Day 39 – Blanding to Caineville

(Editor’s Note – For those of you who might visit here twice I had the staring city wrong originally.  We were in Blanding last night, not Dolores.)

Sometimes this ride gets a bit odd. Today was one of those days. A few weeks ago in Kansas, I changed our route a bit to put us through towns that actually had hotels and to provide a little softer landing into the Rockies. Because of that change, we ended up a day behind where we needed to be to make it to Vegas and ultimately San Francisco on time. At some point we needed to “make up a day”… ie, drive a leg of the route we would have otherwise ridden.

Well, today was that day. Leaving Blanding, the next realistic place to stop was the Hite Recreational Area… which is a national park on the Colorado river. There’s no lodging there and it’s hotter than all hell most of the summer. So the goal for the day was to ride to Hite and then SAG up to Caineville. Armed with that knowledge, let’s see how the day went…

We rode out of Blanding about 7:30. There was rain nearby but we managed to avoid it all day. The route started with a few climbs and then had a serious climb about 20 miles in… 2.1k’. Not the highest climb on the route, but one that will still get your attention. After that it’s a slight downhill all the way to the Colorado.

The landscape around here is nothing if not stunning.

Within 10 miles, we were basically out of cell service so we went in to “no cell mode”… which basically means Art and Heidi stay closer to us while we’re riding and are usually tailing (rather than leading) us on the route. Sometimes, it seems like they’re stalking us.

The push up the hill was interesting. We already had quite a bit of climbing before we hit the hill itself, but thankfully we were at a relatively low elevation. JP put up a good fight and made it up ~1k’. I pushed on, and after 2 stops (one of them lengthened by an unexpected call during unexpected cell reception) I managed to hit the summit. The grade on the climb was very polite, which helped quite a bit. Here’s the view from the top looking back in to the distance at the valley floor.

Once we reached the top, we put the throttle down and started down towards the Colorado… well, mostly down. At the macro level it was downhill, but there were still some climbing.

Around 11:30, we broke for lunch. The temps were coming up fast and honestly I was a bit wiped out from the climb (and the previous week of riding). Both JP and I called it a day after that and started the long ride to Caineville.

So… uh.. the following pictures don’t do the drive justice. The landscape around here is amazing. And brutal. It was in the 100’s most of the day and there is literally nothing out here. We would drive for miles and miles without seeing another car, let alone a permanent structure of any kind.

Seriously.. I’m not sure how many square miles are covered in this photo, but I can assure you there’s not a single human in this frame.

This is one of the few shots that starts to convey how awesome the Glen Canyon area is.

We ran in to some rain just outside of Caineville. Here’s a shot where we’re dry, the mountain is dry, but there’s a sheet of rain about a halfway in between us making everything look hazy. The wind was hammering when Heidi took this.. she was actually having a hard time standing still.

While we were taking pictures, JP and Art were meeting other riders on the road. We had passed a few riders and asked if they needed anything (they declined). JP had a much better approach… they’d roll up, he’d hold a cold water bottle out the window and ask if they wanted cold water. It turns out, yes they did want cold water.  😉

They also met a guy who was stopped on the side of the road and needed a new cleat. And in particular he needed the old style Look cleats that JP uses. The rider’s cleat was so worn that it wouldn’t even clip in anymore. After some effort the were able to get the old cleat off and JP hooked him up with a new set. JP and Art definitely made that rider’s day.

So here’s the Rodeway in Caineville. And, to be clear, this hotel is the only thing in Caineville. I’m not sure why there’s even a town name given to this place. There is literally nothing else here. The closest town is 20 miles away… as is the closest restaurant.

Luckily we knew that in advance and planned ahead. We picked up food last night so we could make dinner in the MCC instead of driving to the “nearby” town. Hotdogs, chili, chips, and brownies. Not exotic, but easy to do in the MCC. Dax decided to be the chip courier and brought chips one at a time to everyone.

The hotel is geared up for people that weren’t as well prepared as us, it seems. They’re stocked up with frozen dinners you can buy. All evening long while we were hanging out outside, we could hear the “ding” of the microwaves in the rooms as families warmed up dinner after dinner for everyone to eat.

So tomorrow we ride to Boulder… Utah, not Colorado. It’s bigger than Caineville, but not much. We’re spending our rest day there in an extremely small motel. Should be another interesting adventure.

