours. We stopped behind a hill for the usual lunch of gorp and jerky. Reached Hartsel, our planned stopping point by 4pm, a little early for terminating the day. Had buffalo burgers and a little ice cream and decided to keep going, there was no place to stay there anyway. While in the cafe a minister from San Antonio came in with his daughter and niece, struck up a conversation about what we were up to. Before he left we held hands in the middle of the cafe (we were the only customers) and he said a prayer for us. Really is amazing the people you meet on a trip like this.
Ended up pedaling another 14 miles to a place next to the road, with stubby grass, a lot of rocky soil and private land, we found some area to camp. John pitched his tent about 20 feet from the road. I put mine in the ditch on a small patch of grass hoping it wouldn't rain and that traffic would be minimal, had luck on both counts. Another reason for moving along that evening was I had a conference call at 3:30pm the next day, with only 35 miles to ride that was not going to be an issue, 50 miles would have been a little tight.
Wednesday we were out of our campsite by 8am with Salida as our destination. Made great time until we hit a watershed divide summit, which we have grown to view skeptically. The last couple of watershed divides have been bigger obstacles than the maps indicate and this one was no exception - a long climb with a sharp steep finale and at 9,800 feet. The descent to Salida provided us with a breathtaking view of the Sawatch Range with many peaks over 14,000 feet it is gorgeous. You have to look at the pictures to get the beauty of these mountains. Made it to Salida by 12:30pm, got a room and put the bikes in for final maintenance since there are no bike shops between Salida, CO and Mexico. My brakes and back tire had worn down to a point that the next 900 miles would exceed their usefulness. Also had to get a final resolution on my water filter pump which hadn't worked since A&M Reservoir way back in southern Wyoming. Had to buy a new one and ship the broken one back. We are going to need a pump for New Mexico as the water will be a bigger issue to filter. At Salida we have 62% of ride behind us and only a few hard climbs left. By the way, Salilda is an eclectic little town with a lot of art galleries, cafes and shops, worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood.
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
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday August 26-28
Thursday was a light day, left the Dutch Creek Guest Ranch late, around 10:30am for a mostly downhill run to Steamboat Springs. A little less than 30 miles and almost all on paved roads. We stopped at a section of County Road 62, John had done some research to determine roughly where David Blumenthal had his accident. This young man from Vermont, a racer in the Great Divide race this year, a husband and father of a young daughter died from running into a slow moving truck. We said a prayer for him, for his family that they will recover from this tragedy and that God will help them adjust to their new world on earth.
We made it into Steamboat Springs in time to get our bikes serviced at the Orange Peel, one of the bike shops that many of the Divide racers use. Picked up a few supplies and got ready for the next day of riding.
Friday left the hotel around 9am, stopped to get some freeze-dried dinners and me a stocking cap and some wool socks to combat my low weight, low cost sleeping bag situation. Our initial objective was to camp somewhere near French Creek, about 45 miles down the trail. Encountered our first obstacle as there was construction on the Stagecoach Reservoir dam and we had to go around the lake, adding about 5 miles to our journey. There was at least 5 miles of steady climbing to reach Lynx Pass, which after summiting provided a good ride down to meadows and a restored stagecoach inn. Had to ford Rock Creek which up to our thighs and cold. There were a lot of bow hunters getting ready for the opening of elk season the next day. These hunters sure do go to great lengths to get an elk, with a bow you have to get really close in order to have a reason chance of bagging one. Still haven't seen an elk in the wild the entire trip! It was starting to get late and we took a shot at reaching Radium, CO, which is nothing but a railroad crossing with several tracks next to the Colorado River but with a good campsite. We just barely made it down the steep descent before dark, got into the public campsite just after 8pm registering 62 miles on our "light day" and around 4600 vertical feet of climbing. Some nice folks from Winter Park gave us enough water to cook with for the evening, as the park did not provide fresh water (but did a toilet and even electricity!). That evening I felt like a hobo of yesteryear, camping next to the tracks, many trains coming through all night, waiting for my next ride. I actually slept great with my wool hat and socks!
