Bluegrass Bicycle Tour

Almost Home, CottonWood Hot Springs

2009-08-04T11:43:00.002-06:00

We are on the tail end of the Bluegrass Bicycle Tour. The festivals are now over (6 in 8 weeks) and we are bicycling back home to wonderful Crested Butte.
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After RockyGrass, we hit Boulder to visit our dear friend Easy Mac and Lizard and RedWood. Yes, weird names, but we all met on the Appalachian Trail. They call us Rigatoni and Angel Hair, if that helps any. After Boulder, we made our way over to Longmont (15 miles) and stayed with our cousins Jill and Kevin and their kiddos. So in over 7 days, we've cycled exactly 25 miles!
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After Jill and Kev's we saddled up the bicycles again and headed up and over Trail Ridge Road (12,100 ft.) in Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. Lots of road cyclist on the road that would pass us as if we were standing still. I think the 7 days of non-cycling have affected us because today we only make it about 45 miles before we looked up at the looming switchbacks and decided to stealth camp on a flat piece of land hidden from the road. That's the beauty of cycle touring, good camping is only a small push of the bike away. We were lucky because exactly 20 minutes after getting up the tent, the skies opened up and we were experiencing a real Rocky Mountain downpour.
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The next morning we got to experience the major climb. The views in RMNP are well worth the effort to get up there on your bicycle. In fact, once you get to the pass, there is a cafe where you can enjoy some coffee. That's above tree line at 12,000 feet. Most folks are just excited to be in such a place and they arrived in cars! So you can imagine how excited we were.
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From there it was downhill into Grand Lake that had a great town park for us to take a nap in the shade. Our next stop was Uncle Jerry's in Silverthorne, home of the world famous Hot Tub. We spent the night there and enjoyed loads of good conversation.
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Pushing onward from Silverthorne, we got to enjoy 15 miles of bike trail up to Copper Mountain and then the climb up to Fremont Pass on our way to Leadville. Fremont Pass is unique because it takes you right next to the Climax Molyebdenum Mine in all it glorious destruction. If every one from Crested Butte visited this site and saw what such a mine can do to the landscape, they'd be recharged to fight against the proposed mine in Crested Butte. It's horrible and sad.
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We've had a "Foul Weather Fund" of $200 bucks since we started out on this adventure, which was meant for hotels along the way when the weather good too gnarly. But, surprisingly, we've only had to dip into it once, in La Barge, WY, and that was for mosquitoes, not rain. So since we have so much of it left, we've decided to treat ourselves to spa/resort/hot spring here in Buena Vista, only 60 miles from home.
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That's where we find ourselves now. At CottonWood Hot Springs. They've got a great common room with couches, pool table, scrabble, computers, TVs, the works. The perfect hangout for long-distance cyclist. There there is the hot springs and the real bed! We are in heaven!! So we'll pass the night here and conquer cottonwood pass before coasting into Crested Butte and the completion of our tour. So now its off to the hot water and relaxation.

RockyGrass 2009

2009-07-28T12:10:00.010-06:00

The BBT, after 65 days on the road and 2300 miles has made its way back into wonderful Colorado. You know I really underestimated the distance of the BBT as I first thought it'd be around 1750 miles, but we're still 300 miles from home and have covered 2300 miles. It's amazing that we've still arrived everywhere we set out for on time.

One thing I've discovered after being on the road for so long is that my culinary discretion has competely gone out the window (if I ever really had any before is up for debate). The above pic shows both of us enjoying hot dogs and 64 oz of sugar water also called Coke at my favorite watering hole, Conoco. This one just north of Fort Collins. These are perfect spots to get off the bike for a spell. Free refills, onions for your hot dogs in a ketchup-like package, A/C, and clean bathrooms at your disposal.
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I have decided that the only way to actually eat like an "American" is to bicycle 70 miles a day. That is what we are doing lately with our ice cream and fast food and soda intake. Luckily we are burning it all off as we cycle. This type of eating can continue for only 2 days after we finish our cycle tour unless we want to gain 5 lbs. a day. But for the time being, it is what we are craving. I feel sorry for folks that eat this way and don't do outlandish exercise to offset it. That is a recipe for disaster.
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We arrived at RockyGrass on Thursday. After we checked-in we set out to set our tent up, seeking shade as our number one priority. It seemed odd to us that where we chose to set up was completely void of others but we just figured we were early, so we set up and headed out to visit our friend who lives in Lyons. I'm gonna make a long story short here. We we got back to our tent at around 8pm it was gone, literally. All our stuff was in too. We were sorta freaked out to say the least. Plus, the sea of humanity around where our tent used to be was completely out of control. You could not walk without tripping on a guy line of another tent. There was no grass left to be seen anywhere. I have never seen a festival camping scene with that sort a tent density. You could step from the door of one tent directly into another tent, I am not kidding. So we were sorta frantic for a bit, but the chaos of people made it so no one really knew (or cared) about the whereabouts of our tent and stuff. On our way to the main info desk, we stumbled on the new location of our tent. Someone (later we learn it was the RockyGrass "tent police", obviously ex-BlackWater employees) had moved our tent some 50 yards from its original spot. The must have drug it, because all our stuff was inside. They staked it out again (sort of) and now we were directly in a sun spot with neighbors about 1 foot on either side. Not our idea of a good campsite. So we decided to take the tent down and move to a more reasonable location. (Apparently we had set our tent up in a location that didn't "open" until like 6:30pm. Live and learn).
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But, as has happened on this trip all the time, our bad luck turned into better luck. We ran into some friends who had some ground saved and they offered it to us. A quick compass calculation showed that it'd be in the shade in the morning (most important for sleeping-in, which I planned on doing) and we had a new home for the next 3 nites.
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The lineup at RockyGrass is really unmatched by any other festival I've been to (except maybe MerleFest or Hardly Strictly). Any one of the many acts here would be the headliner at other festivals. They even had a TBA spot on the schedule that turned out to be none-other-than Yonder Mountain String Band. I was in heaven with all the good music. My favorite acts of the week had to be the Steve Earle, The Wilders (pictured below), Danny Paisley and Southern Grass, Del McCoury, California, Kruger Brothers, Steep Canyon Rangers, and Sarah Jarosz.

There there is the actual venue itself. A river runs thru it, literally. Some folks even put their chairs in the river as their spots from which to enjoy the shows. Here is a pic below of the mass of people cooling off in the river during the festival. The stage is nice because it has an open back that shows the trees swaying in the breeze with is way better'n any tapestry that could be created.

We thoroughly enjoyed the festival and the town of Lyons. There is the Stone Cup Coffee shop that was only 1/4 mile from our tent door that had a $1 cup of joe and an honesty jar. How cool is that, especially since the lines to order specialty drinks snaked out the door. It was truly the place to hang out when not in the festival.
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We won the RockyGrass campground challenge (for Saturday). This is the challenge for the most eco-friendly campsite. We advertised our site as having nothing, and hence the smallest footprint and most eco-friendly and got the most votes. We won a nice prize and got the BBT announced on the main stage which was cool. We also won this award at Telluride BF. It's nice to get a bit of recognition for bicycling to the festival.
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I'm still sorta in shock that the BBT is somewhat over. We successfully hit 6 festivals in 8 weeks without any problems. I'm always grateful when we are able to this on any long-distance adventure, It is never a given since life can throw you many curveballs. Lucky of us, we are both good curveball hitters. Now we just have the 250 miles of riding to get home.
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For those of you that are considering bicycle touring in the future, I'd like to highly recommend it. I can think of no better way to simplify your vacation plans. Life gets so easy when you are bicycle touring. The activity of the day is bicycling. All you really have to worry about is water and weather. Camp wherever you get tired. Save money because your main activity is the biking which is free. Eat lots of food, guilt free. See the country in a way that is not possible from an auto. And each month that your spend traveling on a bicycle you become more in tune with your body and your inner self (you have lots of time to think while you are pedalling). Your happiness will grow in spite of yourself. If there is a downside to bicycle touring, I'm at a loss to think of it.
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Here's a closing pic: Biking about 1000 miles thru Wyoming has helped to deter us for ever wanting to try Meth. I guess that is a big problem for that state. Not sure why it's so bad there. Here is one billboard in downtown Laramie, WY.

