Category: DC to California 2010

So, being stuck in Monticello, I started looking for ways out. I could try and buy CO2 from a local store but it was Sunday and every store in town was closed. I could get something overnighted but once again it was Sunday and so that would mean taking two rest days. I could get a taxi from the city 60 miles north for a couple hundred dollars. Eventually I called Matt, the local cyclist, and he once again saved the day by letting me use his floor pump to pump up my rear tire and giving me a CO2 cartridge so I could repair a flat on the road. I took his photo and got on the road. If you’re reading this, I’ll send you a cake if you want. Or pie, that’s cool too.

Anyways I headed south and grabbed lunch in the next town. Looking at my map, I had to choose between going south 30 miles to the town of Bluff or going west through 40 miles of lots of hills including a 2000 ft climb to a campground for a more scenic view. Being tired and low on repair supplies I chose the harder route that took me away from towns.

I turned west onto route 95 and headed towards many parks and recreation areas. The road had little-to-no shoulder but wasn’t too trafficked so that wasn’t a big deal. It seemed like half of the cars that passed me were white SUVs, a popular combination down here I guess. I got lots of thumbs-ups and friendly double honks. Lots of bike friendly people.

The ride started out being pretty scenic but after a while the road went through a cut in the rock and opened up into a beautiful canyon. I stopped for lots of photos before moving on and beginning my long climb from the bottom of the canyon up into the hills to the west. The day was already getting late because of my slow start in the morning, but I was slated to arrive in the campground before dark.

Crawling up hills, I watched as storms moved around me, somehow always missing me and keeping me dry. As I reached the summit over 7000 feet, I got a beautiful view of the sun setting into a distant mesa. Also, free range cows.

I rolled into the campground right before dark and all the sites were taken but someone who had passed me on the highway offered to let me pitch my tent in his site. He and his wife had been coming to this exact camp site in this park for 12 years and were there tonight to have dinner with some friends. They fed me an awesome Thai dinner before I got to bed early. Outside my tent, the wind picked up fiercely and rain came down on the high desert.

Today’s mileage: 61 miles.
Total mileage: 2907 miles.

At the beginning of the day I had two options: try and make it 130 miles without any places to eat or refill water to Kayenta, AZ, or go northwest and follow the ACA maps a little longer. I opted for the latter.

On my way out of town I went to look for the bike shop in town to buy some more tubes only to find that it had closed 3 weeks earlier. I still have a couple tubes though so it’s okay. On the road, I was greeted with rolling hills. Definitely out of the mountains, with miles and miles of visibility.

After a few miles I got another flat in my rear tire. While replacing it, I noticed the tire was getting a bit worn so I patched some thin spots with duct tape, lubed my chain, and moved on.

The day went on pretty uneventfully and I entered Utah. A few miles later I get another flat in my rear tire. This is starting to get old. A couple pulls over on the highway and asks if I need help. I tell them that I’m almost out of tubes, and after a couple phone calls (unlike me, they had cell service) they determine that nobody in the area sells tubes, but they know a road biker who I can contact in the town ahead.

I arrive in town and call up Matt, the biker, and he gives me a tube. Pretty sweet. I get back to my hotel room and decide to change out my rear tire with the spare I’ve been carrying. Then my pump breaks. I neglected to mention that on my last flat I got sick of endlessly pumping my tires up so I used my CO2 cartridge. So now I’m dead in the water, 60 miles from the nearest bike shop and with a flat rear tire.

To be continued…

Today’s mileage: 61 miles.
Total mileage: 2846 miles.

It was really cold last night, and so while I was awake at 6, I didn’t manage to get out of my sleeping bag until 8. I packed up camp and waited around until I could ride without freezing, leaving town at about 10.

I had to backtrack 3 miles to get back to my path, and once I got on it the hills started immediately and steeply. Today was my last day in the Rockies and they did not go quietly.

While I have been seeing Aspen trees for some time now, they were most impressive today, with them lining the road and whole mountainsides of them in view. The road went up and down, slowly gaining elevation until I reached the pass at 10,222 feet. I stopped to take some photos and a small crowd gathered around me to take my picture, amazed that I had biked all the way from D.C. In terms of how I felt though, Monarch pass was harder, and the unnamed pass 2 days before was much harder than any of my other climbs, but I didn’t have a crowd of people taking my picture then. Feels strange.

