Steve had planned a 77 mile day for us today but had not really taken into account the altitude and the severity of Colorado's mountain roads. Hence, this is the third time we did not make it to our planned destination for the day.
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| Early AM pack at Bradshaw's Cottage |
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| Our cosy riverside cottage in Estes Park |
Compared to the Transamerica Trail maps, the elevation profiles on the Great Parks South maps are deceptive. We are discovering that every little bump on these Great Parks maps are something to be concerned about.
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| Riding out of Estes Park |
Our legs fatigued from yesterday's big effort of getting up Trail Ridge Road, we had our slowest day on the bike yet, with an average of 8.9 mph. What looked like short, gentle climbs on the map turned out to be steep, leg burning climbs with more uphill than downhill. The Colorado roads are really starting to test us.
However, as I've said before, with effort comes reward. Our first steep climb of the day out of Estes Park on Highway 7 was absolutely stunning. Colourful rocky mountain peaks surrounded us, looking back over the town into the green valley. It was pretty awesome cycling through the rock cuttings in the mountainside.
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| Looking back over Estes Park |
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| Mary's Lake on Hwy 7 |
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| Cycling through the mountainside |
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| Rock cuttings on Hwy 7 |
Then we took on the Peak to Peak Highway cycling through the Indian Peaks Wilderness of which I took a photo of the peaks 2 days ago over Lake Granby. We were just going to snack on bars for lunch so we wouldn't waste time stopping, but when we realised how much these roads were taking out of us we decided to pull up at the very quaint Mill Site Inn just near the town of Ward and the highest point on the Peak to Peak Hwy at 11,713 feet. The Inn advertised the "best pizza in the Rockies" and that "it's all downhill from here". They were wrong on both counts!
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| Indian Peaks Wilderness |
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| Longs Peak |
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| Feeling a little tired! |
We only got another 12 miles down the road before we decided to make another stop at the very alternate, hippy town of Nederland. I would have liked to have spent more time here. Steve was feeling tired and sleepy from our big lunch (or maybe as a result of the altitude) so a couple of espressos were ordered to get us through the rest of the day.
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| Katherine checking we're going to make it |
We'd also organised to meet our friend, Katherine, who's living in Denver. Just out of Nederland she appeared in her car to say hi and make sure we made it to our revised destination for the evening - Cold Springs Campground.
Having an escort with a car is great. Katherine drove us into Black Hawk 5 miles down the road for dinner, but we discovered that Black Hawk is a historic gold mining town gone totally wrong. Black Hawk which extends also another 2 miles up the road to Central City has turned into the Las Vegas of Denver, with tacky casinos and slot machines galore. It also has Amerisphere, the tallest building between here and Salt Lake City. Not really our type of scene!
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| Yesterday's climb up Trail Ridge Road |
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| Today's attempt to get to Idaho Springs-FAIL! |
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 2,014 (we surpassed another milestone!)
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: Dostal Alley Shaft House Stout
Lesson of the day: approx 60 miles should be our daily limit in Colorado
No. of days with no shower: 13
No. of days in a hotel: 9
Starting weight: Steve (90kg) Mandy (51.5kg)
Day 30 Rawlins weigh in: Steve (183 pds / 83kg). Mandy (110 pds / 50kg)
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