This post comes a bit delayed as the day left us so exhausted we didn't even have the energy to have a celebratory beer, let alone post a blog! On Friday Steve, Egg and I cycled America's highest continuously paved road - Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park - to a dizzying height of 12,183 feet, and it was epic!
After raining throughout the night, we woke up to a cloudy morning, packed our wet tent and rode 7 miles down the road to get a big breakfast at the cute town of Grand Lake at 8,500 feet in preparation for our biggest climb of the odyssey.
From the entrance to the Rocky Mountain NP, it was 24 miles to the highest point, which uncannily didn't even have a marker or a pull out to stop and take a photo. It was such an obscure point that the only way you knew you'd reached the highest point was because the road started heading down!
I can't tell you how much I love a good mountain climb. It has to be of a decent length, a decent but manageable gradient without being too easy or too hard so that you're hating every minute of the climb, and with spectacular views that make all your effort for reaching the top totally rewarding. This climb ticked all the boxes.
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| Moose! |
Soon after we entered the Park, nature called and Steve had to stop for a pee by the roadside. This proved an opportune moment for him. As he started riding again, he saw something moving across the plain that wasn't a rock. Turned out it was a moose that was not the least bit happy that he had been spotted. Bullwinkle immediately tried to hide behind taller shrubs and trees, but got spooked by the sound of motorbikes starting up, so he decided to walk out in the open and straight across the road right in front of Steve. I am cursing myself for being impatient and riding ahead, instead of waiting for Steve to do his business!
As the climb started we could see the Rocky Mountains in the distance. As we climbed higher you could tell by the rocky escarpment leading down to the road, how steep the mountains were. It was a little freaky looking down over the roadside to see how far down the mountainside the tall trees grew and how far below you the road was that you had just ridden.
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| A quick break to chat with John |
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| Surrounded by tall trees everywhere |
We took a quick break at Beaver Ponds, then another one to say hello to John on the way up as he had left before us and we caught him on a stop by the roadside to re-fuel, followed by another quick stop at Far View Curve to take in the magnificent view of the tundra way below us and the mountain peaks not quite level with us. The trick to climbing is to not stop for too long as your muscles get cold and it hurts to start again if you let this happen.
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| View of the tundra at Far View Curve |
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| We're almost level with the peaks around us |
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| 9th crossing (I think!) |
We crossed the Continental Divide again at 10,759ft and here is where it looked like the weather might turn bad. Rain clouds looked like they might be rolling in and it was starting to get cool. We tried to ride the remaining 4.5 miles to the Visitor Centre where we knew we could get some shelter and food as quick as possible considering the gradient. But at Medicine Bow Curve, just below the visitor centre, we got hit with a cold head wind and a bit of grapple (small balls if ice).
It took us 3.5hrs including all our stops to get to the Visitor Centre at 11,796ft which we were pretty chuffed about.
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| View from Medicine Bow Curve |
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| The road from Medicine Bow to the Visitor Centre |
The view from up here was simply breathtaking, the Rocky Mountains resplendent in all their glory. Looking down into the tundra and valley below was a thick cloud covering seeping up the mountain. We were told that our destination for the night, Estes Park, was underneath all that cloud cover and bad weather below!
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| Estes Park is under all that cloud! |
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| Ice remains at the end of summer |
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| Almost at the highest point! |
But before we could head down, we still had more climbing to do, and the rain was headed our way. The climb from the Visitors Centre to the highest point was not far but it was getting tough, the altitude starting to affect us more and more. Luckily, we had been up and down between 6,000 - 9,000 feet for a few weeks now since our time in Montana and Wyoming so we were quite well acclimated, but this last push to the top was most challenging.
The hardest part of all was actually after we had reached the peak, there was a short downhill followed by another climb to Rock Cut at 12,095ft. Short of breath, head pounding, feeling thirsty, legs heavy from the effort of just getting to this point it seemed the gradient increased for this last little push and the weather refused to co-operate with more grapple, rain and wind.
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| Finally starting our descent |
However, we were rewarded with three Big Horn Sheep just grazing right by the roadside as we started our descent, along with a couple of elk.
The weather started getting really bad the further down we headed. At a trailhead a ranger told us the fog and rain was rolling in, with only 50 feet of visibility ahead of us for a few miles down to Rainbow Curve. So we donned all our rain gear (ie. a rain jacket!), cold weather gear (calf sleeves and fly fishing gloves) and our bike lights and hoped we would be warm enough and that cars would be able to see us.
We only got a couple hundred yards before I pulled off the road afraid to go any further. You could barely see in front of you. Steve, being his unfeeling, practical self, just told me I couldn't stay on the mountain in these conditions and we just had to get down and off the mountain. So, we tucked in behind some fuddy duddys in their green 4wd, taking it slow and cautious in the fog, and were able to follow their tailights until it began to clear up a little and they sped off.
Meanwhile I was so cold, I was shivering uncontrollably, so much so that my bike was wobbling on the fast descent. Steve made me stop and put on more layers of clothing under my rain jacket. Maybe he does care after all!
Finally we got to Estes Park cold and miserable to find it was quite a big tourist town with lots of quaint shops and cafés, a gateway to the Rockies. There was a Scottish Highland convention that weekend, men in kilts wandering around everywhere. Virtually all the accommodation was booked out but Steve managed to get us a night in a cosy cottage by the river - Bradshaw's Cottages on Riverside Drive - keeping us warm and toasty for the night after our epic day in the Rockies.
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 1,957
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: high altitudes makes you pee more
No. of days with no shower: 12
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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