Saturday was the normal routine of packing up, mooched a little more water from the young folks camping next to us (enough to get us to Kremmling). We said the morning prayer and hit the road. I passed by a huge boulder and thought of my oldest son Robert, he would really like to have "bouldered" that rock. As we started a gentle climb before a bigger one, I looked up at the cars passing me and saw a Jeep that looked like ours in Colorado, red, roof open, etc. I looked again and it was my son Robert driving it! He very casually say hi as he passed. I jumped off my bike disregarding the traffic and ran across the dirt road to hug him, couldn't stop hugging, tearing up, the usual emotions. Robert went to great lengths to keep his surprise uncompromised, didn't tell anyone in the family, he only let his fellow workers know the plan. Couldn't ask for a more loving, wonderful son, I just get teary-eyed thinking of all the effort he put in to meeting up with me. Oh yea, Robert brought still hot breakfast bagels with bacon, cheese and eggs that we devoured them standing on the road, never had one that tasted that good. Joe Wall, a friend from college, was with Robert so that there would be a shuttle and both of them could join us riding segments of the route the next couple of days. We met up again in Kremmling for lunch and to organize a meeting point and a campsite for the night. There was a 30 mile ride to summit Ute Pass (9,524 feet) and get down before dark so we had to get moving from Kremmling. Robert also got Alex Brandt to come up from Denver to join in, another friend from high school. Got to see him but he had to get back to Denver and couldn't join us for the ride despite bringing his bike along. Joe and Robert jumped on just before the steep climb up Ute Pass. The four of us went by the biggest mining operation I have ever seen, the Henderson mine with a massive refuse lake that has an stench to it. The lake looks like something from another planet, stagnant, surface glimmering with multicolored sludge. Sure hope the EPA has their act together on this one!
Made it to the top of Ute Pass just as a storm was coming and evening was setting in. Had to get off the pass quickly as thunder was starting to rumble. We got to the bottom of a steep, but paved run completely drenched. The campsite we had hoped to stay at was closed and would have been hard to pitch a dry tent anyway. So we took off for Silverthorn with our headlamps on riding on the wide shoulder of Highway 9, with rain and night engulfing us. After a long 10 miles we made it to the city limits, found a hotel and got a much needed hot shower. Robert and Joe showed up after going back to get the truck while John and I rode into Silverthorn. There are 6 maps of the 2,493 mile Great Mountain Bike Route, 50% of the maps done and 58% of the route ridden, we all headed out for beer, pasta and pizza right next to the hotel. I couldn't have dreamt of a better day, being so touched by my son and his thoughtfulness.
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
Thursday was a light day, left the Dutch Creek Guest Ranch late, around 10:30am for a mostly downhill run to Steamboat Springs. A little less than 30 miles and almost all on paved roads. We stopped at a section of County Road 62, John had done some research to determine roughly where David Blumenthal had his accident. This young man from Vermont, a racer in the Great Divide race this year, a husband and father of a young daughter died from running into a slow moving truck. We said a prayer for him, for his family that they will recover from this tragedy and that God will help them adjust to their new world on earth.
We made it into Steamboat Springs in time to get our bikes serviced at the Orange Peel, one of the bike shops that many of the Divide racers use. Picked up a few supplies and got ready for the next day of riding.
Friday left the hotel around 9am, stopped to get some freeze-dried dinners and me a stocking cap and some wool socks to combat my low weight, low cost sleeping bag situation. Our initial objective was to camp somewhere near French Creek, about 45 miles down the trail. Encountered our first obstacle as there was construction on the Stagecoach Reservoir dam and we had to go around the lake, adding about 5 miles to our journey. There was at least 5 miles of steady climbing to reach Lynx Pass, which after summiting provided a good ride down to meadows and a restored stagecoach inn. Had to ford Rock Creek which up to our thighs and cold. There were a lot of bow hunters getting ready for the opening of elk season the next day. These hunters sure do go to great lengths to get an elk, with a bow you have to get really close in order to have a reason chance of bagging one. Still haven't seen an elk in the wild the entire trip! It was starting to get late and we took a shot at reaching Radium, CO, which is nothing but a railroad crossing with several tracks next to the Colorado River but with a good campsite. We just barely made it down the steep descent before dark, got into the public campsite just after 8pm registering 62 miles on our "light day" and around 4600 vertical feet of climbing. Some nice folks from Winter Park gave us enough water to cook with for the evening, as the park did not provide fresh water (but did a toilet and even electricity!). That evening I felt like a hobo of yesteryear, camping next to the tracks, many trains coming through all night, waiting for my next ride. I actually slept great with my wool hat and socks!
