Trail Magic, First 1000 miles, Wyoming state line

We made our way out of Colorado and into Utah. Our destination was Vernal. Did I mention that Kiki was pretty much at the end of her rope with regards to hotels. Not bad, we've made it 26 days without a hotel (well we did stay one night in Durango, but that was free). Not that we're trying to avoid hotels, we do have a "foul-weather fund", we've just been overall lucky with the weather. But at a certain point, one does desire a bed. So I couldn't blame her. Getting to Vernal is not fun on bicycle. NW Colorado had turned into West Texas as far as I could tell with oil and gas stuff everywhere. And NE Utah was no different.

Summing up the experience, we passed this business on the dreaded highway before Vernal, Utah. I came up with a killer slogan for them. "Eight Ball Trucking. We get it there yesterday!"

All this oil and gas work meant the scenery was poor and the truck traffic was high. To boot, they have a double rumble strip in the road. That is, one rumble strip goes right down the center of the road! Guess that keeps all the sober Utahns from drifting into head-on collisions. For bicyclist, this causes the annoying occurrence of every time a car or truck gives you space, they cross the center rumble strip and it sounds like the full-on jake brake of an 18-wheeler. So that was annoying to say the least.

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So we roll into Vernal and ask about a hotel. I ask the foreign hotel employee, "How much for 2 adults with 1 bed?". He says, "You have a 2 dogs!, Sorry, No Dogs". I say, " No, not dogs. Adults. 2 AAA-Dults with Zero Dogs." He says, $60. I say " OK, thanks but we'll look around". He says, "I can give you for $50", I say, "I can pay $40" (did I mention that is wasn't a very swanky looking place?). Alas, we are soon on our bikes heading for Vernal proper. Right as it starts to rain we pass the "Country Grub". And get this, "They have ice cream again!"(read the sign). How could we pass up this very serendipitous omen.

After chowing and reading a newspaper from May 2 (it's June 25th but it's all they had. How could this possibly be? I tried not to think about it too much. Were they as nonchalant about food expiration dates?) and letting the rain peter out, we hit Vernal. Right as you enter town is a bike shop and it looked open, so I decided to inquire about my wobbly crank arms. Turns out my bottom bracket is shot and needs replacement. They are able to do the work right then (a minor miracle in itself), so I jump on it. Kiki in the meantime strikes up conversation with the folks in shop to see if she can find a lodging/sofa option. We stumble on James and Cory (below) who are probably the 2 coolest guys in Vernal. Cory loves Crested Butte and can name most of our best mountain bike trails. He offers us some floor space at his pad. Kiki gets clean, I get clean, (I even trim my Fu-man-chu) and then we get driven (in the rain) to the grocery store. And never, never had carpet seemed so comfortable as the night we slept on Cory's living room floor!

We say goodbye to our new friends and head out to blue skies the next morning. We're not looking forward to the upcoming events because they all point upwards. One sign even warns us off 10 switchbacks in 4 miles at 8% grade. It's scenic but definitely slow going (7.5 mph average). On days like today, we're really lucky to get 50 miles.

We covered our first 1000 miles right outside of Vernal, Utah. And, I am not making this up, there was a professional photographer right there on the side of this desolate road waiting for a triathlon to come down the hill so he could snap their pictures. I asked him if he'd take a quick pic to commemorate the milestone. This leg from Vernal to the Flaming Gorge Reservoir was really tough, so these might have been the last smiles on our faces. The scenery thru NE Utah as stunning and all along the way, they had signs that'd tell us what layer of earth we were looking at and what was special about it ("Dinosaurs roamed here", "Created by ancient sea", etc). We ended the day exhausted and found a spot right near the reservoir at the only point you actually have access to it. That facilitated a nice dip in the not-so-cold waters. We are sleeping great at nights as the temps are staying cool. I don't think I ever sleep as good as when I'm bicycle touring, you just get so dang tired.

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Had this idea today, a bicycle tour sponsored by "Subway". We'd cycle from Subway to Subway. They'd give us free foot-longs and some to-go. Subway'd pick up the cost of the tour and promote it (similar to Jared and his weight loss), we'd donate money to a charity to make it all legit. How cool would that be? Subway's are everywhere, so you could invent a pretty scenic route.

We made it to Wyoming after a day and 1/2 in Utah. The funny thing about this border crossing is that across the street from it was "The Hub" restaurant. Great little place to get an all-american breakfast (which we did). The Hub is 1/2 in Utah and 1/2 in Wyoming. The 1/2 in Wyoming sells real liquor which apparently they can't do in Utah. It was just interesting to have the state line run right thru a store. Never seen that.

Above is an example of today's road booty. Four Swiss Miss Hot Chocolates with marshmallows. How can you pass that up? I love drinking hot chocolate in the evening. Today we also found some SPF 30 sunscreen (1/2 full and we were almost out) and some cool sunglasses. Plus I'm finding lots of half full water bottles that is supplying me with water to douse my legs and head and shirt. So the road is continuing to supply us with good fortune.

