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.