Laramie, WY --> Lyons, CO RockyGrass!!!!!

2009-07-25T09:52:00.003-06:00

From Laramie, WY we decided to just get the Lyons the most direct way and that meant taking 287 thru Fort Collins. That meant getting some time with our friend Andy. He put up some neat signs on the road that led us to his house via backroads, below is the first one we encountered.
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Kiki had her first corn dog today and I mean ever! I guess the touring has finally opened up some cravings in her that she has been suppressing. She actually didn't know that corn dogs were wrapped in "Corn" bread until I made the connection to her that that was why they were called "Corn" dogs. We had a good laugh.
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Got a great nights sleep and a great feed at Andy's house. How nice it is to land in friendly waters even after only 3 days of riding from the last festival.
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Took backroads to Lyons from F.C. and have now arrived to the granddaddy of bluegrass festivals out west. Lots of "Lance Armstrong" types on the roads cycling past us without so much as a wave or a howdy. I find that a bit odd, but I guess that big city for ya (Say it isn't so Joe!). I've never seen tents packed so tight as this year at RockyGrass. You literally cannot walk through the sea of tents with out hurting yourself on a guy line.
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Well, the library in Lyons is not offering long computer time, so I'll have to add more tidbits later. We'll be heading to friends in Boulder for visits on July 27-30th and then it's about 250 miles back to CB and the completion of the BBT. It's been a great "ride" and the lineup at RockyGrass is quite a reward for our efforts.

License Plates for Snodgrass

2009-07-21T15:50:00.005-06:00

I am starting a new charity. It is called "License Plates for Snodgrass". Here's how it works: While bicycle touring you see about 2 license plates a day on average, on the side of the road. I thought I could pick up the plates and then have some of the greats musician I get to see at the festivals sign them. I can then sell them and donate the money to help save a local mountain in Crested Butte. More on that mountain the fight to save it at FriendsofSnodgrass.org.
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You can check back at this link often and see what new license plates are available as I'll be adding more as I find them and succeed in getting them signed. And remember there is only ONE of each plate available. This is a one-of-a-kind souvenir and for a good cause too.
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So if you'd like to donate to save a mountain while helping to beautify our highways and get a nifty autographed license plate you can do so by emailing me. I can send your plate when I return from the BBT after Aug. 5th. The plates can be purchased for $25.

This is a Nebraska Trucking plate signed by Steve Earle at his performance at RockyGrass 2009. A classic plate signed by the seminal truck driving song singer himself.

The ever cool, Spring Creek, posing with Colorado plate #1, Spring Creek is from Colorado too. (this plate is still available)

Wyomingans, Anne and Pete Sibley with Wyoming plate #2, (this plate is still available)

BearTrap Festival --> Laramie, WY

2009-07-21T14:32:00.007-06:00

You know you are in Wyoming when you pass mail boxes like this one. If you can't read it, it says Cheney. I thought about what a great and realistic opportunity it was to maybe give ol' Dick a piece of my mind, but I opted against.

We arrived at the BearTrap Festival but only after the toughest hill yet. From Casper proper to the festival grounds, it was about 5 miles and 3000 ft. That wasn't so much the problem, the problem was that some of the grade must have been 10% or more. We made it, but our faces were turning blue. We even had one German couple stop and give us some juice and tell us they felt so sorry for us. We we elated to finally arrive at the top though and see the festival stage and grounds. Now we just had to follow my friend Steve's map and find his family's cabin, where we'd be staying for the next 3 nights (big coincidence I know). As we were searching for the cabin and about 5 minutes before we were going to officially declare ourselves lost, there comes Steve and Melissa in their car to guide us in the last 1/4 mile. We were expecting them this weekend, but the timing couldn't have been better. Their cabin was built in 1952 by Steve's grandfather. It's a log cabin tucked in bunch of pine trees. A peaceful place to be. We felt really pampered to have such accommodations.

The festival is only a 2-day affair, so we had all of Friday off which called for a trip (in the car) to Casper. I coerced everyone to stop by the Dairy Queen as we passed it. Mostly because I began hyperventilating once I figured out that Steve, the driver, was actually going to pass it up. I was like, "NNNNOOOOOOOO, PLEASE GOD NNNOOOOOO!". So, they took pity and we all enjoyed some sort of ice cream treat (though I'm pretty sure I enjoyed mine more).

We tracked down the festival host, Jana and let her know of our arrival. They were super stoked that we'd arrived. Turns out that the Casper newspaper had done an article about the BBT recently. Plus, during the 2 days of the festival, they announced our tour's info and statistics four times! We felt pretty special to say the least. But man, after bicycling up Casper Mountain, I was like, "Hey, do you think you can throw a coupon for a double bacon cheeseburger with curly-q fries in with those props?"

Our homies, Spring Creek, is playing BearTrap. We love them and have since they were the house band at the Princess Wine Bar in my hometown of Crested Butte, Colorado. Below is a picture of them during their first set Sunday morning. They even played my request, "You Don't Have to Move That Mountain". They put on two incredible sets and the crowd responded well too.

One funny thing that happened during the festival was during Asleep at the Wheel's set, there was lots of rain and wind and lots of people called it quits and headed out. Then their headman, Ray Benson, starts talking about all the people who have left and says "All those folks that left were from Colorado", and the crowd went crazy! I sorta hunkered down, proud at least that I had stuck it out. But then again it served me (us) right since in Colorado we tend to joke a bit (a lot?) about Texas skiers (Asleep at the Wheel is from Austin, TX).

BearTrap is a nice festival, still very small scale, which I like. There was camping galore all around the festival for those that wanted to camp and Casper was only a 15 minute drive down the mountain for supplies and what not.

We headed out of BearTrap after one last night in the Cabin. That was some good sleeping let me tell you. Still, we must be in biker mode because the haystacks immediately reminded us of muffins and made us hungry. Here's another thing I've noticed about Wyoming. I've determined that the towns here support one liquor store per 100 people. So for example, if you roll into a town of 340 folks, you can expect to find 3 liquor stores.
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We are taking some long and windy roads. Wait, that's confusing. I want to say the wind blows on these roads not that they are curvy. We are in sight of lots of wind farms each day now. Seems like Wyoming has it all when it comes to energy resources, oil, gas and wind and lots of sun too.

We stayed last night in Medicine Bow, WY. Pop. 274, liquor stores 2. It was blazing hot out. Someone said 96F. We sought shelter in the gas station convenience store. Things were looking good when I spied a fountain station and even some chili and crackers. Now I have to admit, a pot of chili in a convenience store would almost never catch my attention but at this moment, it looked so good. I served myself a bowl and ate it standing up. Plus they had a bucket full of saltines, of which I must have put about 30 packets into my chili. In fact, when I threw away all the wrappers for my saltines, I was a bit embarrassed because they became all un-crumpled and the shear quantity of them looked sorta ridiculous as they cascaded into the wastebasket. But man, was that chili good! Oh, and did I mentioned that they had a soft-serve ice cream self-serve machine too! Goodbye 96F, Hello extreme nausea! We both hurt ourselves.