Small Town USA

So this happens to us in Nucla the other day. I'll set the scene:

Local supermarket, downtown Nucla, Colorado: unkempt bicycle tourist looking over the candy shelf deciding between peanut or plain M&M's. Patty, the cashier, older, dyed jet black hair and the butcher, Tommy, 30-something, white tee-shirt, tattoos, blood-smeared apron discussing Joe who has just left the supermarket.

Patty: Well it doesn't look like Joe is doing that bad
Tommy: Whaddya mean?
Patty: Well, ya know, with that nice new truck of his and all
Tommy: You don't even want to know what I think about that
Patty: Well, that's probably just about what I was thinking too

Possible conclusions (made by unkempt bicycle tourist eavesdropper)

1) Joe's an SOB and has been ever since the 3rd grade, or
2) Joe recently married brother's widow who happens to be rich, or
3) Joe sells meth

Loma to Rangley, Hwy 139

---------> Camp site on Hwy 139, sunset thru the door.

There is a lonely road in the northeast corner of Colorado that connects Grand Junction to Rangley. 73 miles long, due north. Up and over Douglas Pass (8300 ft). A perfect bicycling road.

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We've started a new tradition, (thanks to Kiki since she has the watch and the will power). That is to wake at 5:30 and be rolling by 6am. No official breakfast till the first 10-15 miles (we'll eat a powerbar or something at the tent). All this is our ploy to beat the heat. If we can get most of our ride done by noon, it's smooth sailing after that. If fact we were brainstorming names for our plan. The best we could come up with is the "High Noon Five-Oh", meaning by noon we'd like to have 50 miles done. Then you can shack up somewhere from 1pm-5pm and then cycle 20 more after it cools down. We have this same tradition on long-distance hiking trails, though modified for walking we call it a "Ten-by-Ten".

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That's how we arrived into Fruita. A high-noon five-oh and then straight to the library. I love libraries!!! They are my favorite place even when I'm not travelling. They are just so nice to hang out in and so welcoming!

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Resupplied, we head out of Fruita to get closer to Rangely and make Douglas Pass more doable. Did I mention it's hot! Somehow we miss the scenic drive I'd planned out of Fruita to Hwy 139 and instead end up on the hellaciously busy Hwy 6. Trucks flying by, little shoulder. Not a fun road, but we only had 5 miles of it, so we decided to just stick with it till we got to our road. I notice my bike is getting a bit squirrelly and finally realize that I'm getting a flat front tire. The worse part is that there is no shade to be had anywhere. This is not good because when you do stop cycling, the heat factor jumps by 10 it seems. So we stop and I douse myself with water just to make dealing with this situation survivable. I decide to pump up the flat and see if we can go 1/4 mile more and find shade. The plan works as we make it to a Conoco station (me pushing the last 200 yards); the perfect flat changing location. In my book, if you're going change a flat, might as well have a fountain drink with lots of ice.

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We made it 9 miles north of Loma before pooping out. Good part about this country is you can just camp anywhere you feel like it. We found an old jeep road and camped only about 200 yards off the main highway. It's pretty desolate out there. No buildings, nothing really. Just sage and spiders. This was probably one of our best campsites yet (see above). So close to the road and yet such a remote, private feeling. We could see the Colorado Nat'l Monument to the south and a spectacular sunset dazzled us as we tucked in for the night.

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Heading out that morning, we knew Douglas Pass loomed ahead. We'd have about 30 miles of pedalling until we crossed it. The first 25 were not so bad, but that last 5 had us pedalling at 3 mph. It was a toughie, but no tougher than we'd already done, so we were well prepared.

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The thing about our "High-Noon Five-Oh" plan is that it make us very nappy. We pretty much have to have a nap or we'll become non-functioning or worse, hurt ourselves. Lucky for us we cruised into a recreation area right as we were both needing some down time. It had a picnic table but better, it had a shelter for shade. We immediately put ourselves down for a 30 minute time-out.

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I think that's all I really need these days. Picnic tables and shade. Give me those two things and I'll be completely satisfied. We cruised into Rangely and went directly to the Subway (2nd day in a row!). I'm way into the Meatball sub for some reason. I've lived my whole life never ordering a Meatball sub, now it seems I can't fathom life without one. Sometimes I think that bicycle touring makes you similar to a pregnant woman. You just start craving certain things and you don't know why, you just do and whoa to he who might get in your way of fulfilling that desire!

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We'll be out of Colorado tomorrow and into Utah for a day or two (Vernal) before we get to the Flaming Gorge area of Wyoming.

What the heck!!! 2 pics from Hwy 141

The above pic was taken just SE of Norwood. I have no idea. I need to do some research on this. Anyone with any idea feel free to comment. It's fun passing by something completely new though. My jaw just dropped when I saw it. It's like a Dr. Suess creation. (More: After doing "The Google", I found this is known as “Ankole” in Uganda and “Watussi” in Rwanda and in Burundi. It came about through cross-breeding for thousands of years between the hump-backed and the long-horned Egyptian buffalo. Both males and females have looong horns, which can grow to over 8 feet (2.5 meters) in length. (more info here).

Then this, later on, on Hwy 141 between Gateway and Hwy 50. You got it right, a Nazi flag waving in the breeze. I was like, you have got to be kidding me! But there it was, flapping in the breeze. Not shown in this pic is that on the left side of this home, was displayed a huge American flag. So.....go figure. Had I seen this in Idaho, I'd be like, "Well, OK, I'd heard about that faction living there." But this is Colorado!