Saturday was the normal routine of packing up, mooched a little more water from the young folks camping next to us (enough to get us to Kremmling). We said the morning prayer and hit the road. I passed by a huge boulder and thought of my oldest son Robert, he would really like to have "bouldered" that rock. As we started a gentle climb before a bigger one, I looked up at the cars passing me and saw a Jeep that looked like ours in Colorado, red, roof open, etc. I looked again and it was my son Robert driving it! He very casually say hi as he passed. I jumped off my bike disregarding the traffic and ran across the dirt road to hug him, couldn't stop hugging, tearing up, the usual emotions. Robert went to great lengths to keep his surprise uncompromised, didn't tell anyone in the family, he only let his fellow workers know the plan. Couldn't ask for a more loving, wonderful son, I just get teary-eyed thinking of all the effort he put in to meeting up with me. Oh yea, Robert brought still hot breakfast bagels with bacon, cheese and eggs that we devoured them standing on the road, never had one that tasted that good. Joe Wall, a friend from college, was with Robert so that there would be a shuttle and both of them could join us riding segments of the route the next couple of days. We met up again in Kremmling for lunch and to organize a meeting point and a campsite for the night. There was a 30 mile ride to summit Ute Pass (9,524 feet) and get down before dark so we had to get moving from Kremmling. Robert also got Alex Brandt to come up from Denver to join in, another friend from high school. Got to see him but he had to get back to Denver and couldn't join us for the ride despite bringing his bike along. Joe and Robert jumped on just before the steep climb up Ute Pass. The four of us went by the biggest mining operation I have ever seen, the Henderson mine with a massive refuse lake that has an stench to it. The lake looks like something from another planet, stagnant, surface glimmering with multicolored sludge. Sure hope the EPA has their act together on this one!
Made it to the top of Ute Pass just as a storm was coming and evening was setting in. Had to get off the pass quickly as thunder was starting to rumble. We got to the bottom of a steep, but paved run completely drenched. The campsite we had hoped to stay at was closed and would have been hard to pitch a dry tent anyway. So we took off for Silverthorn with our headlamps on riding on the wide shoulder of Highway 9, with rain and night engulfing us. After a long 10 miles we made it to the city limits, found a hotel and got a much needed hot shower. Robert and Joe showed up after going back to get the truck while John and I rode into Silverthorn. There are 6 maps of the 2,493 mile Great Mountain Bike Route, 50% of the maps done and 58% of the route ridden, we all headed out for beer, pasta and pizza right next to the hotel. I couldn't have dreamt of a better day, being so touched by my son and his thoughtfulness.
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
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday and Wednesday August 23rd and 24th
The links for pictures, pledging to Healing American Heroes and tracking our daily progress are at the end of this entry.
Left Rawlins at 9:15am for an easy ride in the morning, all pavement, no wind, and fresh legs. We made great time until we hit the gravel and the climbs, ended up only did about 4,000 feet of vertical and 54 miles for the day, but felt like a lot more. We finally got back into the trees after being out of them for roughly 170 miles. John's chain broke after a big truck passed and threw some gravel into the links. Surprisingly it took less time to fix than a flat. Camped in a wooded site with some aspens and a lot of dead pines. The pine beetle has taken all the large pines and these big trees will coming down in huge quantities in the next several years. Again I was cold as my 45 degree bag doesn't cut it when it gets blew 35 degrees.