Heading down into the valley, I once again had strong headwinds. It was supposed to be 50 miles of downhill but after the initial steep descent, the wind counteracted the down grade and I had to work to go down hill. That reminds me, I met a man at the campground this morning who had done a west to east bike tour and he talked about the many days with strong tail winds where it felt like he didn’t have to pedal at all. I was envious.

I passed through two towns that were supposed to have places to eat, but they were all closed, either permanently or for the day, so I continued on, eating energy bars.

As I approached the town of Dolores I got a flat tire, my rear tube was punctured by something, so I had to pull over on the side of the highway and replace the tube. It’s kind of a long process because I have to remove everything from my bike, replace the tube, pump it up, and put everything back on. Took maybe 40 minutes in all. I picked up my pace and averaged 18 mph for the rest of the way to Dolores and found a motel.

Today’s mileage: 64 miles.
Total: 2785 miles.

I slept in this morning and as a result was rushing to get checked out of my hotel on time. After an early lunch and a couple errands I was headed south at about noon.

The landscape today was pretty dry like yesterday, with bluffs lining my path to the left and tall mountains to the distant south – where I was headed. The road was rather busy for a while but eventually the traffic calmed down after I got out of the vicinity of the “city.”

I reached a small town for lunch, but the only restaurant was closed so I had to eat at subway. It was to be a while until the next town so I stocked up on an additional 20 oz of water and headed towards the hills.

Passing over the first ridge, I was buffeted by a strong headwind. Great. Despite the winds though, I made my way up the 2000 ft climb with no difficulty and reached the pass at nearly 9000 feet.

Winding my way down the valley after the pass, I was surrounded by steep walls of pine trees and cliff faces. It was getting late in the afternoon and it was already pretty dark in the valley. The road turned south-east and my minimal shoulder completely disappeared. I found a restaurant/lodge a few miles later and had a nice dinner. They didn’t have any rooms available for the night though, so it was back on the road. It was a pretty bad road to ride on in the dark, with lots of curves as it wound between a river and cliffs.

As I rounded a corner, I found a van had stopped and its driver was hailing me. Apparently it was a free shuttle service and he offered me a lift to Telluride. I accepted and got dropped off at the town park/campground and pitched my tent in the dark.

Today’s mileage: 57 miles.
Total mileage: 2721 miles.

Last night I got a flat in my front tire while biking around Gunnison, so I went to replace the tube first thing in the morning only to find it was a faulty tube, so I had to replace it again. I stopped by the local bike shop on the way out of town for some more tubes, then headed west.

Today I just followed route 50 the entire day. For the most part it had nice shoulders, but there were some dangerous sections where the shoulder disappeared and the road had tight curves. Luckily that was right after a construction zone so the cars came in packs every few minutes and I just pulled over to let them pass before continuing.

So far on my trip I haven’t had too much trouble dealing with being on the road alone, but today it hit me kind of hard and got pretty bummed out. If I am to make it to Anaheim on October 22nd though, that means just over 3 more weeks left. It’s not just the desire to go to a nerd convention though. Don’t care at all about that actually, I just want to be there to see people. This trip is definitely taking it’s toll physically and mentally on me in all sorts of ways. And so while I don’t want it to end, I’m also ready to see the Pacific.

Speaking of which, I’ve been looking over my maps and the Adventure Cycling Association’s routes through Utah and Northern Arizona seem very indirect. Not only that, they seem kind of poor routes, going up to 75 miles without any towns or services. So I may cut southwest once I enter Utah in order to save myself 3 or 4 hundred miles of riding at the expense of not visiting the Grand Canyon. I think I can live with that.

But anyways, today I had a couple 1000 foot climbs which is definitely nothing to sneeze at, but the day was more downhill than uphill and I wound up at the town of Montrose at 6000 feet elevation. Tomorrow looks to be a relatively challenging day with a 3000 foot climb, but hopefully I will be able to knock it out.

Today’s mileage: 69 miles.
Total: 2664 miles.