Telluride to Fruita, CO : Summer Begins

So summer has come on with a vengeance and I'm stuck wondering why in the world I have a 15F degree sleeping bag. But first things first. We struck out of Telluride after returning all of our free box stuff that we had gathered over the 4 days. Of note were the down pillow and the very thick foam pad which I lined the entire tent floor with. That combined with earplugs and I was a very happy sleeper.

As usual for us, things continue to go wonderfully. First on the agenda was to stop for coffee (again) in Placerville before the climbing began. We cycled right up the my beloved before-mentioned bench and lo and behold, there lay two not-so-crisp dollars for us to purchase our coffees with. This kind of "magic" happens to us all the time and I just chuckle and thank the powers that be for the gift.

Heading out of Telluride on highway 141 was a treat for us because it is an road we'd never been on before. The views just south of Norwood merited some picture taking. I'm guessing but I think that is Lone Cone on the right. Very pretty country.

Of course, as mentioned above, winter was now over and the heat was coming on. For me, this means managing the heat rash that I inevitably get when I cycle in the sun for hours. But I have a "cure" and that is, every 5 or so miles, I douse my legs and shorts with water to cool my legs down. It definitely works and makes it possible for me to push on thru the hottest parts of the day. Still, we seek out shade any chance we get. On average, we try to go 20 miles and break for a snack, then 20 miles and break for lunch and a nap, then 20 more miles and call it a day. Above is us at one of our typical lunch stops.

Highway 141 up to Gateway is a stunning ride. I really felt like I was in Utah. There were tons of motorcycles and very few big rigs on this road. Looked like we were cycling on the bottom of the Grand Canyon in some places. It's a very curvy road that followed the Dolores River for a ways. A river in which we had at least 3 "heatbreaks". A heatbreak is when you get too hot and you have to get in the river, fully clothed (that includes shoes, you can leave your helmet on too!). Then you just lay there and moan.

We arrived in Gateway which was exciting for me because I've always been intrigued with it on the map. It just seemed like it had to be cool. Well what it turned out to be was not what I'd expected. For those who have hiked the PCT, think Warner Springs without the hot springs. It's basically just a resort with employees zooming around in golf carts. Still, we were SOOOO excited to be there as it was 95F out and we were "knackered as". They have this store at the resort called the Outpost. The first thing I notice was that there was no access to the Outpost from the road. What kind of business makes it hard for their customers to enter their establishment? Lucky for us, we had bikes and could hop some curbs to get to the store. Inside, it's pretty darn nice as you can see from the pic. And get this, they had only one Ben and Jerry's left and it was my favorite flavor, "Chubby Hubby". Anyone who's done some long-distance travel can pretty well imagine how LONG we lounged in this oasis.

After over-staying our welcome at the Outpost in Gateway, we tried to trudge onward (and upward) but only made it 6 miles before both of us were bonking and literally shaking a bit. Not sure what was going on, but it was a record heat day. So we took another heatbreak and tried some more, but Kiki tapped out and said she just didn't feel right. Magically, this wayside picnic area appeared and we pulled in for the night. Sometimes you just gotta camp wherever you poop-out. The above picture show how critical picnic tables can be to an enjoyable camping experience. Once our panniers explode their contents, it's pretty easy to cover the tables in no time flat.

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That reminds me of one reason I love bicycle touring or long-distance hiking. You get to this state of appreciation for such simple things. Like the above picnic table, or often just good shade from the sun, or having cold water instead of tepid water. These simple things are usually taken for granted in normal life, not even noticed really. So we must rely on other things to stimulate that "make-you-happy" feeling. And yet, if you've got it all, well then it gets pretty tough to get that feeling at all.

Telluride --> Buffalo, WY (18 days)

It's Monday and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival is over. We now begin the longest leg of the Bluegrass Bicycle Tour. 700-800 miles to Buffalo, Wyoming via Jackson, The Tetons and Yellowstone Nat'l Park.
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Telluride ended with a very emotional moment when Craig Ferguson (the TBF director) sang an ode to his recently passed away father, accompanied by Sam Bush on mandolin. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Then the "house band" of Sam, Bela, Jerry, Luke, Edgar, Bryan proceed to tear the house down with a set full of classic bluegrass numbers.
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It was nice to see our old Appalachian Trail friends, Easy and Handstand, who were are the festival this weekend.
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Telluride ended with some good news for us. Our camp site, dubbed "Camp Not-a-lot-a", got voted Saturday's most environmentally-friendly campsite. They announced our names on the main stage and we won some swag (a bamboo shirt!). That was quite an honor and we are now in the running with the other 3 day-winners for the grand prize. We'll know in a week or two who Planet Bluegrass selects as the 2009 winner. Wish us luck! I think we have a good chance. Our spiel was that we don't have anything so by default we'd be more environmentally-friendly than the camp site that, say, has a solar panel. An example of our selling points for our camp was that since we had no cooler, we bought no aluminum can drinks and hence no ice. Of course the big selling point was that we had no car and used no gas bringing in our camp or taking it away.
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We'll be heading to Wyoming by way of Gateway and then Douglas Pass, both highly recommended routes. Then we'll skirt the west side of the Flaming Gorge in southern Wyoming before heading towards the Tetons and Yellowstone. We'll give some updates along the way if we hit the libraries at the right time.
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So far the BBT has be very well received by all we encounter. Folks are always encouraging and often in disbelief. My goal all along with the BBT has been to raise awareness to the ability to vacation on your bicycle and it seems that we are getting results; one person at a time. I even have some very serious inquiries about joining the BBT from fellow cycle tourist. I hope that pans out, it'd be fun to create a posse of BBT'ers.