We're staying tonite in Medicine Bow. This is the town made famous in Owen Wister's novel "The Virginian". One qoute from the book is particularlly famous "When you call me that, Smile," and is written many spots throughout the town. They are pretty proud of this connection to this famous book. There is the Virginian hotel, Trampas Hotel, and the Miss Molly Laundromat. We hung out in the free town museum and learned all about Medicine Bow and life in the early 1900s. That evening we camped in town park which invites campers with tents to overnite there. We felt very welcomed in MB.

From MB we've decide to beeline to Rockygrass because we don't want to risk missing any of the awesome music (you should just check out the lineup!). So that has us on Hwy 287 all the way to Fort Collins where we are looking forward to hooking up with our good friend Andy. He and his wife just got back from bike touring New Zealand and the trial and tribulations of bike touring are sure to be fresh in memory. It will be nice to reconnect with him again (his wife is, unfortunately, out of town).

The ride into Laramie has been somewhat uneventful. The winds have not been hurtful which is better than nothing. All our systems are greased and running smoothly. We've got this bike touring down to a science really. I know where everything is in my panniers (finally) and I don't get such a sore rump anymore. We can put our tent up in no time flat and I really look forward to bedding down for the evening in our familiar abode even if it is in an unfamiliar place. 50 miles doesn't seem very difficult. I am sick of the clothes I bicycle in and look forward to ceremoniously burning them when we return to Crested Butte.
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I had to throw this pic in. It is as you arrive into Casper, WY. We were hungry too, but I have to say, their "reverse psychology" didn't work on me. We just pedaled on to a different diner.

Thermopolis --> Casper, Riding with the Tiger

2009-07-16T12:14:00.011-06:00

So as mentioned, Aaron, above, has dropped out for a bit to give his hurting knee a rest. He's been applying ice and Tylenol, but needs to just not bike for a bit. We'll meet up again in Casper at the BearTrap Festival. We're sorry to see him go as it was fun to have a official Posse on the BBT, but that's cycle touring for you.
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The road from Thermopolis to Casper begins with 25 miles though the Wind River Canyon with was some stunning scenery. We get to Shoshoni after that and this appears to be more ghost town than real town. Most store fronts are boarded up and aside from the gas station, there is not much going on. Fine with us though as what is going on involves a counter to sit at and a fountain drink machine to refill our sodas with. I'm a little concerned with how much soda I can consume while I'm bike touring. Speaking of concerns, did I mention that I had ice cream 3 times yesterday? Oh yea, and speaking of yesterday, I met this 86-year old WWII vet that was just as nice as can be. He gave us a good run down of the history of Worland (where we were eating breakfast ice cream #1). But he did say one thing that was sorta odd. He was talking about Ten Sleep, the town, says, "Well once there's these hippies came to town and the locals just sheared 'em (guffaw!)." Now I'm not sure if he was refering to a physical shearing or a metaphorical shearing, but all the same I wasn't sure that it was a P.C. thing to say, then again, I'm not sure that he gave a damn. Still, a super nice old guy who I would have loved to chat with for weeks on end.
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OK, back to the travels. We're now heading from Shoshoni to Casper on a road, Hwy 20/26, that one local describes, I'm not making this up, as "100 miles but it feels like 300". Now if that doesn't get you amped up to ride, I don't know what will. Below is a sample of that "300" miles. Nice shoulder though and we did have a wicked tailwind so we weren't complaining.

About 1/3 way to Casper, with no shade in sight, we get to the hamlet of Moneta (2 buildings). OK, time to do a little begging. We ask some guys drilling for water if we can take refuge in an old abandoned barn near them. They say "Sure, just watch out for rattlers". Hey, man, anywhere would have been better then in the sun and wind. So after kicking some dead rabbits from the barn that was giving the area a rather foul odor, we hunkered down for a couple hours in the shade. The drilling men came in after a while (and woke us) and we chatted about drilling. Actually, we bombarded them with all the questions one gets while cycling past all the oil and gas works in Wyoming. They we really nice. One called his Dad "his old man". Smoked Camels. And drank 2 Bud Lights each for break. Now this was "real Wyoming". Below is a pic of us in our pitiful break spot, you can't see all the rat turds, but they are there believe me.

At 1/2 way to Casper, we arrive to Hiland. This place was CLASSIC. Let me tell you, I did not say the O-word here (Obama). In fact I'm pretty sure I did everything I could to appear like a local oil-rigging roughneck who just happened to be on bicycle tour to 6 bluegrass festivals between assignments (I put my gum inside my lip to make it appear like I was chewing). Hiland is in the absolute center Wyoming on the map. We were elated to find out that they served Hamburgers and Fries. And tried not to pay too much attention to some of the wall decorations, like the one picture below or the photo of Hitler that said something to the effect of "Hitler registered firearms in 1935 for the betterment of the population", or something like that.

This gas station was sooo cool though and even had two lazy boys for us to relax in after our burgers and fries, which, by the way, only cost $5 each!

Today was really panning out to be the classic bike touring day, that is you never knew what was going to happen, it just kept happening. And that's when Aaron stolled in. We're like, "What! How did you get here?" He had hitched a ride with a couple Shoshoni Indians who were heading to Casper. His bike was thrown on the back of a big pile of luggage so that it was higher than the cab of the truck. All three of them squished into the cab of the small mini truck. We wished him well and will see him again in a couple days and can't wait to see what stories he'll have to tell.

So the wind is just howling and it's going in our favor. This makes for great biking, both because you can fly (15 mph vs. normally going 11mph) and you can speak normally because you don't have the wind in your ears. It really gives you a "rider's high" to cycle with the wind. We call it "Riding with the Tiger" as in Tiger Woods, as in TW, as in Tail Wind. We go thru all this code because we don't want to jinx the wind. Sorta like when someone is pitching a no hitter. Just ignore it and hope things don't change.

Did I tell you this place, Hiland gas stop, was the real deal? 50 miles from the next town? With a rifle sitting by the cashier (loaded I'm sure). I'm serious, right there, leaning on the counter, just begging some to drive off without paying for their gas. There were so many things I could have snapped picures of.

So the wind is just howling and it's going in our favor. This makes for great biking, both because you can fly (15 mph vs. normally going 11mph) and you can speak normally because you don't have the wind in your ears. It really gives you a riders high to cycle with the wind. We call it "Riding with the Tiger" as in Tiger Woods, as in TW, as in Tail Wind. We go thru all this code because we don't want to jinx the wind. Sorta like when someone is pitching a no hitter. Just ignore it. That's what we do too, just ignore the wind, don't mention it, and maybe it'll just stay the way it is. As we pulled into camp this evening, I realize we have just eclipsed 2000 miles. Yee-haw. A great ending to a wonderful day.

Buffalo to Ten Sleep to Thermopolis

2009-07-14T17:09:00.014-06:00

So Kiki and I have traded in our bicycles. That was just too hard and too slow. Plus when we saw this Trike for sale that has the back end of a Ford Fiero, well we just traded in our bicycles and off we rode. We have now ditched the BBT and are on our way to Sturgis. OK, not really, but we did run into this lovely lady from Buffalo who was in her senior years who was a great ambassador to the small hamlet. She rides with her full-size black poodle in the back seat. Quite a site. I'm sure she gets stopped by everyone to as questions about her ride.

The festival at Buffalo, the Big Horn Mountain Festival, was out of this world. I was trying to think about how to sum it up, and here's what I came up with. "I had a flush toilet all weekend and did not once have to wait in line." Anyone who's ever been to a festival can relate to this I'm sure. It was so awesomely small scale, I just loved it. Above is Kiki demonstrating our patented "Chair Jacking" maneuver. Our motto is, "If you're gonna chair jack, go big".

Probably my favorite "discovery act", (an act I'm seeing for the first time), was Jalan Crossland Band (pictured above). They were very unexpected and hail just 60 miles from Buffalo in Ten Sleep. Let's see, how to describe them? How 'bout with some lyrics:

1) "Don't Taz me bro, Don't Taz me Bro, I'm an American don't you know, Read me my rights or let me go........."