Thursday was a little more memorable. After leaving camp went into the Aspen Alley stretch, a short snippet of road surrounded by very large aspen trees. Hitting some pavement right after we flew downhill and hit a another milestone, leaving Wyoming and entering Colorado . . . three states down and two to go. The metropolis of Slater, CO is an unmanned post office trailer and that is it, not even any water, which we were running out of with a big climb ahead. Both the UV and pump water filtration devices weren't working. A couple of miles into the climb I decided to stop at a quant white farmhouse beside the road. A elderly woman answers and let's us fill up, man was that a relief. Just before reaching her house I went right by a rattle snake sunning itself in the middle of the dirt road. Didn't realize it until John mentioned it right after I went by. I hopped off the bike ran back for a picture, don't like rattle snakes the same as badgers!
About 8 miles of constant uphill climbing we hit our lunch destination, Whispering Pines Lodge, a place all the Divide racers stop to fuel up and get water. They were closed for lunch but made us what they had, hot dogs, carrot dip and chips. The Hansen's take care of the place but really went out of their way to be hospitable. Mike Hansen was a 6 year Marine, serving during Desert Strom, and got a little choked up when I told him why we were riding. He gave us some Marine stickers for our bags which will be going on today in Steamboat Springs. One thing about this trek, you really meet the most interesting Americans, sure makes you proud about the fiber of this country, or what it could be if unleashed again.
Leaving Whispering Pines Lodge we had another 15 miles of climbing to get to the base of a very steep climb up Watershed divide. We made it there late to start a difficult climb at 6pm. This is a "pusher" climb, off the bike and pushing will all your might, the bike and the trailer up the steep incline. This went on for almost 1.5 miles. After reaching the summit at about 7pm, we got our reward - a very gnarly, rocky ride down. We had to get through the next 8 miles of steep, big rocks and endless jarring before dark. Even passed a truck with two guys from Tecoma, WA scouting for the opening of elk bow season in 2 days. Our trailers were airborne as we flew down FR 42 (hard to call it road, much less even have a number for it). At the end took a chance on a symbol on the map that there would lodging near Steamboat Lake, and hit the jackpot, a 4 star dinner and a cabin! Reflecting on the day it is clear that our morning prayers are being heard.
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
The links for pictures, pledging to Healing American Heroes and tracking our daily progress are at the end of this entry.
Left Rawlins at 9:15am for an easy ride in the morning, all pavement, no wind, and fresh legs. We made great time until we hit the gravel and the climbs, ended up only did about 4,000 feet of vertical and 54 miles for the day, but felt like a lot more. We finally got back into the trees after being out of them for roughly 170 miles. John's chain broke after a big truck passed and threw some gravel into the links. Surprisingly it took less time to fix than a flat. Camped in a wooded site with some aspens and a lot of dead pines. The pine beetle has taken all the large pines and these big trees will coming down in huge quantities in the next several years. Again I was cold as my 45 degree bag doesn't cut it when it gets blew 35 degrees.
Thursday was a little more memorable. After leaving camp went into the Aspen Alley stretch, a short snippet of road surrounded by very large aspen trees. Hitting some pavement right after we flew downhill and hit a another milestone, leaving Wyoming and entering Colorado . . . three states down and two to go. The metropolis of Slater, CO is an unmanned post office trailer and that is it, not even any water, which we were running out of with a big climb ahead. Both the UV and pump water filtration devices weren't working. A couple of miles into the climb I decided to stop at a quant white farmhouse beside the road. A elderly woman answers and let's us fill up, man was that a relief. Just before reaching her house I went right by a rattle snake sunning itself in the middle of the dirt road. Didn't realize it until John mentioned it right after I went by. I hopped off the bike ran back for a picture, don't like rattle snakes the same as badgers!