More Telluride Bluegrass Pics

Here's a shot of the beautiful setting that accompanies the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. This is pretty much the musician's view as they perform . They all comment on it and really, how could they not be inspired to sing their heart's out with such an awesome vista to behold.

Of course some folks barely make it back to their tents each night (or at least 3/4 of the way to their tents). Let's call this guy, "Joe the Festivarian". The days are long and the sleep marginal, but the memories last a lifetime (well maybe not for some!).

Telluride Bluegrass Festival

The Telluride Bluegrass Festival has got to be the granddaddy of all bluegrass festivals west of Rosine, Kentucky. With upwards of 10,000 festivarians, and a lineup that gives you little time to eat dinner for fear of missing a "happening", there is no shortage of good times to be had.


Crooked Still laying it down

Telluride Bluegrass Festival is not strictly for bluegrass music. In fact, it was here that I saw my first Ani Di Franco show and discovered Xavier Rudd. This year is no exception with David Byrne and Elvis Costello some of the biggest names. But, for me, first and foremost, it's the bluegrass-style of music that gets my attention.

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Crooked Still is a band I'm diggin a lot lately and they laid down a sweet set on Friday. They are not your typical bluegrass band. Plus, there is no "star". Each member adds an integral 1/5 to the overall uniquely-their-own sound. Aoife (uh, could I buy a consonant?) has a voice that is tough to describe and easy to love. For me it's a cross between raspy, soft and soulfully sexy. And her delivery of the song is the other half of why it works so well . Her interpretation of even classics, like Darling Corey, make the song new and fresh. Tristin Clarridge plays the cello, you can see him up there on the left. I think this unique addition of the cello, playing leads, bassy stuff and chops, is really what gives Crooked Still that high-energy edge and different sound that so many are in love with. In fact it wasn't until I saw them on Friday, that it dawned on me, "Hey!, they don't have a guitarist!" Hell, that's like having a polka band without an accordion! (NB: Aoife does plays guitar on a couple tunes). Check them out here singing my favorite song of theirs, Hop High.

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So David Byrne. What can one say? I went into the show with little expectations. No actually I guess I expected him to do something weird that I probably wasn't going to be into. (I grew up loving the Talking Heads, but never went to a concert). Well, I was wrong. David has innovated again. What they are doing in a nutshell is mixing music with contemporary dance. Click on this for an example. I was thoroughly entertained. And by the time he busted into "Burning Down the House", I was us screaming along to every lyric that defined my early 80's youth. This set gets my vote for "Best Set of the Festival"

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One of the very best moments for me was during Sam Bush's set. He and John Cowan did a duet with Sam on acoustic guitar and sang Spider John. They really put their hearts into it and I was getting those familiar chills I get when the music gets infused with feeling and emotion. (See photo at the top of this entry).

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Every Telluride I discover new bands (for me) that become favorites. This year it has been Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis and the Zac Brown Band. Zac did a awesome cover of Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic", that had everyone captivated.

Arriving in Telluride

We arrived into Telluride (that's us in front of the festival stage) via the normal car route even though the much more scenic Last Dollar dirt road was an option, which I have done before and knew it was doable and worth it, but I have to tell you, after 100 miles on the dirt Divide Road, I was ready for some pavement. The car route into Telluride isn't "free" either though as after Placerville, there is a significant bump between you and the Corn Dogs that await.

We celebrated being off the dirt road by stopping in Placerville at the General Store for the much anticipated cup of coffee and a Bear Claw. It's funny, but after cycling for an extended period of time, you really begin to notice the little, finer things in life. Like the bench in front of the General Store in Placerville (above). It's made out of sturdy logs and the back of it, instead of being at a 90-degree angle, it's more at a 75-degree angle, and those 15 degrees make all difference in the world! Aaaahhh, we relaxed like professionals.

So after Placerville, there is that slap-in-the-face 16 miles or so of uphill with little to no shoulder with lots of semi-truck traffic. Scenic, but not a fun ride in my book. I have a rating system for hills, it's based on the speed with which you can travel up them.

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Zero - the steepest possible and not rideable

1 - too steep to cycle, maybe if you didn't have panniers, but why?

2 - you could cycle but you're better off pushing, just as fast

3 - steepest hill you can stay upright on bike and go faster than walking/pushing

4 - etc. all the way to 9 which is a very slight incline

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So this hill to Telluride is a 3, or the speed we were traveling was 3 mph. Painfully slow. Not fast enough to create wind to cool you down. Mosquitoes can catch up to you and bite you. Flys land on your map and hitch a ride. People point, some laugh, some give the thumbs up outside their window. You sweat, grunt, swerve, curse motorcycles and their ability to simply twist their wrist go faster.