2) "Oh my smells like tires, someone save the baby it's a trailer park fire....."

They were just high energy, great, irreverent lyrics, appealing to the trailer trash crowd and the non-trailer trash crowd alike.

The next band that really stood out was the Wiyos. They are a very unique band doing real old time music, circa 1920, 1930, but also some Bob Wills inspired stuff as well as Django Reinhardt

gypsy jazz stuff. Lots of chord changes on the guitar, a great pedal steel player and a lead singer who plays the harmonica really well. I was not expected this type of act at a Bluegrass Festival but was very happily surprised.

While I'm summing things up in very simple terms, the above picture sums up Wyoming for me. This gentleman, Lynn Young, was the quintessential Wyomingan. Probably raises cattle, has some sheep, loves his horses, and in some way is or was connected to the production of oil or gas. Very nice folk these Wyomingans. We've had nothing but great encounters with them.

The festival wrapped up Sunday afternoon. We were very happy to have an new addition to the BBT, Aaron, who drove all the way from Austin to begin riding with us. By my calculations, that increases the size of the BBT by 50%! We immediately hit it off with Aaron and learn that he is gonna carry a guitar too! That could turn out to be very entertaining.

Our trail leads again over the Big Horn Mountains and 5000ft of elevation gain as we head to Thermopolis. We head out of Buffalo on Sunday evening at 6pm with the intent of getting 10-20 miles up the road and up the hill before dark. The weather was really throwing us a curve ball with clouds and lightening and one big F350 truck stop to tell us "You all know there is a severe thunderstorm warning for this area?" He seemed somewhat incredulous about us being on bicycle out there and pretty much figured we'd be stuck dead if we continued. We decided to go further but the weather kept giving us warnings that it'd be better to bed down. Which we did after only 10 miles. Still we were 10 miles closer to our destination and a good bit higher. Our new companion is a trooper, but the hill is pretty tough for him and his knee begins to bother him a bit. We camp literally 30 feet from Hwy 16 on some tall grass that made for a super comfy mattress under out tents. Thunderstorms never materialize.

The next morning, we head up and to the summit of Powder River Pass at 9667 ft. We had a great break at the summit with lots of folks asking us questions and giving us sodas and apples. Then this kid starts riding a unicycle and doing lots of tricks like juggling and riding the unicycle down a small hill, 4-wheel drive style. It was all very bizarre and entertaining.

The other side of the pass leads to, I think it's called, Leigh Canyon. This is the best 50 miles of the BBT so far and it's the only road we get to do twice so that is great. It's mostly downhill to Ten Sleep from the pass with lots of good cliff scenery to take in. At times that can be very dangerous if you stop paying attention to the road.

After the beautiful descent, you make it (back) to Ten Sleep. I think the bottom two pics best describe the town. Small and quirky, that are the words that come to mind. These two establishments are right across the street from one another!

We hang out at the gas station and get fountain drinks and watch it rain. It so nice to watch it rain when you are near a roof! And for 15 minutes, it really must have rained an inch. As we sat there, we met Dave Egger a local school teacher and all-round nice guy. He was sharing our table with his wonderful kids, Bryley and Canyon, and we started discussing our bike tour and the pros of living in Ten Sleep. Before long, Dave has offered us his backyard to camp in, which is great because Aaron's knee continues to bother him and going further is not an option. Below is a pic of the Trail Magicians themselves during a break in the rain. Later, it turns out that Dave has some free rooms in his house and he "twists our arms" to just stay in them instead of our tents. We get a great shower and have some great conversations with Dave before calling it an early evening (since we were all bushed from the big climb).

From Ten Sleep, we head out early to beat the heat. Our goal is to make it to Thermopolis, the home of the world's largest mineral hot spring. You know you are getting close to hot water when you pass signs like this along the way.

Mostly uneventful, we arrive at Thermopolis, or Thermop as the locals call it. Our first stop is the State Mineral Bath. A free place for the public to soak. I guess it was party of the treaty with the Indians when we purchased this place in the 1890's that they would not charge to use it. Well that was pretty cool and the hot baths themselves were see-ack. So refreshing after the 62 mile ride from Ten Sleep.

Our next stop is the "Dairyland" malt shoppe for good ol'fashioned ice cream. We meet a local named Harold who was cruising around Thermop on his bicycle and he personally guided us to the Dairyland. We as Harold what his favorite pickup lines were, as he professed his "love for the ladies". He ponders the question for a bit then blurts out "Take it or leave it". We blew milkshake out of our noses.

After the malt shoppe we hit up the library and then try to figure out camping. I find a baseball diamond that looks great for camping and I report this to the troops. As we head there at 8:30pm though, we see the parking lot is jammed packed and there are games raging under the lights. Opps! Off to plan B. We had no plan B actually, but Kiki takes charge and leads us around and eventually we end up in a small plot of desert on the outskirts of an apartment complex. We all agree it looks like it'll do especially since it's getting dark.

Camping turned out fine in our small plot of desert and we set out after drinking some coffee. Aaron informs us that we're gonna have to split up for a bit because his knee is not feeling well. He decides to make Casper in 4-5 days versus the 2 days it will take us. Saddened, we bid Aaron farewell until the next festival.

Big Horn Mountain Festival

2009-07-10T10:10:00.005-06:00

We have arrived in Buffalo, WY after 18 days taking the long way from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Buffalo is a typical Wyoming town. The sign says only 3500 inhabitants, but really it feels and looks like it should be 20,000. Maybe that's just a Wyoming thing with all the wide open space and all. The town itself is right on Interstate 90 just 30 miles south of Sheridan, so it has that Interstate feel (lots of hotels and lots of fast food), but looking past that it's got a lot more. The first thing I noticed when coming into town are all the sculptures of the by D. Michael Thomas. They are amazing and depict the Johnson Cattle cattle wars of 1892. I'll have to read up on that one. Below is the sculpture that greets you as you come into Buffalo on Hwy 16.

The festival is only in its 5th year and is still pretty small. It is at the fairgrounds. It reminds me a lot of the festival in Hotchkiss, CO but maybe only 1/3 of the size. Still, even with it's small size, I'm super excited about he line up, especially the SteelDrivers and Anne & Pete Sibley. Here's the line-up below:

Basin to Buffalo, WY, arriving at the festival

2009-07-09T16:15:00.012-06:00

The newspaper in Basin is called the "Republican Rustler". Moments after learning this, I cycled passed a large granite "Ten Commandments" that was proudly displayed on Basin's main street. Just observations, but all the same, was pretty sure that I'd have trouble living here. And so we headed out of Basin at exactly 7pm for a early-evening 10 miles. It was just too hot today to cycle between to 1pm and 5pm hours. So instead, we just hung out around the Basin County Courthouse, which happens to have HUGE trees and lots of shade. It's a nice way to break of the day though as we did 50 before noon and then another 10 after it cools down. We are getting close to Buffalo and the festival, so we do not really have to do big days. 60's will get us there right on time. Riding at 7pm our shadows were growing really long, so I snapped the below pic.

We have been cycling with the thought of the Big Horn Mountains in the back of our minds for some days now. We know the climb starts at 4600 ft and goes to 9666 ft, for a 5000 ft gain over about 35 miles. This could turn out to be our toughest climb yet even though it's not the highest. We've already decided to break it up into two days. Climb most one day, then finish the climb the next day. In this way, we make it seem more doable.

We have been passing some gorgeous ranches in Wyoming and I can't help but think about the days in the 1860's when being here in Wyoming was not such an easy thing to make happen. I wonder what those pioneers would have thought if they knew that 140 years later, folks would be bicycling thru this same country just to go to a music festival!! We have passed some wonderfully old barns in various stages of decay. Above is one example.