About 8 miles of constant uphill climbing we hit our lunch destination, Whispering Pines Lodge, a place all the Divide racers stop to fuel up and get water. They were closed for lunch but made us what they had, hot dogs, carrot dip and chips. The Hansen's take care of the place but really went out of their way to be hospitable. Mike Hansen was a 6 year Marine, serving during Desert Strom, and got a little choked up when I told him why we were riding. He gave us some Marine stickers for our bags which will be going on today in Steamboat Springs. One thing about this trek, you really meet the most interesting Americans, sure makes you proud about the fiber of this country, or what it could be if unleashed again.
Leaving Whispering Pines Lodge we had another 15 miles of climbing to get to the base of a very steep climb up Watershed divide. We made it there late to start a difficult climb at 6pm. This is a "pusher" climb, off the bike and pushing will all your might, the bike and the trailer up the steep incline. This went on for almost 1.5 miles. After reaching the summit at about 7pm, we got our reward - a very gnarly, rocky ride down. We had to get through the next 8 miles of steep, big rocks and endless jarring before dark. Even passed a truck with two guys from Tecoma, WA scouting for the opening of elk bow season in 2 days. Our trailers were airborne as we flew down FR 42 (hard to call it road, much less even have a number for it). At the end took a chance on a symbol on the map that there would lodging near Steamboat Lake, and hit the jackpot, a 4 star dinner and a cabin! Reflecting on the day it is clear that our morning prayers are being heard.
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
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday and Monday August 22nd and 23rd
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/113862939710452121802/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXlxP_J1Ib2Dw#
First I want to thank again those that have pledged to donate to Healing American Heroes, every penny goes to the help those that were wounded from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those that have not yet pledged, if you can please do so, we need all we can get to help the large number of returning soldiers. Please go to the following link to make a pledge:
http://americasheroes.wufoo.com/forms/ride-the-divide-for-wounded-warriors/
We awoke from the small grove of aspen trees we camped to go back into Atlantic City for breakfast before our long ride to A&M Reservoir 80 miles away. We got delayed by about an hour plus waiting for breakfast to start and didn't leave town until 10am. Immediately had a very steep climb out and hit the strong winds coming off the plains. Look at the pictures on the link above to see how wide open the terrain really is, not a tree in site. In fact, we didn't see a tree until we entered Rawlins a 130 miles later. We rode 80 miles and climbed 5,815 vertical feet on a ride that is suppose to be fairly flat! Given our late start we were only 26 miles into the ride at lunch time, which wasn't very encouraging and we knew we had to get moving to make our water source for ride day. The ride had gusts up to 40 mph, blowing us sideways all day long, except for when we rode directly into the wind, which felt going uphill. About 20 miles into the ride a truck was coming right at me as the driver was looking at the open vista, I waved at him to see me and he corrected to the other side of road and stopped. He asked us if we needed any water thinking I was waving him down, sure we could use some, still had 60 miles to go. He jumped out of his truck and pulled out two large ice cold gatorades! I had to take his picture because we have had so few drivers stop to talk and no one offers us anything. John and I drank those gatorades like a college kid drinks his first beer on a Friday night. We kept battling the wind and the soft sand in the road until lunch, which we had quickly in the shade and buffer from the wind, of an idle road grading vehicle.
Several hours later I finally got the picture I have been trying to get for days, a prong horn that was close enough to get a good image. The big male came right across the road in a full sprint, probably chasing some females as mid August is the start of he rut and males are getting their harem in place. Just after the prong horn picture we ran across a wild horse, wild because we are still in BLM land and other than a few cattle there are no other animals being crazed out there. We finally pulled into A&M Reservoir at 9:30pm, using my helmet light to get us the final miles. There is nothing there but water and a little area to camp. We quickly pitched our tents, ate freeze-dried dinners and hit the sack. That night our tents got the wind test as a storm pulled through blowing and raining like a small hurricane.
Monday morning we got moving a little late, but only had 55 miles to ride to Rawlins. Still a lot prong horns all over the place, my guess is we were blocking their morning drink. The wind picked up again and blew us sideways until we hit the pavement, turning directly east we got the full benefit of the westerly wind and started flying down the road. Saw another badger, man do those animals spook the hell out of me! Right before breaking for lunch we ran upon a guy walking alone on the very desolate road. He is hiking the Continental Divide by himself, I startled him when I rode up next to him. His name is Evan (also calls himself The Fugitive which we didn't delve into). He looked like he just woke up one day and said "Leaving to hike the Divide?". After a few words about water we got on with it, making Rawlins about 3pm. Checked into a hotel and started the routine of clothes washing and bathing, sure is nice to be clean.