Speaking of semi-trucks, by far the most courteous drivers of all on the highway and roads of America are the big trucks or rather the professional drivers, people who drive for a living. I know for a lot of people new to bicycle touring, this might be their worse fear but the big trucks are simpy not a worry. The big trucks almost always give us lots of space and if the situation arises that they can't cross the center line, they'll slow down and wait. Nope, it is hands down the recently-retired motorhome driver that is the bicycle tourist's worst enemy.

So after slogging up this last hill you are greeted with the view that Telluride is famous for (above). Telluride really does have a lock on beautiful settings for a town, oh yea, it's got its downsides as well, which I won't elaborate on (try googling: Downsides of living amongst the filthy rich and famous of Telluride for starters), but for shear beauty, it's in a league of its own.

Arriving in the town proper is great too as the main drag still retains much of that old Victorian charm (aside from the 1000's of people bustling about because of the festival). We cycle directly the famous "free-box" on Pine Street hoping to make some scores that'll make our festival experience that much more comfortable. I get some blue jeans, a funky knit hat and get this, a down pillow! I am so excited about my down pillow. Kiki got some sweats, a bathing suit, and a sun hat. You gotta love the Telluride Free Box. Every town should have one.

We're starting a neat tradition every morning in Telluride. We bicycle down to the free box and pick out our daily outfit from the free bin. It is such a cool feature that Telluride has and it is always busy with people dropping stuff off or picking stuff up. It's so much fun especially since we've only got a couple garments each for the next month and a half.

Palisade to Telluride, The Divide Road

Onward to festival #3, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. This will take us from Palisade to Telluride. Since it's not that far, we've decide to take a longer (more arduous) route on the Uncompahgre plateau riding the Divide Road. This is basically a dirt road which links Grand Junction to Ridgway or Placerville. That's a view from the divide road above.

We didn't know exactly what to expect of the Divide Road as we know no one who has pedaled it. Was there water? Was it steep? How was the gravel/road? Well we went not knowing the answer to any of these questions but planned for the worse. So we began the ascent to 9000 ft. with 2 gallons of water on the bikes. A pickup truck stopped to chat with us and we inquired about the water situation on the divide. They are like, "Um, yer definitely gonna be needin' some water up there", (Ah, yea, thanks for that one!), and proceed to look at us like we were possibly the stupidest folks they'd ever run into. We are like, "So is there at least some running water up there?", thinking that we'd just filter from creeks like we always do. They reply, "Welp, ya know there's this campground with spigots, but they ain't worked since the 80's. Iffn' it's running water you want, I'd stick to the pavement." I realize then and there that there two type of people, those that think running water comes from spigots and those that think it's in creeks.

We soon realize that the going is not gonna be fast and our first day ends after only 46 miles. But we were both spent. We end up at the above mentioned spigoted campground (nope they didn't work!), and there are 5 tents set up with nobody in them and nothing in them (I checked). It's also late and we ponder for a moment the idea of just sleeping in one of the already set-up tents. How cool would that have been. No set up, no break down. In the end, we didn't have the balls to do it but it was fun to consider.

We start the next day with flat tire number one of the tour. As Kiki's back tire had small hole/gash in it. I repaired it using a yogurt lid and duct tape thinking myself a veritable Macgyver. Oh and I should mention that we carry a spare tire too. But I figured it'd hold until we got to the next bike shop. Well it lasted 50 miles. And man, when you get a flat because of a hole in your tire, it blows like a 357 magnum and pretty much causes you to think you are dying for a second or two. Well, second time we put the spare tire on and all was great.

We come up with the saying, 50 miles is the new 70, because our progress is so slow (7 mph). But it sure is great to be away from cars and on dirt roads. The Divide Road is on the Uncompahgre Plateau in that whole area surrounded by, OK, use your finger here and follow along, Montrose, Delta, Grand Junction, Gateway, Norwood, Placerville, Ridgway. Between all of those cities is the Uncompahgre Plateau. The Divide road goes the entire length of the plateau and is 96 miles long and for the most part, the surface is rideable. Camping is literally everywhere which is really nice. You can simply cycle until you're tired and within 1/2 mile you'll find good camping. We're glad we took lots of water though, as there were tons of cows and not many creeks with running water.


Here's the typical campsite on the Divide Road; anywhere in the forest, it's all flat and good for camping. This shows Kiki multi-tasking by cooking dinner and reading her book.

I have this thought up on the plateau: I start (unexplainably) singing, "First thing you know ol' Jed's a millionaire, Kin folk say Jed move away from there", then I say, wait a minute! "Kin folk say Jed move away from there?" Come on! He just earned a million bucks. Kin folk are gonna be like, "Hey Jed! Wanna come over for dinner". There not gonna be telling him to move away! "Well Jed, now that ye ain't poor anymore like us'n, yous just betta get on outta here, we've ain't got no use for you 'round here, lessn' ye wanna work like the rest of us'n so's yous can earn yer keep.