They are proud of their connection to the cow here in Wyoming and this wasn't the first of these types of signs that we saw on the highway. I was getting a hankering for some jerky passing all this prime cattle grazing land.
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We did a little shortcut that got us to the small town of Ten Sleep which is the last of the flatness for us. We arrived right at breakfast #2 time and lucky for us Ten Sleep is home of the Crazy Woman Cafe that served us up some piping hot coffee and pancakes and french toast. We chatted up some dirt bike riders from Canada who were following the Continental Divide Trail back to their homes. I just love Cafes in the morning when I'm bike touring. Something about the bottomless cup of joe and the soft chair to sit in thatis near a clean restroom with flush toilet that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Across the street from the Crazy Women Cafe is the Dirty Women Soda Fountain Shop. You gotta love Ten Sleep. The town was super quaint, one of my favorites yet. And contrary to Basin, Wy, it definitely had me saying, "I could live here". Of note this evening was the fact that while cycling, Kiki got a bug in her ear that left us scratching our heads as to what to do. Kiki'd be like, "OH MY GOD, I can hear it moving", then she'd be jumping up and down with her head tilted like a 10 year old who just hopped out of the swimming pull. Not sure what the passing cars thought, but none thought enough to pull over and inquire. They're probably just like, "Well good, there's 'nuther a them demmicrats with a bug in her ear. Serves her right." Who knows, but Kiki persevered and the bug at least stopped moving and we cycled on. We later had the idea of pouring water in her ear, which we did 4 or 5 times. Didn't find the bug, so it may still be in there, but at least she seems fine now.
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From Ten Sleep, it's into the beautiful Big Horn Mountains. . Right away the scenery became jaw dropping. This may be my favorite road so far in Wyoming and that includes our jaunt into Yellowstone. Lots of color in the cliffs, lots of beautiful trees. A loud, raging river at the bottom. Everything you need for a super scenic bicycle ride.

We were pulled over for one break when a car stopped to ask us if we needed anything. We didn't really need anything, but extra water is always appreciated. Tim, from Sheridan, was a cyclist himself and we chatted for some time. Then he dug deep in his cooler and gave us some organic yogurt which considering our overheated states, was greatly appreciated. We informed Tim about the festival in Buffalo and invited him to join us, so we may see him there. It's fun when you're on bicycles, this type of stuff can happen to you. When you're in a car, or even just walking for that matter, it's just not the same as being on a bicycle. People seem to relate to bicycles in some way, either they do it themselves, or they just appreciate the effort and want to know more about it. Whatever the dynamic at work here, when bicycle touring you're sure to have wonderful meetings with your fellow humans.

The above two pictures are taken from Highway 16 between Ten Sleep and Buffalo. A wonderful road for all travellers but especially for bicyclist and motorcyclist; lots of curves. About 3/4 of the the way to the top, we decided to call it a day. There was an old defunct lodge "Deer Haven", that had lots of cabins and what not, but was closed. We found a nice flat spot by an ever precious picnic table and had a wonderful wilderness experience by a raging river; totally alone. Camping is so easy out west. I really can't even imagine paying for camping (though I have a couple times). When you are on a bicycle or hiking in the west, you can really just get 3 miles out of any town and boom, you can camp anywhere you want. You have to use some judgment and show respect for landowners, but that done, it's still really easy to find spots to pitch a tent, which is gratifying. Of course, if we were traveling in a car, that'd make it more difficult, not impossible by any stretch, just more difficult to be stealth and discreet.

So we made it thru the Big Horns, but it was no free ride let me tell you. It's kinda like you get to the top in 20 miles, but then for 20 miles you just have to go up then down thru the mountains and valleys, then it's 20 miles of down. I don't know, I could be a bit jaded, because it seemed like we were going up (and 4 mph), way more than we should have. I still loved the road though. Highway 16 has my vote for best road in Wyoming. Upon arriving in Buffalo, we hit up the "Main Street Diner", which was pretty much Buffalo's answer to the "Durango Diner", one of our favorites in Colorado. Later, I just had to put my new drink holder to the test with a 64 oz. fountain drink from the Kum and Go. It held up. Now, after 18 days and about 1000 miles of riding, we're ready to begin festivating once again. And we are both ready to kick our feet up and do some serious relaxing and listening.

Cody to Big Horn Mountains

2009-07-07T14:09:00.004-06:00

We found a campsite 3 miles outside of Cody last night. We employed the classic camping practice of cycling out of town at about 7pm and riding till we find the perfect spot to throw down for the evening. But that, of course, was after getting a much needed shower at the Cody Aquatic Center. When we employ this camping technique we just keep a lookout for flat pieces of land that look like they don't really belong to anyone (Nat'l Forest, BLM, or otherwise). By setting out tent up near dusk and leaving shortly after sunrise, we're out of there before anyone really has time to notice us.
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This morning the only ones to notice us were the cows (and one bull). They were very curious of us and came within spitting distance of our tent. It wasn't scarey, but they really got a lot closer than I thought prudent cows should get. Then there was the issue of the bull, who by his mere size deserved at least a bit of respect. It just so happens this morning we woke to another flat tire, but his time it was on my bike not Kiki's.

Oh well, we didn't want to get an early start did we, especially since we're heading into Wyoming's "Basin", which I'm sure is similar to Death Valley. So I change the tube and Kiki, in her new role, finds the culprit piece of glass in my tire. We have definitely learned (the hard, long way) to try really hard to find out why you got a flat before putting in the new tube.
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We have chosen a good way thru Wyoming so far as all morning we had a lovely tailwind and averaged 15 mph (instead of the normal 11) and most days leading to today have been favorable as well. While only 4 mph difference, it makes the world of difference for you mental condition. You feel like you are flying! We even got our "High Noon Five-Oh" today (50 miles by noon). We've landed in Basin, WY at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains. We're at 3600 ft. of elevation and the pass we'll climb, Power River Pass is almost at 10,000 ft. So this may be our biggest pass to climb yet! I'm not looking forward to it, but the saving grace is that we have Wed. and Thurs. to make the climb. So there is no rush.
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We are in Basin, WY and have the rest of the day to relax and goof off. We only need to cover 60 miles and already have 57 done by 1pm. Wyomingans have been super nice to us so far. Very inquisitive of our venture and very accommodating when we need help. Most towns we've traveled thru are tiny and even when you get to a "big" city, it only has 9,000 people (Cody).

Jackson Hole to Tetons to Yellowstone

2009-07-06T14:12:00.008-06:00

We left Jackson Hole behind as we looked north for Amerca's great Yellowstone Nat'l Park. You are not long out of Jackson before you get your first view of the Grand Tetons. These mountains are stunning no matter what time of year you see them. Jaggedly majestic. Snow and granite. And on bicycle, you just get to pedal and contemplate them for hours on end. As we entered Teton Nat'l Park, they have a nice new bicycle pathway that is 8 miles long with we gladly took to get of the main road. If only this path extended the length of the two parks we were about to see that would be the bomb, maybe some day.
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We bicycled to two miles shy of Yellowstone and ended at Flagg Ranch Lodge. We immediately found their comfy couches to lounge on and take little naps. The plan was to stealth camp somewhere nearby after sundown but a girl approached us and asked if we were on bicycle. Soon we had 3 new friends, Kaitlyn, Eleanor and Dolly, three super-women cycling across the entire USA to Oregon. We all decided to go in on the rather expensive Nat'l Park Campground ($26.50, "That includes toilets" Natl Park Employee).