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/113862939710452121802/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXlxP_J1Ib2Dw#
First I want to thank again those that have pledged to donate to Healing American Heroes, every penny goes to the help those that were wounded from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those that have not yet pledged, if you can please do so, we need all we can get to help the large number of returning soldiers. Please go to the following link to make a pledge:
http://americasheroes.wufoo.com/forms/ride-the-divide-for-wounded-warriors/
We awoke from the small grove of aspen trees we camped to go back into Atlantic City for breakfast before our long ride to A&M Reservoir 80 miles away. We got delayed by about an hour plus waiting for breakfast to start and didn't leave town until 10am. Immediately had a very steep climb out and hit the strong winds coming off the plains. Look at the pictures on the link above to see how wide open the terrain really is, not a tree in site. In fact, we didn't see a tree until we entered Rawlins a 130 miles later. We rode 80 miles and climbed 5,815 vertical feet on a ride that is suppose to be fairly flat! Given our late start we were only 26 miles into the ride at lunch time, which wasn't very encouraging and we knew we had to get moving to make our water source for ride day. The ride had gusts up to 40 mph, blowing us sideways all day long, except for when we rode directly into the wind, which felt going uphill. About 20 miles into the ride a truck was coming right at me as the driver was looking at the open vista, I waved at him to see me and he corrected to the other side of road and stopped. He asked us if we needed any water thinking I was waving him down, sure we could use some, still had 60 miles to go. He jumped out of his truck and pulled out two large ice cold gatorades! I had to take his picture because we have had so few drivers stop to talk and no one offers us anything. John and I drank those gatorades like a college kid drinks his first beer on a Friday night. We kept battling the wind and the soft sand in the road until lunch, which we had quickly in the shade and buffer from the wind, of an idle road grading vehicle.
Several hours later I finally got the picture I have been trying to get for days, a prong horn that was close enough to get a good image. The big male came right across the road in a full sprint, probably chasing some females as mid August is the start of he rut and males are getting their harem in place. Just after the prong horn picture we ran across a wild horse, wild because we are still in BLM land and other than a few cattle there are no other animals being crazed out there. We finally pulled into A&M Reservoir at 9:30pm, using my helmet light to get us the final miles. There is nothing there but water and a little area to camp. We quickly pitched our tents, ate freeze-dried dinners and hit the sack. That night our tents got the wind test as a storm pulled through blowing and raining like a small hurricane.
Monday morning we got moving a little late, but only had 55 miles to ride to Rawlins. Still a lot prong horns all over the place, my guess is we were blocking their morning drink. The wind picked up again and blew us sideways until we hit the pavement, turning directly east we got the full benefit of the westerly wind and started flying down the road. Saw another badger, man do those animals spook the hell out of me! Right before breaking for lunch we ran upon a guy walking alone on the very desolate road. He is hiking the Continental Divide by himself, I startled him when I rode up next to him. His name is Evan (also calls himself The Fugitive which we didn't delve into). He looked like he just woke up one day and said "Leaving to hike the Divide?". After a few words about water we got on with it, making Rawlins about 3pm. Checked into a hotel and started the routine of clothes washing and bathing, sure is nice to be clean.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Saturday August 21st
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
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Had the longest ride of the trip so far, 88 miles from Pinedale to Atlantic City and for what the map says is a relatively flat day we had the most vertical climbing 4,640 feet for the day. I have gotten to really dislike rolling hills at 8,000 feet, sounds great in a magazine article or advertisement but really gets old when riding a bike. We saw a lot of prong horns or antelope, a fairly stupid animal that goes under a fence instead of over it despite having the legs to do so. For about a mile in sage brush country they ran in parallel with me as I was riding on the gravel road, stopping every hundred yards to see where I was. The area we biked was part of the Oregon Trail and many historical signs detailing the trail along the way. Remember on car trips how it was so easy to pass those roadside signs or painful when your mom or dad wanted stop and read them? We stop at every one of them. They are interesting but an impromptu butt break too.