After 2 days of cycling, we finally hit the pavement again, which I have to admit, I wasn't upset to see (it's just so darn smooth). And from there it was only 26 more miles to before hitting the world famous town of Telluride and their equally famous bluegrass festival. I knew life was treating us right when the very first person I run into is Josh Elmer of KBUT in Crested Butte
who is a friend of mine. He immediately hooks us up with some saved campsites which solves that problem, his friend (who owns a bike shop in Durango) then hooks us up with new tires for our ailing bicycles. Life is good on the Bluegrass Bicycle Tour. Now it time to festivate!

Palisade Bluegrass Festival

The Kruger Brothers, above, summed it up best when they said "Just be yourself, everyone else is taken". That's is probably what I like best about festivals, especially bluegrass festivals. Everyone is just themselves.

The Palisade Festival grounds was better than expected. Right on the banks of the swiftly moving river with loads of camping and loads of picking. We had a group of about 25 of our friends from Crested Butte there which was very special. Strong winds took away some EZ-ups, but aside from that, it was prime festival weather.

Of note during the festival was of course, the Kruger Brothers, who I could never get tired of seeing. Jens is a banjo player to be reckoned with and the when they all 3 play together, it's magical music.

Cadillac Sky was also the act I was most excited to see and they did not let down. They have a new guitarist and I was a bit nervous that this would not work out because the previous guitarist's high harmony singing was so critical to their sound. But this new guy was off the hook. Not only can he hit the notes, he can flat out singlehandedly get the crowd into a frenzy . How you say, well, here's an example: After saying to the crowd that it was OK to dance if they wanted, the said guitarist leaps off the stage and does a commando roll in the grass, he then proceeds to pluck audience members up from their sedated stupors and pull them up to the stage. Three, five, ten, people, drug up to the stage, soon after the mass of all humanity followed and before you know it we had a bluegrass-style mosh pit happening. It was quite an event. He actually reminded me a lot of vintage John Belushi, just doing crazy stuff that left your mouth agape.

If you have a chance to see either the Kruger Bros. or Cadillac Sky, I say take it.

Hat's off to George and Judy for putting on a stellar event and I look forward to pedalling to it in the years to come.

Montrose -> Palisade

I have half a mind to change the name of this tour from the "Bluegrass Bicycle Tour" to the "Bluegrass and Diner Bicycle Tour" or simply the BAD Tour. It has a nice ring to it and gets us to the event of the day.

We spend the night stealth camping by the river in Montrose very near the Target which you can see if you click on the picture and blow it up in size. We looked at the skies which were still not cooperating and decided we'd have to ditch the plans to bike the Uncompahgre Plateau on the Divide Road and simply stick to the highways (550 and 50) to get to Palisade. We're calling this the Beeline Option or Bad Weather Alternative. Maybe we can still get the Divide road on the way back to Telluride.

So we stop in at the Eatery Breakfast joint in Delta and order coffee and cinnamon bun which the menu says they are famous for. Holy Moly. This cinnamon bun was completely out of control!!! We did our best to make it disappear, but both of us were unsuccessful. This is destined to be a regular stop on the BBT.

Escape Silverton

As it got late in Silverton, we started asking around where one might camp. On our way to one of the suggested spots, I spied this hill pretty much in downtown Silverton that looked like the prefect tent pitching spot. It was kinda humorous getting our fully-loaded bikes up the 30 yard singletrack that led to the top of the hill. It was very steep and we kept on slipping and sliding. Determined, I finally made it but I'm not sure why I didn't just take my panniers off like Kiki did. Once atop our "loft", we had commanding views of Silverton.

We fell asleep to the patter of rain on our tent that didn't let up all night. So in the morning, we just rolled over for the requisite extra hour of sleep that rain on the tent necessitates (scientifically proven to cause it to stop raining). Didn't work. We packed up inside the tent what we could and then popped our heads out only to be greeted, much to our chagrin, by SNOW not rain! Oh boy. That was not expected (and we're from Crested Butte).

Packing up the tent was truly an unpleasant experience. I lost feeling in my hands almost immediately as it was the kind of wet/cold that makes you curse all things mountainous. We then saddled up and coasted the 250 yards the Brown Bear Cafe and by the time we arrive, I am not kidding you, we were shivering worse than members of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctica adventure. And as we entered the cafe' we got moans of sympathy from the waitresses, we looked so pitiful. I didn't have the heart to tell them we'd only been on our bikes a total of 2 minutes. And get this, my feet were already soaked from walking the tall grass out of camp even though I had baggies (obviously holey baggies) of my feet.

So the morning was not off to a bright start (except for the fire and coffee at the Brown Bear). And I started to feel trapped. Think about it. There are only two ways out of Silverton and both are UP into worse weather! Yikes. We considered our options. A) Go for it come what may, B) Shack up in the hostel C) Refill yer coffee hon? Why yes thank you! D) Hitchhike up and over Red mountain pass to Ouray to hopefully better weather. After choosing option "C" about 7 times, we decided that it would only be at most 23 miles of misery (11 up and 12 down) to get to Ouray and if we were completely disoriented from the frostbite, we'd go to the hot spring and thaw out. So we put it all on an headed out into the elements. It made me think of Mark Twain's quote, "The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco". I pondered, had Mr Clemens ever been to Silverton?? But there was an opening in the gauntlet which gave us just enough time to get out of town. Of course this road sign did little to alleviate our apprehensions. Nothing like slick tires and icy roads keep the day exciting!