------>>> Gary showing off his 4th of July bugwear as Dolly and Eleanor look on

As I'm checking in, 2 more cyclist come in, and I send them to our campsite, so now we have 7 cyclists. Now we're talking economy of scale! It was truly fun to be in a posse again. The cyclist, Albert, even carried a full-sized tire pump! How's that for bragging rights. We chatted much of the evening about our respective trips and the funny things that have happened along the way.

We're lucky, because the 3 girls are heading our way for the next 60 miles, so we all decided to stay together to the next campsite, Madison, in Yellowstone. We start out the morning with me boldly proclaiming that "today we are going to see a bear". And seriously, withing a mile of starting, there was a Grizzly on the side of the road. While I was excited to see one, I admit, I felt a bit vulnerable on my bicycle as we passed it. But ol'Grizzly wasn't into tough and chewy biker legs that morning thank goodness and we passed without incident.
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Yellowstone has no shoulder on the side of the road to speak of which is a bummer. So as it was 4th of July weekend, we jolstled for position with all the RV's and Trailers. The weather was the full gamit today and at one point, all 5 of us were huddled under an boardwalk to escape the rain. We pulled into Madison CG only to see the "Full" sign proudly displayed. Hmmmmm. We definitely had to put our best man on this job. We sent Kiki out to scope out the possiblities. Before long she bagged us a site with a friendly family of 4 who didn't mind sharing their site with 5 sweaty bicyclist. This family was truly an example of kindness, with the Mom offering us lots of food they needed to get rid of (which we gladly accepted!). And even after offering to pay them for our share of the campsite, they refused! Man! I need to take some notes on being nice.

Oh, yea, prior to arriving at Madison, Kiki's front tire when flat. We repaired it under a hail of enemy fire (mosquitoes) and proceeded onward. It only lasted 12 miles before it went flat again. We repaired it again and that got us to the campground. All seemed well on the high pressure in the tire front. Alas, no. Woke to the same tire being flat. Oh, man, this was getting old. I checked and rechecked the suspect tire (a new tire by-the-way) but could never find any cause for the flats. I put a new tube in and we went on. 10 miles down the road we get another flat (that's 4 if you're counting). I'm like, OK, let's put on the spare tire and see if that doesn't fix things. As I'm doing that, Kiki inspects her suspect tire and finds an embedded piece of glass in a thick part of the tread that comes all the way thru the tire. Bingo! Problem solved (but not before some major frustration!). Lesson learned though, if I ever get flat after recently repairing a flat, I'll inspect the tire CLOSELY!

Of the three superwomen, Dolly has an interesting story. Her mom bicycled across the USA in 1976 with the Bike-cenntenial thing that went on that year. Dolly is following her mom's exact route and even has the same cookpot that her mom used. How cool is that. (Her blog here),

We say goodbye to our short-lived peloton of bicycle tourists as we head east and they head west. We've seen a number of animals in Yellowstone; moose, bear, elk, bison. It is so great to be on the bicycle when these sitings take place because the traffic jams can really back up for miles. On the bike, we can just cycle up, take a gander and cycle on, never once having to slow down our progress. (Some people actually honk!) Even though it's 4th of July weekend in Yellowstone, really, a recipe for a major head gasket conniption, we remain chronically unstressed. All of course thanks to our simple mode of travel.

-------------------->> That's a baby moose and mama moose

We exit Yellowstone thru the east entrance and into Buffalo Bill country. On our way to Cody, WY (where there is a rodeo every night all summer long!). We make it about 4 miles out of the park before we start looking for camping. The available campgrounds don't allow soft-sided camping (tents and pop-ups) because of the grizzlies. Low on options, we have to stealth camp in a picnic area by a river that, lucky for us, has bear boxes. We have a very peaceful night literally 10 feet from the raging river (music to my ears as I sleep). I love having these "to-die-for" views from my tent window while the rest of the world is slaving away their whole lives so that they can create the same view on their own 35-acre fenced-in plot. I much prefer enjoying the view and then giving it back. Life is so ephemeral anyway, why worry so much about owning part of the earth?

We make it to Wapiti (Pronunciation: Hippity, hoppity there goes the wapiti), WY and the restaurant by the Post Office is shut down. Damn! Where to get coffee? We were just about to resign to the fact that there'd be no coffee this morning when appears a hotel/restaurant in the distance. And get this, we're talking breakfast buffet for $6.99. Oh, man, there is no better time for a breakfast buffet as after bicycling 30 miles and hoping for coffee the last 20 of them! Sometime the road really treats us well. I hurt myself after a completely uncalled for 2nd helping at the buffet (you should have seen my first helping!). I believe tomorrow I might be able to coin the term "Buffalo Dump" in honor of our location but we'll have to see.

We now rest in Cody which happens to have the biggest library that I've ever seen for a town of only 9,000 cowpokes. We're already saying stuff like "4 more days and we'll be in Buffalo enjoying music!" Yep it's time for the BBT to hit another bluegrass festival!! We've had a great 18 days cycling the "long way" to Buffalo, WY, but I'm now ready for some good ol' bluegrass festivating.

Yellowstone Nat'l Park Soapbox

2009-07-06T13:42:00.007-06:00

This is my soapbox of the day, "Nat'l Park fees for bicycle tourist" here is the crux of my argument:
-------------------------1 Mondo RV'er------ 6 Bicycle Tourists
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Number in group: ---------------6 (2 adults, 4 kids) ----------6
Days in park ----------------------4---------------------------- 4
Gallons of gas used* ------------80 ( @ 1o mpg)---------------0
Pound of charcoal burned ------6 -----------------------------0
Noise pollution----------------- Lots------------------------None
Contibution to traffic-------Significant--------------Inconsequential
Animals killed-------------------1-4------------------------None
Campsite footprint------------2,500 sq ft-------------------625 sq ft
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Amount paid to enter park-----$25-------------------------$75

* Assume an average of 800 miles of travel to and from park.

So there you have it, the same amount of people, who damage to the environment way more would actually pay 1/3 of what a group of 6 bicycle tourist would pay. Just not right. What the park should do is to encourage people to bicycle to them by admiting them for free and in Yellowstone's case, have a wide shoulder for them to ride on. I mean how great would the Nat'l Park be if a number of people took to their bicycles instead of their RV's. It's time for me to write Salazar I think.

Zero Day in Jackson, Halfway Summary

2009-07-02T19:55:00.004-06:00

So we are taking a zero day in Jackson Hole, WY visiting our old roommate Amy. It's great to see her again and she looks as spry and chipper as when she left Crested Butte back in 2003. We have checked out of our luxury hotel (Thanks Ron!) and moved in with Amy and Bryan for the night. The live about five miles from the center of town in a green valley with lots of room for dogs to roam.
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We have nixed all of Amy's plans to go do things, saying we really just need to rest with our feet up. She has been much accommodating. And we are doing just that.
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We head out tomorrow, July 3rd, for Teton Nat'l Park and Yellowstone. The only bad thing about this is the time of year it happens to be (4th of July), but we'll make do. Even when it's super crowded for cars, it's still relatively doable on a bicycle. At least that's what I'm hoping.
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So the BBT is officially 1/2 over. Three festivals seen and 1300 miles pedaled. Here's my halfway summary: I am loving being on my bike again and traveling. You reach such a good place in your psyche by bicycle touring (I believe), because you've got so little to burden you. You are really just worried about the weather, your food, and where you'll sleep. That taken care of, life is just a breeze. In fact, once you do land back into reality, say, by trying to navigate the streets of busy downtown Jackson Hole, you can snap out of your euphoric stupor pretty quickly. You yearn to be on the road, moving towards something, making progress. Living and experiencing life, without the baggage that normal, stationary life can present.
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I've really enjoyed that we have these festivals to head to on this tour. That is different from other tours I have done. I have really dug getting to the festival and then being "forced" to camp for 3-4 days with lots of fun people. The pressure is then, "officially", off to move forward with the bike tour and you can really relax and enjoy your stay even more than someone who just drove there. At least that's my perception.
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So in summary, at halfway, I'm very stoked with how the idea is panning out and I'd recommend it to anyone out there considering planning a bike tour. Think outside the box a bit. Throw some events into the mix. Doesn't have to be bluegrass festivals, it could be Arts Festivals, NASCAR, sporting events, county fairs, Burning Man, Film Festivals, whatever. It will just add some spice and anticipation to your bicycle tour.