The ride took us over 3 Continental Divide crossings and even rode in parallel with the Divide for several miles on the crest. The wind was incredible and damn near blew me off when the gusts came in around 40 mph. Coupling that with a sandy road and a lot washboard and things got dicey a few times. The vistas from the top of road into the Great Basin were really beautiful. We gutted it out to Atlantic City ate a steak dinner and found a litle cove of trees to camp. Now we are off to cross the very arid southern section of Wyoming where there is no water for about 135 miles.
We finally met up with folks that we heard about way back in Lincoln, MT and they are crazier than we are! David and Becky are hiking the entire 2,800 miles of the Continental Divide. We had heard of them being about a month ahead of us from the owner of the Three Bears Motel in Lincoln, MT. We met them in South Pass City, WY, at least 700 miles further south. They are expecting to finish the Divide down in New Mexico before the snow gets too bad to get through. Good luck David and Becky and see their picture on the picasa.google.com website.
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/113862939710452121802/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXlxP_J1Ib2Dw#
Had the longest ride of the trip so far, 88 miles from Pinedale to Atlantic City and for what the map says is a relatively flat day we had the most vertical climbing 4,640 feet for the day. I have gotten to really dislike rolling hills at 8,000 feet, sounds great in a magazine article or advertisement but really gets old when riding a bike. We saw a lot of prong horns or antelope, a fairly stupid animal that goes under a fence instead of over it despite having the legs to do so. For about a mile in sage brush country they ran in parallel with me as I was riding on the gravel road, stopping every hundred yards to see where I was. The area we biked was part of the Oregon Trail and many historical signs detailing the trail along the way. Remember on car trips how it was so easy to pass those roadside signs or painful when your mom or dad wanted stop and read them? We stop at every one of them. They are interesting but an impromptu butt break too.
The ride took us over 3 Continental Divide crossings and even rode in parallel with the Divide for several miles on the crest. The wind was incredible and damn near blew me off when the gusts came in around 40 mph. Coupling that with a sandy road and a lot washboard and things got dicey a few times. The vistas from the top of road into the Great Basin were really beautiful. We gutted it out to Atlantic City ate a steak dinner and found a litle cove of trees to camp. Now we are off to cross the very arid southern section of Wyoming where there is no water for about 135 miles.
We finally met up with folks that we heard about way back in Lincoln, MT and they are crazier than we are! David and Becky are hiking the entire 2,800 miles of the Continental Divide. We had heard of them being about a month ahead of us from the owner of the Three Bears Motel in Lincoln, MT. We met them in South Pass City, WY, at least 700 miles further south. They are expecting to finish the Divide down in New Mexico before the snow gets too bad to get through. Good luck David and Becky and see their picture on the picasa.google.com website.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Thursday and Friday August 19th and 20th
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Stayed overnight at the Lava Mountain Inn, got off at the usual 8am start time with a good ride downhill for 10 miles. Saw a set of cell towers so pulled off the highway to call Robert to wish him a happy 26th birthday and to send the previous blog, an hour later there was no connection. Had a big climb ahead of us to get over Union Pass, a 9,265 footer with a roughly 9 mile climb, which was complicated by graders and dump trucks working on the road. The last 3 miles were steep. The view from the top was magnificent, big meadows with blue, purple and white flowers along with snow-capped peaks in the distance. Also there were more signs warning to beware of bears. In talking with the locals there are a lot more bear attacks than makes the news, a day later we were told there was one malling several weeks ago right where we were. The grizzly population is growing about 7% per year and now numbers somewhere close to 60,000+ in North America. Hey isn't it about time to give it a rest on the hunting ban?