The worse thing about bicycling in weather like this is that with all your gear on, you get overheated and with nothing on, you get hypothermic. There is a very small window of comfort which is practically impossible to obtain. You actually want it to be be colder so you can just be comfortable.

Finally, we made it to Red Mountain pass, 11 miles away (elev. 11, 300) and the sun was actually beginning to make an appearance (that's me on the pass). This elated us because the downhills can actually be way more uncomfortable if it's nasty cold and wet out than the uphills. I was happy to be out of Silverton as that "trapped" feeling was not to my liking. It was off to better weather from here on out as no more major passes stood between us and our destination, Palisade Bluegrass Festival, which is near Grand Junction, still 175 miles away.

Durango -> Silverton

It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for erasing the previous day's beating.  We were back at it on our way to Grand Junction, or Palisade really.  Still a ways to go though.  We got some major bumps between us and the next festival.  Started the morning as we'll start most mornings when in at town, and that's at the local supermarket.  I love supermarkets!!!!

We passed a mailbox today that Crested Butte could definitely do without!!!!   Save Snodgrass Mountain!

We've decided to  take Hwy 55o to Silverton instead of doing the Bolam Pass Forest Road at the ski resort which would have taken us to near Rico because it looks like it could rain.  Still,  the 550 is beautiful and it has a good shoulder.   We knew we had to get over Molas Pass, but it was a surprise to both of us that we actually had to go over 2 passes.  The first was called Coal Bank Pass or something like that and it was at 10,000 then we had to decend about 100o feet or more which was a bummer the whole time since we knew that Molas Pass was coming up so any elevation lost would have to be gained again!  Molas Pass is at 10,300 feet.    

The view as you come over Molas Pass and into Silverton are truly amazing.  I was topping out at 40 mph on the way down but had to stop to take this pic.  Silverton reminds me a lot of my hometown of Crested Butte.  Both are old mining towns that have retained their "look".  Silverton's side streets aren't paved which is cool and lets me experience what Crested Butte must have been like before they chose to pave all the streets there some time ago.

We've decided on a short day today at 52 miles, but it feels right since straight ahead us is Red Mountain Pass at 11,000 ft.  Yikes!   Now it's time to get to finding a place to sleep for the night.    

Pagosa -> Durango (the long way)

We were amped to get back on the bikes after 4 days of festivating and this is exactly how I anticipated it would be.  Ride your bike for 4 days, relax and listen to music for 4 days.  Not enough time to get tired of either really.

We have chosen to not do the direct route to get over to Durango.  Instead, by taking CR500, we'll follow the San Juan River for 42 miles on smooth dirt road (see pic above).  That was the wonderful part of the day.  The not so wonderful part happened when we caught up with the Mag-Chloride truck.  Yuck!  Muddy mess for about 8 miles.  

This route turned about to be about 20 miles longer than I had anticipated but we really had to make it to Durango because our friend owns a hotel there and he had a room waiting for us.  So not making it really wasn't an option (a situation I try to avoid usually unless they involve soft beds!).  So by mile 70 we're near Ignacio on the Sky Ute Indian Reservation.  I'm pretty much at the end of my rope when I see the sign "Durango 24 miles".  Oh boy,  this ain't gonna be fun.  Kiki is, the whole time, NOT complaining which made me feel like I couldn't either, so we trudge on.   I took the following measures that I am attributing to giving me a 2nd wind and I will outline for you exactly what I did:

1)  One Carb Boom Gu Packet  2)  3 Vitamin-I's (Ibuprophren) 3) One peanut butter power bar followed by 4) 15 minutes of lying on my back with my feet elevated at about 75 degrees.    I know, sounds pretty kooky,  and I'm sure I looked pretty kooky, but I'm telling you,  by mile 80, I was pedaling hard again.  

Pulling into Durango, a strange coincidence occurred.  We had already agreed to get  milkshakes once we arrived into town,  so when I saw the Micky D's, I pulled in and it was exactly on the 300th mile of the tour.   I have to admit, in normal life I do not pine for Micky D's.  But when I'm on a bike tour or a long-distance hike, I'm like, bring it on!   It must have something to do with the deprivation along with physical exertion that really makes hanging out in a fast-food joint seem like an OK thing to do.  

Brad met us at his hotel with some fantastic "trail magic" to the tune of 7,o00 calories along with a comfy hotel room and a hose and spray nozzle to get that nasty mag-chloride off of our bikes.  A truly wonderful night's sleep.  

Pagosa Folk 'n Bluegrass Festival

The Pagosa Folk 'n Bluegrass Festival is over but the memories live on. The festival itself couldn't be in a more ideal spot. It's on top of a wooded hill that is accessed by a one mile winding road. Once on top, the only reason to come down is to either go into town or to go soak in the wonderful hot springs. We got a lot of hoots and hollers as we biked the last one mile (up a gnarly big hill) as all the campers and trailers passed us. I have to admit, while I enjoyed our 20 minute set-up time, I was seriously coveting my neighbor's campsites once they were all set-up, like camp chairs and a 20x20 tarp about 25 feet up in the trees, so high up in fact that they had a raging fire directly below it. They would weather the rain to come quite nicely.

