We're having 2 whole very welcome and much needed days off the bike for the Blues and Brews Festival in Telluride.
This festival has to be one of the more spectacular festivals in America simply because of the incredibly stunning mountain backdrop that Telluride provides. I am in complete awe of the beauty of this place and will be forever trying to work on a strategy that allows us to retire early in Telluride!
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| A cold frosty morning |
We woke up Saturday morning after a very cold night in our tent to frost on the ground and ice on our tent and bikes - brrrr! The sun didn't peak over the mountains onto the field until 9am to warm us up and dry everything out but when it did, the temperature increased considerably to a warm, sunny day.
After a hearty breakfast in town at The Butcher and Baker, we hit the festival just after opening at 11am. The beer tasting was from 12-3pm, over 50 breweries mostly from Colorado, with some from Utah and New Mexico and the main sponsor being Sierra Nevada - about 136 different beers to sample. After all our days riding, the beers hit us hard and quickly at this time of the day. After an hour of sampling we had to take a food break before we could take on the last hour of the 3 hour tasting.
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| Festival mountain backdrop |
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| Main Stage |
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| Scottish marching band entertainment |
A couple of stand out beers that deserve mentioning:
- Bristol Brewing Laughing Lab Scottish Ale (Colorado Springs)
- Carbondale Beer Works Bonedog Amber
- Ouray Brewery Box Canyon Brown
- Elevation Beer Co. Little Mo' Porter (Poncha Springs)
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| Tasting Durango Brewing beers |
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| One of the more colourfully named breweries |
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| Camping on the baseball field |
From our camp on the baseball field we can listen to the bands playing on the main stage. After the tasting we headed back to our tent for a snooze in the sun, then as the sun went behind the mountains we had to rug up before heading back in to the festival for dinner and a bit of blues.
Still exhausted we were in our sleeping bags before the party ended, listening to all the happy revellers outside and falling asleep to budding musicians playing their guitars, harmonicas and singing just outside out tent.
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| At the Gondola Station |
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| Looking over Telluride town from the Gondola |
Today was another incredible day in Telluride. It looked like it might rain in the morning but the weather held out and it was another beautiful, sunny day. After breakfast, laundry and other chores, we rode the free gondola up the mountain to mid-station to soak in the most astounding views of the town, colourful mountains and surrounding outlook over the mountain village. I wish we had our mountain bikes or had the energy to go hiking as the views from the trails here would be unbelievable. Telluride has to be one of the prettiest mountain towns on earth.
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| Telluride airstrip |
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| View of the mountain village from mid-station |
We also too the gondola further on to check out the mountain village. Somehow we need to find a way to fit in a snowboarding trip out here too.
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| Telluride Mountain Village |
In the afternoon we watched Shakey Graves play in the most surreal, dreamlike setting imagineable. Under the shade of the forest trees in the town park campground, a tiny rustic wooden stage had been set up next to Bear Creek Waterfall. With the sound of the waterfall flowing in the background and Shakey Graves husky, gritty voice ringing through the trees, it was one of the most unique and memorable performances I have ever experienced.
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| Bear Creek Waterfall and Town Park Stage |
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| Shakey Graves doing his thang |
Forget Breck - I'm coming to live in Telluride!
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| Late afternoon beers at mid-station |
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| Sunset at mid-station |
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| The sun setting on the mountains |
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 2,371
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 (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: Bristol Brewing Laughing Lab Scottish Ale
Lesson of the day: Heaven is a place on earth and it's called Telluride
No. of days with no shower: 15
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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