Oh… and I broke my sunglasses today. I’m riding with my backup sunglasses now. Hopefully I don’t have another sunglass failure before I can hit an Oakley store.

 

Day 38 – Dolores to Four Corners to Blanding, UT

Today, we had a change of plans. While this trip is mostly about riding, it’s also about seeing the country. And one of our party had a pretty specific request. In particular, Bobby. Since he was 5 and learned about the Four Corners where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona come together, he’s wanted to stand at that spot. He’d ask questions about it, he’d look at it online, and ask even more questions about it. His bucket list clearly included the Four Corners.

Originally the plan had been to hit it on the way back, so this wasn’t on our minds when we came into the area. Then late last night we realized we were within 40 miles of Four Corners and as much as Heidi could have taken the boys there while JP and I rode with support from Art… what fun would that be. So we made the decision to hit it first before jumping on the bikes today.

We left about 7:30 and rolled in about an hour later.

The Navajo have done quite a bit of development at the park, including 4 rows of vendor stalls (one in each state) flanking the spot. However the USGS disk is still there and you can still stand right in the middle of it.

I think this is our first real family photo of the trip. We need the Microsoft “to the cloud!” thing tho… if you look carefully, Dax is doing something with his nose.

And here’s Art and JP. You can’t tell they’re related, can you?

Bobby was definitely stoked to have made the trip. Even tho it cut in to the day’s ride, it was awesome that he (and all of us) could make this side trip. Plus he got another sticker to add to his growing laptop sticker collection.

On the way out of the park we saw a dog in the brush on the side of the road. I tried to convince Heidi that it was a wild dog, so she took a picture of the “wildlife” to add to our collection.

On this trip we’ve passed a lot of mesas. Below is Red Mesa. We’ve also passed Blue Mesa and White Mesa. I’d really like to get to Black Mesa at some point so I can meet Dr. Freeman and buy a plush head crab. (Editor’s note: This is a reference to the video game Halflife. Yeah…I had to ask.)

We rode in to Utah from the south today rather than the east. We had a very nice ride through valleys of mesas, cactuses, and wild horses.

A wild oil pump appears! Well, not that wild, but it is freaking huge. There’s a lot of crude coming out of the ground around here.

After the ride we stopped at the Edge of the Cedars State Park here in Blanding. They had some really interesting Pueblo artifacts and this dwelling they had uncovered. I knew next to nothing about the Pueblo culture before today, but found the visit very interesting.

Tomorrow we’ve got some climbing and we’ve got some driving. It’s an odd day. I’ll talk about it tomorrow. Too tired tonight. Sleepy time.

Day 37 – Telluride to Dolores

So, technically we’re in the San Juan mountains, not the Rockies. That’s a technicality lost on a yankee. Regardless of what range we’re in, the climbs are much longer, and so are the descents. Wow.

After the shenanigans yesterday on our climb and the fact we spent last night at 9.5k’, we decided to get a ride to the top of Lizard Head Pass.

10k’ is pretty high up… at least for us. We saw a number of cyclists coming over the peak, and I was seriously jealous of their ability to breathe… and stay conscious.

What you don’t see in the above photo is the other signs nearby pointing to the peaks on both sides of the pass… one at 11k’ and the other at 13k’. I had no appreciation of how high the mountains here are. It’s really unbelievable.

At the top of this mountain pass is a lake. Trout Lake, to be exact… apparently named for the aquatic life forms that inhabit it.

… or that once inhabited it. The lake was closed, presumably because its so low. It’s impressive how many lakes we’ve passed by on this trip that are WAY low due to the drought here in the west. I hope the rain shows up soon before some of these bodies of water actually disappear.

Heidi has been on a quest to photograph wildlife on this trip. Unfortunately we haven’t seen much in the way of wildlife. Up until this point, she’s claimed that all the chipmunks we’ve seen don’t rate a photo. Today, after once again getting skunked on finding big game, she caved in. Here’s a chipmunk.

And a prairie dog. Not “big game” but bigger than a chipmunk.