The music was really fun. The festival has a main stage and also an acoustic stage. Both of which offered some gems throughout the weekend. The highlight for me had to be the Infamous Stringdusters. Their amplified set was off the charts and they even had Benny Galloway join in for his song "Sugar Town". Then their acoustic set was equally entertaining as they were loose and winging it but with superb results. Jeremy Garrett's fiddle solo on a song I didn't know was top notch as his body wiggled and twisted as he felt out each note.

First time to see Sarah Jarosz who at such a young age (16?) certainly had what it takes to entertain a bluegrass crowd. John Jorgensen was equally impressive with his "extreme" guitar (his words). He play gypsy jazz among other styles. He played a whole break in harmonics at one point. Tony Furtado was definitely on fire. The sounds he can get out of his guitar with the slide and with no rhythm player to back him up is so inspiring!

This festival is so special because after (or before) the music, you can go down to the hot springs and soak and relax. The coupling of hot springs with camping with music is hard to beat.

The Springs in Pagosa

If you've never been, you should definitely put the hot springs in Pagosa Springs on your list of things to do (often) before you die. These are the premier hot springs in the state of Colorado in my opinion. They have so many pools of varying temps all right next to the river. The bicycle tourist would do well to always stop in for a soak and to take a day off here. When we're not listening to music for the next four days, you can bet we'll be soaking in the hot waters of the Big Medicine, which is what the Utes used to call this place.

The World Provides

I have always believed that the world provides as long as you are open to it providing and are willing to look for it. This has happened to me so many times in my life that I just thank the powers that be when it occurs.

I had a new opportunity to put this theory to work. Jeremy and Laura, both first time bicycle tourist, did not have cycling gloves. I mentioned to them the two benefits (sun and road rash) and put it out there that before we arrived in Pagosa, we would find them some cycling gloves. Withing 3 days, each was fully equipped with found cycling gloves that the road had provided (we actually found 5 total).

I still don't know the mechanism of how this works. I just know it does. Put it out there, whatever it is (new job, promotion, better health, cycling gloves). Be aware. Look for it. Investigate things that lead to that end. And before you know it, the world will provide what you are seeking. You just have to KNOW that it's going to happen, that is truly the secret, now that I think about it.

Inventions

I am constantly trying to invent things that make bicycle touring easier. Here are some of the inventions that I use every day.


This is our cook stove. It is a coca-cola can that burns denatured alcohol. We use 3 tent stakes as the pot stand. That is roof flashing as our wind guard. A cut-up pie plate is what we put the stove on so it does catch things on fire. That big bottle is the mothership of fuel that I've put graduations on. That little bottle is the 2 oz. shuttle. Having the shuttle helps me use just the right amount of fuel (since you can't put the stove out). We use about 1.75 oz of fuel to make a pasta or rice meal that uses 30 oz of water.

In the above pic, you can notice my drink holder added to my bike's handlebars. This allows me to take a coffee or fountain drink on the road with me after a stop. I found the drink holder on the side of the road and rigged it with wire and zip ties.


Above is a small piece of rope tied to my water-bottle holder. I use it when I'm parked and I want my bike to be stable for whatever reason (wind, putting things in the panniers, on a hill, etc). When it is used, I attach it to a nub on my front rack (as shown in the pic). This keeps the wheel from being able to turn, which would ultimately send my bike sprawling on the ground. I don't ride with it like this! I store the rope when riding. (NB, So the rope doesn't slip of the nub of the bike rack, I filed a small notch in the nub so that it catches the rope).

This next invention, above, assists in parking too. It is a parking brake. I made it out of a hair tie. All it does is engage my front brake. But you'd be surprised how many parking dilemmas this solves. It just makes your bike way less squirrelly and has a number of uses. I usually engage it when I'm loading my panniers and gear on the bike. It makes it so it's stable and doesn't crash down in the process, which can be very frustrating. As a bonus, this little device is also an theft deterrent which I engage if I need to make a quick run into the supermarket or library and don't have a lock. Scenario: Thief comes up to bike, bike won't roll, thiefs aren't smart (in general), thief figures it's not worth it, leaves bike alone.

The two inventions above, when used together, make for a super stable bike that won't fall down (not the easiest thing to accomplish when you your bike is overloaded with gear).

This invention keeps our leaking tent from dripping on us. They are two Sham-Wows of infomercial fame on the top of our tent under the rainfly. They can pretty much hold a gallon of water each so the drip problem has become a non-issue. The Sham-Wows double as our shower towels.

This is our invented way to sit while taking a break. You utilize your seat as a backrest and viola, you have an instant, stable Lazy Boy recliner. Just what you need after hours on your bike.

Kiki is rocking the town bike seat on this tour and lovin' it. I have to admit that jealousy has occurred on more than one occasion for me as my butt aches after a long day in the not-so-comfortabe conventional saddle. She is also showing off her homemade bicycling skirt.