Our ride down was long and pretty flat, only dropped 200 feet over ten miles after the summit. Never seem to get the downhill rewards from the uphill climb. After a pretty rocky descent we ended up camping when the sun was out and with no mosquitos, not the usual. The campsite did have a water pump so we didn't have to go the Green River and do the laborious job of using my hand pump to get good water. Ate the Mountain House dinners early and hit the sack to read and get some rest.
On Friday woke up very early, was freezing, guess my weight saving move of buying a sleeping bag down to only 45 degrees and a cheap, small tent wasn't really working for me. Checked the temp gauge on my bike computer around 6am and it was 30 degrees! After wrestling with the stove to get it started had a tea, the usual oatmeal and some hot chocolate - still didn't warm me up. What the hell, might as well get on the bike and start riding. That worked after about 10 minutes. Headed to Pinedale to resupply, catch up with folks and get a hotel room. It was only 35 miles away and we were there before lunch. Saw our first coyote, which ran the right direction after seeing us. We are now down in the sage brush country with the Wind River Range in the distance, they sure are sharply jutting mountains, Wind River Peak is over 13,000 feet. The ranchers are busy bailing hay for the winter, never seen so many large, round bales. Pinedale is a bustling one road town with a lot hotels, hardware stores, and some industry going on. There were several hotels full of oil tool trucks. There is a lot drilling going on in his area of WY and we were warned that hotel space is tight in the smaller towns because of the oil activity. We are striking out early to reach Atlantic City, our longest ride to date of roughly 90 miles, want to be positioned to go across southern Wyoming for one overnight where water is scarce.
Paste the following link into your browser to see photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/113862939710452121802/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXlxP_J1Ib2Dw#
Stayed overnight at the Lava Mountain Inn, got off at the usual 8am start time with a good ride downhill for 10 miles. Saw a set of cell towers so pulled off the highway to call Robert to wish him a happy 26th birthday and to send the previous blog, an hour later there was no connection. Had a big climb ahead of us to get over Union Pass, a 9,265 footer with a roughly 9 mile climb, which was complicated by graders and dump trucks working on the road. The last 3 miles were steep. The view from the top was magnificent, big meadows with blue, purple and white flowers along with snow-capped peaks in the distance. Also there were more signs warning to beware of bears. In talking with the locals there are a lot more bear attacks than makes the news, a day later we were told there was one malling several weeks ago right where we were. The grizzly population is growing about 7% per year and now numbers somewhere close to 60,000+ in North America. Hey isn't it about time to give it a rest on the hunting ban?
Our ride down was long and pretty flat, only dropped 200 feet over ten miles after the summit. Never seem to get the downhill rewards from the uphill climb. After a pretty rocky descent we ended up camping when the sun was out and with no mosquitos, not the usual. The campsite did have a water pump so we didn't have to go the Green River and do the laborious job of using my hand pump to get good water. Ate the Mountain House dinners early and hit the sack to read and get some rest.
On Friday woke up very early, was freezing, guess my weight saving move of buying a sleeping bag down to only 45 degrees and a cheap, small tent wasn't really working for me. Checked the temp gauge on my bike computer around 6am and it was 30 degrees! After wrestling with the stove to get it started had a tea, the usual oatmeal and some hot chocolate - still didn't warm me up. What the hell, might as well get on the bike and start riding. That worked after about 10 minutes. Headed to Pinedale to resupply, catch up with folks and get a hotel room. It was only 35 miles away and we were there before lunch. Saw our first coyote, which ran the right direction after seeing us. We are now down in the sage brush country with the Wind River Range in the distance, they sure are sharply jutting mountains, Wind River Peak is over 13,000 feet. The ranchers are busy bailing hay for the winter, never seen so many large, round bales. Pinedale is a bustling one road town with a lot hotels, hardware stores, and some industry going on. There were several hotels full of oil tool trucks. There is a lot drilling going on in his area of WY and we were warned that hotel space is tight in the smaller towns because of the oil activity. We are striking out early to reach Atlantic City, our longest ride to date of roughly 90 miles, want to be positioned to go across southern Wyoming for one overnight where water is scarce.
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