Mosquitoes, Motels and Lotus Cafe

2009-07-01T19:46:00.010-06:00

So we're heading north through Wyoming now on our way to Jackson, Yellowstone and then Buffalo Wyoming for the Big Horn Mountain Festival. This ranch's entrance should have prepared us for what was to come. Mosquitoes! We are following the Green River and they say they've gotten lots of rain lately. These two things combined have caused for unbearable mosquito-age. So bad that we even dipped into our foul-weather hotel fund and paid for our first night in a motel in La Barge, WY, just for a respite from the onslaught. This is what I picture Alaska being like. But the worst part is that these mosquitoes, for whatever reason, are able to catch up to us while we are traveling 12 mph and land on us and bite us. This is a first for me, usually you're safe while cycling but not anymore. Seems there is a new strain of super-fast, super-intelligent mosquito out there. This should worry us more than Swine Flu in my book.

I believe this grocery store is in Big Piney, WY (Librarian: "Ya know when I moved to Big Piney, I sorta expected there to be lots of pine trees."). I just loved the stores slogan "Come right in this house". What does that mean? I stared at it scratching my head. Rode away thinking about it. Best I could invent in my head was that the store could be owned by a couple from the former Czechoslovakia and in the former Czechoslovakia it is the most formal and most polite thing to write on your store front "Come right in this house", everyone does it, so when Alexander and Martina came to the USA they brought that tradition with them and translated it literally into English for us.

We stopped in a bar and begged the bartendress if we could seek shelter from the blood bath that was happening outside. This place was the quintessential Wyoming bar. Three rancher types sat at the bar itself having a breakfast toddy. The wonderful bartendress allowed us sit at a table and even to eat our lunch there. There was a very high-tech Bose juke box right in front of us that I notice had one play left on it. I went up and browsed the catalog found, surprisingly, some Ryan Adams, hit play and Kiki and I were treated to the most kickass version of La Cienega Just Smiled on a very quality sound system. The only problem was that it was turned up to 11. Seriously. Our hair was blowing back from the bass. It was just too hilarious and we started laughing as if we'd just ingested something illegal, it was really THAT loud. Good times.

So this is the cover of 8 Jackson Hole phone books. Kiki was particularly appalled. I thought it a bit tacky too. But I'm sure Jackson Hole suffers from my hometown Crested Butte's problem of way too many phone books, so it's not surprising that the competition has resorted to the age-old adage "Sex Sells".

We stealth camped last night at a trailhead off the side of the road about 36 miles shy of Jackson Hole, where we are planning on taking a zero day and visit with our friends here. As we roll into to Jackson, we spy a McDonalds. (Disclaimer: OK, I admit it and I'm OK with it. We crave McDonald's Sundaes when we bicycle tour. They only cost a buck. I get two of them. They have little chopped nut packages. It not something I can explain to you.) So we're in there ordering our sundaes when we meet a fellow who asks us the questions we always get asked. Turns out he lived in Crested Butte for some time and went to Western State. We strike up a conversation and before long, he tells us that he owns a hotel in Jackson Hole and would like to comp us a room for the night. We have a tradition, Kiki and I, of ALWAYS saying yes when this type of trail magic happens. So about 30 minutes after ingesting our sundae treats, here's a pic of us in our new digs in Jackson. Man I love bicycle touring!!

More Notes on Trash: On the side of the roads I've noticed, since my last bike tour some years ago, that one thing that has changed and that is some new items are showing up as trash. The new additions to the ubiquitous roadside trash are energy drink cans and the energy drink poppers (2 oz bottles of "fuel"). This got me to thinking, "Why is there now such a market a for this stuff?" Why are we as a culture seeking more energy. Could it be the way we are eating as a whole that has created an energy gap (high fructose corn syrup anyone?), or our time at the computer and the video games? Just thoughts I had on the road, but the questions begs asking.

To make an analogy, say in 60 years, everything that is selling big has the additive that helps your skin not turn blue. Everyone is using it. Turning slightly blue is a big issue in 2069. You are sitting there in your rocking chair saying, "you know, back in '09 no one was turning blue. Seems to me something has changed." Yet no one around is looking at that obvious angle. People don't like turning blue-ish and they are only looking at how "not blue" they get by eating "Blueless Bars-tm", and the companies are reaping the benefits of our not-wanting-to-be-blue addiction.

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So back to the energy drink market (Red Bull, RockStar, etc), the question is why is this generation suddenly in need of more energy. What is fundamentally wrong with our bodies that we can be convinced that more energy is what we need? I don't know the answer, but that is what bicycle touring will bring out of you, deep thoughts. It is interesting, though, to notice this change in roadside trash over the years.

Trail Magic, First 1000 miles, Wyoming state line

2009-06-29T14:05:00.006-06:00

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.

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.

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

2009-06-25T17:02:00.003-06:00

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

2009-06-25T16:13:00.005-06:00

---------> 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.

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".

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

2009-06-24T16:04:00.004-06:00

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

2009-06-24T15:14:00.011-06:00

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.

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)

2009-06-22T10:33:00.006-06:00

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

2009-06-21T12:27:00.005-06:00

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

2009-06-20T10:47:00.006-06:00

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"

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).

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

2009-06-18T10:05:00.000-06:00

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

2009-06-17T19:13:00.001-06:00

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

2009-06-17T18:52:00.000-06:00

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

2009-06-12T11:55:00.000-06:00

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

2009-06-12T11:01:00.001-06:00

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

2009-06-09T18:27:00.001-06:00

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)

2009-06-09T18:02:00.000-06:00

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

2009-06-09T17:32:00.000-06:00

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

2009-06-05T16:45:00.000-06:00

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

2009-06-05T16:14:00.001-06:00

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

2009-06-05T15:49:00.005-06:00

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.

Day 4: Creede -> Pagosa Springs

2009-06-05T15:24:00.000-06:00

Oh man the ride from Creede to South Fork is 22 miles of bicycling heaven. Tail winds, slight down hill, scenic, all capped by free coffee and cookies at the South Fork visitor center. But Wolf Creek Pass loomed ahead so we still hesitated to make eye contact or learn each other's names since we couldn't be sure who'd be left standing after it was all done.

From here, we'd have 20 some-odd miles to the top of Wolf Creek pass. 10 of them mellow, 10 of them not-so-mellow. We we got 9 miles from the pass, we made a pact to bike 3-miles at a time, then we'd take a break, high five, perform running chesties, and then collapse and take 10 minute naps before proceeding. This turns out to be the perfect formula as you never run yourself to the point of complete exhaustion before stopping for a spell. Still though, I found that speaking in my best Harry Caray voice was the only way I could express myself: "Hey, if you were a hot dog and you were starving to death, would you eat yourself?"

Once at the top, we took the requisite picture of the divide, and discussed how easy it is to get there in a car! We all felt pretty accomplished especially since now we had 20 miles of smooth downhill ahead of us. The highlight of this down hill was all of us passing an 18-wheeler that was only going 30 mph for some reason. And we passed him on the left! Oh, man was that exhilarating. (One could easily get the bikes up to 50 mph on these downhills if one was so inclined.)

