It was hard to leave Telluride this morning. I could have stayed there forever in my mountain utopia. Festival campers had to evacuate the park by 11am and we were practically the last to leave, waiting for our tent to dry a little in the morning sun.
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| Sunshine Mountain and Wilson Peak |
Once we got out of town we had a 12 mile climb to get up Lizard Head Pass at 10,222 feet. The days off the bike did refresh our legs and while I don't feel we rode up the pass any faster than we would have previously, it definitely didn't feel as hard on your legs. Like most of the passes in Colorado, it was a beautiful pass to cycle with views of the surrounding mountains - Sunshine Mountain at 12,930 feet and Wilson Peak at 14,017 feet being most prominent. The climb was steep for a couple miles just getting out of Telluride up to the Mountain Village then levelled off a little and starting rolling with a bit of a descent looking down into the valley below before It kicked up again for 4 miles into the pass proper. It's hard to concentrate on the road when the scenery around you is so distracting.
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| Views as we climbed up to Lizard Head Pass |
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| Fall foliage |
Steve and I decided that the riding in South-western Colorado outshines the Rockies. It is just so much more colourful, the conifer trees darker and greener, golden fall leaves contrasting with the dark green of the forests, the mountain peaks more jagged and irregularly shaped, their rocky slopes above the treeline a variety of colours from red to orange to grey to beige. When we crossed the border from Wyoming to Colorado and the sign said "Welcome to colourful Colorado" - surely they were talking about this corner of the state.
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| The colourful rocky escarpment on the descent between Rico and Dolores |
From Lizard Head Pass, the descent to Dolores was a mellow river grade along the flowing Dolores River almost all the way. Once again, Steve got to coast most of the way while I was pedalling my heart out against a slight headwind and not having the weight on the lower gradient to just roll down the hill. We lost about 3,300 feet of elevation from the top of Lizard Head Pass to Dolores, riding between two mountain ranges it seemed. Finally we are getting into some more constantly warmer weather.
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| Remnants from the mining days in Rico |
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| The town of Rico |
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| Lunch stop in Rico |
Steve opted for the Dolores Mountain Inn so we could get cleaned up after 4 nights of camping and get some laundry done as we'd run out of clean clothes which isn't hard to do when you haven't packed many options. Unfortunately Dolores Brewery was closed for the day so we settled for a TV dinner in our hotel room while Steve fixed his first flat of the trip and we pimped our rides with beer stickers collected at the festival.
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 2,437
Overall Fastest Speed: Steve (46 miles per hour) Mandy (36.3 miles per hour)
Bludge Days: 4
Bonks: nil
Dog chases: 3
Dummy Spits: Steve (5) 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; Day 44 - because the clothes dryer didn't dry his clothes
Mandy (3.5) 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; Day 44 - because Steve's bushies flew back and hit me in the face (twice)
Flats: Katie (4); Steve (1)
Wrong turns: 8
Beer of the day: N/A
Lesson of the day: a beard gives Steve cred on the mountain and on the road (probably because he no longer looks like a bean counter)
No. of days with no shower: 15
No. of days in a hotel: 13
Starting weight: Steve (90kg) Mandy (51.5kg)
Day 30 Rawlins weigh in: Steve (183 pds / 83kg). Mandy (110 pds / 50kg)
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