Today is a hard day to write about, because I have so many mixed emotions about the day. On the one hand, the ride was another beautiful ride with picturesque mountain scenery, but on the other hand we were witness to a horrible accident that makes you think and question the way you ride and the split second reactions you have to have when you cycle.
It was cold once again when we woke up in Walden. Steve's iPhone said it was -1C, so of course we stayed in our tent until the sun rose a little higher and started warming things up.
Once again, John and Grane got the jump on us and starting riding before us. We finally rolled out of the Moose Creek Cafe, where all the hunters were also having breakfast, at 9:10am.
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| Colorado Mountains and Wildflowers |
The ride started off as a gradual rolling uphill, pretty yellow and lavender-coloured wildflowers lining the roadside. Highway 125 is lightly trafficked and a very pleasant and scenic cycle route for bicyclists.
As we were cycling, I was thinking how proud I was of Steve. For 3 years he'd been caught up in the hype of Corporate America, working himself into the ground, paying no attention to his fitness and health, at the most unhealthy stage he had ever been in his life, succumbing to all that is glutinous about America. Now after just 1 month on the road, he has gotten back to his usual friendly, more approachable self, lost 7kg, is feeling much better about himself and now that he has shed some of the excess weight he'd put on, is riding like a bat out of hell!
With that in mind, we have decided to take on the challenge of the Rocky Mountains National Park passes and today we would deviate from the Transamerica Trail onto the Great Parks South route.
We stopped for a break at the tiny town of Rand in its very picturesque setting surrounded by green fields and mountains, a few gorgeous wooden mountain homes, with a general store, fire department and post office.
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| Picturesque countryside in Rand |
From here our 10 mile climb of the day up the Willow Creek Pass started. It wasn't a bad climb, because the gradient wasn't too steep and the road rolled up and down a little, giving your legs abit of a break from the grind every now and then. During the whole climb you were surrounded by pine forest.
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| Climbing again |
A French cyclist passed us going in the other direction. Frederique had so much gear, we wondered what the hell he was doing. Apparently he was just riding around the Colorado mountains on his mountain bike, disappearing on forest roads high and deep into the mountain wilderness, making loops here and there and only coming back to the road to get from mountain to mountain.
About a mile from the summit, we saw another two touring cyclists coming down on the other side of the road. Touring etiquette has you stopping to say hi and have a chat with other cycle tourists that you see, so naturally we slowed down to have a chat. The lady at the front had stopped to talk to Steve saying that she had seen our two friends at the top, then bam, out of nowhere her cycling partner slammed full pelt into the back of her, taking her out and crashing past her going over his handlebars. He just hadn't seen her slow down and stop at all.
Meanwhile I was still riding up to Steve watching all this unfold in a blur, it just happened so fast. We both dropped our bikes and ran over as quick as we could. I remember saying aloud "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit", thinking this could be really bad because of the speed he hit her at. Natural instinct was that I ran to check out the lady and Steve took the guy.
She was horribly quiet and still, but then I saw her start to blink her eyes which was a relief. Thankfully, she was totally responsive to my questions but in a total daze as to what had just happened after having blacked out on impact for a couple seconds. I didn't quite know how to tell her that she'd just been taken out by her partner, but she was concerned about his well being rather than her own.
Irene was a total trooper, remaining calm the whole time and obeying my instructions to stay still, not move her head and keep her helmet on. We could see she'd cracked her helmet, had grazing and bruising on her knee and knuckles, and also she had a lot of pain in her shoulder, head and neck, but thankfully she had full mobility in her fingers, toes, legs and arms.
There was no cell service in this neck of the woods so we asked a car to try to drive further out to call for help. A truck driver stopped to try and direct traffic for us. A CDOT truck driver also had a radio but couldn't get reception and had to drive back out to radio for help. Another truck driver passed and managed to radio a friend that was in cell range somewhere to call 911.
Through all this Irene's partner, Randy, who had also taken a hard hit that was softened by his impact with Irene initially, was up and about even though he'd blacked out on impact too and had hit his head, but there was no way he was going to stay down.
A trail angel named Lisa, came and saved our day as Steve and I had exhausted the extent of what we could do to help the patients in a non-professionally trained capacity. Lisa pulled up on her motorbike, a trained EMT just cruising around for the afternoon, and took over. Finally the Fire Dept arrived first on scene, then the ambulance and there was also word that a helicopter was on its way, which we never saw.
Randy and Irene were a very cool, older couple out on the road to enjoy the adventure of cycle touring. From the actions they displayed today at this turn of events we could see they had a great attitude towards life as well. Unfortunately this mishap occurred only a few days into their adventure. We wish you a speedy recovery and hope you're back on your bikes soon.
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| 8th crossing |
It felt strange continuing riding after this knowing Irene and Randy wouldn't be able to continue on their journey for quite some time. Our descent into Granby was a little subdued for me. I think this will make us be extra careful and pay extra attention from now on. You just can't afford to lose your concentration for the smallest amount of time out here.
It looked like rain was closing in and the afternoon was getting on so we bought some sandwiches for our dinner from the gas station at the junction instead of riding 3 miles to the grocery store in town and rode another 8 miles out to the Stillwater Campground on Granby Lake, just beating the rain and also just beating in John and Grane who did make the grocery store run.
Rocky Mountains here we come!
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| Granby Lake |
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| Indian Peaks |
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 1,898
Overall Fastest Speed: Steve (46 miles per hour) Mandy (36.3 miles per hour)
Bludge Days: 2
Bonks: nil
Dog chases: 3
Dummy Spits: Steve (3 - Day 10 because it rained; Day 16 - because the rocks in the river were slippery; Day 29 because it takes me so long to get ready in the morning)
Mandy (2.5 - 0.5 Day 14 those freakin' wreckless Idaho drivers!; Day 26 because my bike computer had a meltdown; Day 28 because Steve wouldn't help hold my bike up in the wind after watching it nearly fall over 3 times whilst I tried to put my clothes away in the panniers because it looked like rain ahead)
Flats: Katie (4)
Wrong turns: 6
Beer of the day: N/A
Lesson of the day: Always, always, always keep your head up and look out ahead of you when you're cycling, motorbike riding, driving a car, snowboarding or any activity that involves speed and motion
No. of days with no shower: 12
No. of days in a hotel: 8
Starting weight: Steve (90kg) Mandy (51.5kg)
Day 30 Rawlins weigh in: Steve (183 pds / 83kg). Mandy (110 pds / 50kg)
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