The ride today was 50 miles. Almost every inch of it was downhill. Coming off the top of the pass was steep… Like, I don’t think I actually turned a pedal for the first 10 miles. After 15 miles I checked my bike computer and it said I had climbed _2_ feet. 2. I’ve never in my life had a ride that long that had single digit vertical feet. Even leaving my neighborhood on my normal training rides is like 23′.

Towards the bottom things flattened out a bit. About 10 miles out I stopped to use the facilities in the MCC while JP pushed on toward Dolores. Normally I catch him after a few miles when I stop like that. Today, JP (as he put it) went in to beast mode. I could tell, as I finally caught a glimpse of him in the distance about 1 mile out from the hotel.. and I was flying. It was a very fast day, especially when you throw in the fact JP and I were basically sprinting for the last 10 miles. I averaged well over 18mph, and that was with some heavy braking on sections of freshly tarred/chipped downhills.

Lest you think I’m slacking completely on this trip, here’s an action shot of me taking a work phone call. Pay no attention to the rushing river in the background or the beautiful sunlight… this was work, dammit.

I took the boys fishing in river next to our motel/cabin this evening. Once again, Heidi had an opportunity for a wildlife shot.

We’re pretty sick of eating in restaurants. So tonight we changed things up a bit and had ourselves a little outdoor BBQ. We picked up corn on the cob, dogs, and some steaks and grilled it all up. It was yummy, tho we didn’t have steak knives so we may have burned more calories than we ate just sawing through meat.

Art and JP are in the motel here in Dolores… we’re in a cabin at the same facility. The moose cabin no less.

People in this part of Colorado don’t seem to believe in air conditioning, so we’ve got the windows wide open hoping to cool the place off. Hopefully we can get some sleep. Wish us luck.

Day 36 – Montrose to Mountain Village/Telluride

Well, the climb today was definitely difficult. We started out shortly after 7, heading south on US 550. Between a relatively stiff headwind and a continuous 1% grade, it was slow going. Big differences in effort made very little difference in our speed. Not fun.

We made our turn towards Telluride in Ridgeway CO. Ridgeway has about 20 roads, of which 2 seem to be paved. The rest are gravel. That said, they’ve got some really cool parks and a great bike trail.

We kicked down on to the trail instead of riding 550 through that stretch because there was no shoulder on 550 in to Ridgeway. Down on the trail there was this awesome statue of an Eagle… Part of it’s awesomeness is that it’s not near a damn thing.

I should point out we saw several hundred FJ Cruisers heading north on 550 today. Apparently there was an event south of us today and everyone was heading home. Even tho I’m a Jeep guy, there was some pretty impressive rigs.

The first big climb of the day started on the way out of Ridgeway. I’ll spare you the details, but JP and I both threw in the towel partway up (within a mile of each other, actually). I was feeling pretty good on the climb, and then things went badly super quick. Ugh. Climbing at elevation seems to really be tough for me. I’m definitely not happy about that.

We SAG’d up to the hotel… and holy cow. What a hotel. Out in this part of the country our stops for the night are largely governed by where we can find lodging. Today, the only place that made sense was Telluride. As it turns out, it’s a ski town… and a really nice one at that.

Even though it’s a ski town, there’s lots to do in the summer. The square near the hotel had a cool bungie jumping/trampoline thing. Bobby was clearly interested in it, and eventually gave it a shot.

His mohawk is super photogenic.

The hotel also has an arcade… and unlike most arcades, you just pay a flat fee for the day and the whole family can play for 24 hours. One of the cabinets had 60 different old school arcade games. Terran was hooked. He’s definitely my kid.

Later in the afternoon we decided to go down to town of Telluride. From the hotel, the best way to get to town in a 15 minute ride on a free gondola. They boys had never been on a gondola, let alone one that goes _down_ 2k’ in to a valley. The views were amazing, but it took Bobby a while to appreciate them.

Daxton even took a few minutes to stop and smell the flowers. As you can see, he REALLY gets in to smelling the flowers.

The hotel staff informed us that these mountains are the mountains that appear on the Coors Light can. I’m not sure if that’s a line they tell the gullible tourists, but I’ll buy it. mmmm…. beer.

And we were treated to a fantastic sunset. All in all, the afternoon helped smooth the feathers of the ride this morning.

Tomorrow we’re downhill to Dolores. Nothing like a 50 mile descent to get the ego back in shape. I expect tomorrow will be a better riding day.