Into the Mountains

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday we were in the barren desert of the eastern Colorado plains, today we're in the mountains. The change in scenery could not be more dramatic.

We started from Florence with another cool, clear morning. We have been incredibly lucky with the weather on this trip, with only one day of rain out of 21 so far. Knock on wood.

Heading into the mountains on a beautiful day

We wound our way through the foothills to Cañon City, through surprisingly busy traffic. At one point as we stopped for a picture, one driver rudely squeezed by with horn blaring. The next driver actually stopped his car, rolled down the window, and apologized on behalf of the other driver. Two extremes, I guess. By and large the vast majority of drivers are friendly toward cyclists, but there are certainly exceptions.

Ducks in the pond in Cañon City: real or fake?

After Cañon City, we rejoined US-50 and began climbing. We gained about 1000 feet in the space of about 3 miles, up to about 6400 feet.

Looking east. We had already gained quite a bit of altitude

I had anticipated a long steady climb to Salida but nothing this intense. As we climbed, progressively higher layers of the mountains ahead revealed themselves. It's pretty intimidating to think that tomorrow we need to get over that wall somehow.

At the top of the climb is a little tourist trap called Royal View. Soon after that the road descends back down to rejoin the Arkansas River. The descent was smooth and fast, therefore fun.

Elk at Royal View: real or fake?

At the bottom the road follows the river upstream (and therefore uphill) into Bighorn Sheep Canyon, which is a spectacular canyon with steep sides and views of the mountains ahead. Fortunately the grade was quite gentle so we made reasonable time, nothing like the steep climb earlier. We saw several fly fishermen and even a few fishing from rafts.

In Bighorn Sheep Canyon

Raftermen?

At Cotapaxi we stopped for a break and ran into another cyclist headed west. He was resuming a Trans-Am trip after being delayed by an injury. We chatted for a few minutes and compared notes. He had a Surly Long Haul Trucker all rigged out with panniers and the works. Tom and I could not resist trying to lift it. My guess is that it was between 70-80 lbs. I would not want to be trying to get through the mountains with that.

At the stop, which was a combination gas station, deli, and convenience/liquor store, there was a guy with a truck parked by the side of the road waving a gas can, as if to say he needed gas but had no money. Eventually someone kindly gave him a couple bucks. He put it in his pocket, but instead of buying gas, continued to wave the can. The cashier inside the store confirmed that that was his game: he would beg for money under the guise of needing gas until he had enough to go to the liquor store and "refuel." Sheesh.

We continued on until we reached Salida (pronounced "sul-EYE-duh") which is a big tourist hub for the Rockies. There is rafting, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, and yes, road biking all throughout the area. We meandered through town and found a bike shop. They had a bike washing station available for a $5 donation so we took advantage and cleaned our bikes. Tom also had them look into the pesky creak in his headset.

Tom got a loaner bike. He says the seat is comfy. Maybe he'll take it over Monarch

We are staying at a cute little B&B right downtown. We are discovering that proximity to food is worth a bit of a premium, so we decided to splurge a bit to have walking-distance access to a variety of dining options. After almost 2 weeks of staying in dinky towns, it's nice to be back in civilization.

"S" is for "Sivilization"

Today was our shortest day so far: 66 miles, with 3100 feet of climbing. With the headwind and the climbing it was not exactly an easy day but we will need some reserve strength for tomorrow. Salida is at 7083 feet; tomorrow we cross Monarch Pass at 11,300.

Ducks: real; Elk: fake. But I was briefly fooled by both.

Pretty much sums up all of humanity