Well, we've made it to Day 40 so far without any significant dummy spits and had my birthday on the road. Being on the road means we miss seeing all the tributes and rememberances to the victims of 9/11 on TV so I could almost forget this sad day coincides with my birthday.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, my birthday was apparently celebrated on Australian time, so yesterday was when I received all my special birthday treats such as our nice dinner at Twisted Fork and a night in a hotel in Gunnison. Today was just another regular day on the road.
It was a good day though, despite how tired I still am. The ride out of Gunnison on Hwy 50 on the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway was pretty peaceful earlier in the morning with not so many cars and trucks buzzing by. The landscape changed again and suddenly we were surrounded by these colourful mesas up above us and were riding along the Blue Mesa Reservoir in the Curecanti National Recreation Area, which when it catches the sunlight and blue sky just right, the reservoir really does live up to its name.
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| View from the Elk Creek Visitor Centre |
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| The rocky formation of the mesas |
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| Blue Mesa Reservoir |
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| One of the many bridges over the reservoir |
We skirted the start of the Black Canyon National Park and caught just a tiny glimpse of what the canyon would offer if we had the time and energy to detour into the park.
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| Black Canyon |
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| Lunch stop |
Thankfully, today's ride had a fair amount of downhill, with 2 small climbs and a small small summit to get over along the way just at just over 8,000 feet.
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| View from a descent |
As we left the mesas behind we hit South-western Colorado's ranch country, then descended into the flat valley where Montrose is situated at about 5,800 feet. The further down we came, the warmer the day got and it was great that the weather decided to co-operate for my birthday wit blue sky and sunshine on our backs all day, instead of having to cycle under ominous looking cloud cover.
Montrose is the biggest town we have passed through in a very long time with a population of over 19,000 people. The roads were busy with cars and we were back to seeing all the big box stores like Walmart, Target, Sears and all the chain food dining places. It was a bit of a shock to the system.
We grabbed some food at the City Market (equivalent to Krogers) and quickly rode out of town, even forgoing a stop at the local brewery. The Riverbend RV Campground about 3 miles out of town was our destination. My birthday night was spent with Steve cooking up some quinoa that we had been carrying since the start of the trip as an emergency meal (seems my birthday was the emergency), drinking Colorado Native beers, and sitting by the campfire looking at the stars. A big owl even joined us for a little while and we were accompanied by Egg the whole time, who just won't go away.
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| Watching the birthday celebrations |
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 2,307
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 (4) 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; Day 36 - because I was blogging and Steve was dieing of starvation
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: 8
Beer of the day: Colorado Native Amber
Lesson of the day: all this exercise makes you regular as clockwork
No. of days with no shower: 13
No. of days in a hotel: 12
Starting weight: Steve (90kg) Mandy (51.5kg)
Day 30 Rawlins weigh in: Steve (183 pds / 83kg). Mandy (110 pds / 50kg)
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