On the Road Again

We had a great time yesterday at the Blues and Brews festival.  There was a beer tasting from 12 to 3 and we saw one pretty good band (Dr. Peyton's Big Damn Band) and two great ones (Ben Miller Band, and Samantha Fish). Samantha Fish in particular was really fun - she wails on the guitar and belts out a bluesy soul with lots of gusto, backed by a great band complete with horns. In this male-dominated world it's refreshing to see a female front and center surrounded by a surrounding cast of guys.

Samantha Fish rockin' the festival

At the gondola station in Telluride where you board to ride from the festival back up to Mountain Village, they have a bunch of orange Homer buckets lined with trash bags. There are lots of drunk people leaving the festival so I guess an ounce of prevention beats a messy cleanup job!

We woke up this morning and somewhat reluctantly geared up to get back to the BRATUS. Reluctantly, first because it was back to the long grind of riding every day, and second because rain was in the forecast. We finally kissed the wives goodbye a bit before 9 (a short smoochie kiss rather than a long passionate one because we'll be seeing them again in two days) and rolled out.

The first order of business was to climb from Mountain Village at 9545' to Lizard Head Pass at 10200'. The climb is actually a bit bigger than the 700 feet suggested by the altitude difference because there is a pretty big descent (to Ophir) in the middle. My legs felt pretty good but I was a bit short of breath. I guess that's what a day of drinking beer and festivating will do.

Wilson Peak, on the way up

Another climb checked off

At the top we pulled on our jackets and headed down toward Dolores: 50 miles, all downhill. Unfortunately there was a stiff headwind blowing up the canyon so we had to work quite a bit.

The spire is "Lizard Head" itself

The Wilsons, shrouded in storm clouds. We did not escape unscathed.

We had been watching the storm clouds all morning hoping somehow we could wiggle through. But no, sure enough, shortly after we started down, it started to rain pretty hard. It was pretty cold -- the air was maybe 50, and with the wind and rain it felt quite a bit cooler. Fortunately it did not last long and the sun came back out.

But not for long. Shortly after a brief stop in Rico, round two started. This time it was more serious: mixed in with the cold rain was HAIL. I can attest to the fact that it's not fun being pelted by pea-sized iceballs as you ride down a hill at 20 mph. Not only that, I was behind Tom and the harder it rained/hailed, the harder he rode, in an effort to stay warm. That lasted maybe 5 minutes, which was more than enough.

Shortly after the hail ended, a car drove by with a crazy lady leaning out the window hollering and taking pictures. It turns out the wacko was none other than my wife Lisa. She and Anne had planned to drive west to Moab today, but seeing the bad weather decided to detour south to make sure we were OK. It worked out well because just as they were pulling over, my tire went flat. Tom, Lisa, and Anne enjoyed a picnic while I fixed my tire.

Notice Tom's hi-tech helmet cover: a shower cap from a budget motel

Rich asked about what specific support we are getting from the wives. First I have to say that in general both wives have been very supportive of this whole adventure from the beginning, for which we are both hugely grateful. Both Anne and Lisa have made a lot of the travel arrangements. As far as specific support, the route through Utah has long stretches with no food or water. In particular, on Tuesday we go from Blanding to Hanksville, which is 125 miles with nothing in between. So after meeting us in Telluride, the girls are touring the national parks in Utah. The are meeting us in Hanksville and are on call to SAG us if we need it. We will see them again in Boulder, Utah, as they head toward Bryce Canyon National Park.

Back to the ride. Once we started again I seemed to be having trouble staying with Tom. I thought maybe something was wrong with my bike, perhaps a brake pad rubbing like what happened to Susan S. a long time ago during an MS150 training ride. No, it turns out he was just hammering hard to stay warm.

We continued to ride pretty hard the rest of the way to Dolores, to beat both the cold and the rain. Sure enough, just as we pulled into town it started up again.

All in all I feel fortunate to have made it through the Rockies with just this bit of bad weather. It can be a whole lot worse in mid-September.

The Dolores River, from the deck on the motel property

Today we did 61 miles. That's our last "short" day for awhile. Tomorrow Utah awaits.

This was from my bedroom window at the Franz Klammer Lodge in Telluride. I was lying in bed, saw the runway lights and the approaching plane, and hopped up to snap the photo