Rolled into Pagosa and couldn't make it to the Malt Shoppe fast enough. Even though it's only day 4, we had a hellacious hunger that could only be combated by Burgers, Fries and Chocolate/Banana Shakes. God Bless America! Jeremy and I offically hurt ourselves, but it was well worth it. It was then off to the line of cars of people camping out for the opening of the festival. Being on the bikes is so convenient now as we just camp where ever and can move ahead of the car line much like at a stop light. We immediately hit the wonderful hot springs and soothed our aching muscles. Later, Jeremy and Laura got creative in finding some extra festival tickets.

Day 3: Powderhorn Rd -> Creede

2009-06-05T14:47:00.000-06:00

Woke to ice on the tents, but blue skies and sighs of relief, but it was short lived. The thunderclouds rolled in like they where late for work. Kiki demonstrates the classic brown splatter that biking on dirt roads it the rain produces. Encountered two signs that had wrong mileage on them and to a bicyclist, that matters so much. The first said the pass was 14 miles when indeed it was 16 miles. One might say, what's the big deal. Here's the deal. You get to mile 14, after traveling 3-4 mph uphill for hours. You can barely travel any more. You might even be a tad bit grumpy. And the pass is no where in sight. What gives? I'll tell you what gives it's sloppy forest service mile estimation. I remember Ed Abbey said something about Forest Service mileage and offered a formula to interpret their numbers. I'm at a loss for what it was, but I'm sure it would have accounted for our extra two miserable miles. Mostly this was miserable because these last two miles were the steepest and took us about 50 minutes to cover! Of course as we get close to the top we reach "Lower Mill Pond" which is basically a slap in the face, since of course you KNOW there is an "UPPER Mill Pond".

We finally make it to HWY 149 and the road to Creede only to be greeted by a sign that says Creede 55 miles. No big deal you say, but we'd all expected it to be 40 miles. Turns out that sign is wrong too, but we didn't figure that out until it was late and we still thought we had be 15 miles to go as we rolled into Creede, happy to be done, but 10 minutes before realizing this we were all considering Hari-Kari as a viable alternative to continuing.

Creede is one awesome town. It has a great town park that cyclist can hang out in, get water, wash up in the bathrooms with HOT water. This is us enjoying a early dinner prior to figuring out where we were going to camp. We thought the baseball field was the viable option and being viable, we decided to go ahead and get the police involved by asking their permission. Turns out it would have been better to ask for forgiveness as they showed little sympathy to the fact that at that stage we were only capable of moving our sore, tired bodies one more mile. Here's a bicycle tourist fun fact: If you ask a local where you might camp nearby because you've ridden all day and are exhausted, you more than likely get this type of reply "Welp, ya jes need ta go back about 5-7 miles the way ye came in and take a right at Rozman's place, go up that hill fer a couple more miles till you get the hatchery, then it's jes about 1/2 mile or more uphill to the National forest campground. Ye caint miss it......." By this time of course, we've fallen asleep.

But as dusk settled it, it was time to put on the game face. I set off for one last ride around the small village. I knocked on a door that abutted a vacant lot (perfect for camping) and met Chad. Chad was the type of local you want to run into. So helpful even if he was so unable to give us permission to camp on the lot adjacent his rental. But what he did do was even better, he personally walked me down to RJ and Kate's cabin and said "RJ, I've just given your yard away to a couple of bicycle travellers, hope that's OK". RJ, sitting on the couch, looked up and with out missing a beat is like "Sure, no problem, anything else?". I mean how can you not love Creede. And then RJ and Kate and their 210-pound dog offer us their little attached apartment, "If we'd prefer that to the ground". We're like, on our knees, weeping, kissing there feet saying things like "Ghandi is great".

So this is us snug in our little apartment warm and happy.

Day 2: Almont -> Near Lake City

2009-06-05T14:16:00.000-06:00

Jeremy and Laura were late arrivals to camp last nite and have officially joined the 1st annual BBT. Rode the 10 miles to Gunnison ("It's sunnier in Gunnier") to the famous "W" Cafe and had a killer greasy breakfast we didn't yet deserve.

I saw George Sibley saunter in to be greeted by a fellow of unusually unkempt hirsuteness and I immediately recognized him as Mountain Gazette's very own M. John Fayhee. I was star-struck. Two of my favorite writers only 20 feet away. The 1st BBT was definitely getting off to a good start. I went over to introduce myself, nervous as hell, but thought what's the worse that could happen? They could mistake me for the bus boy and ask me to refill their waters? I felt the risk worth the effort, so off I went. Made small talk with George, something along the lines of "You write real good". Then to George, "Is that John Fayhee?", and immediately noticing how extremely stupid that must have sounded from John's perspective. Introductions aside, it took John and George exactly 30 seconds to turn the conversation to beer drinking which was only apropos since it was Tuesday and it was after 8am.

It's Laura's and Jeremy's first bicycle tour. They got a grocery crate bolted on the top of their back racks with dry bags stuffed in them. It's working and you've got the give them an "A" for effort. Good for them for making due with the materials at hand.

Ran in to Peachtree Jim at Blue Mesa who was cleaning the outhouse at the bridge crossing. He was a gem. The "last hippy to hitchhike on the interstate". Headed for Cali and ended up in Gunnison. Was a past 9-foot Bubba Bear mascot up on the ski resort in Crested Butte. He showered us with more koan and insight in 10 minutes than whole books might supply.

Made our way toward Lake City before turing off at the Powerhorn turnoff. Quicky snuck up on 3 beautiful elk who bounded over the 4 foot fence like it was a curb.

Lunch on a Merry-Go-Round at the Powderhorn community center. Reminded me of the 360-degree restaurant that was at the top of where my Dad worked as a banker that we'd go to once in a blue moon and order water. I'll have to admit, the views here we much more precious although we still drank water.

Rains came. Soaked and miserable riding ensued. We, laughingly now, ended up taking a break, literally beaten, only about 200 yards from the campground we were planning to stay at, but at that time, we just needed a break from the rain and mud and there were some nice big trees offering "shelter" and Kiki yelling like she was manning the life boats on the Titanic: "We should hunker down here for a bit, it's not getting any better", nobody argued.

Found out that our tent (freshly seam sealed no less), leaks. Lucky for us we have inherited some Sham-Wow's (check 'em out on youtube) and have found that, statigically placed, they can stave off the drips. Camped in the Cebolla Creek SWA. In the tent by 4:30pm and don't emerge until morning. Colorado has had rain off and on for the last three weeks. People in Crested Butte are saying "Whoa, that was a short summer". Colorado is the new Washington.

Day 1, Crested Butte -> Almont

2009-06-05T14:12:00.000-06:00

After 2 wks of packin' or thinkin' about packin' we rolled out of Crested Butte in the rain. Lucky we only had 18 miles to go our first day. Fellow thru-hiking friends, POD, Disco and Hearsay all made it out to our first campground in Almont in what became the first annual BBT Kick off party.

Sending Us Mail

2009-05-31T12:40:00.001-06:00

If for some crazy reason you wanted to mail us letters, food, inspirational reading or whatever, you can send to the following addresses (note the dates we'll pick-up the mail):

In Telluride, CO we'll pick up mail on June 18th

Gary and/or Kirsten Dotzler
C/O General Delivery
Telluride, CO 81435

Hold for Bicycle Travelers arriving June 18th, 2009

In Buffalo, WY we'll pick up mail on July 10th

Gary and/or Kirsten Dotzler
C/O General Delivery
Buffalo, WY 82834

Hold for Bicycle Travelers arriving July 10th, 2009

In Lyons, CO we'll pick up mail on July 19th ( you might give us a head's that we should expect something, as we did not send ourselves a package to Lyons).

Gary and/or Kirsten Dotzler
C/O General Delivery
Lyons, CO 80540

Hold for Bicycle Travelers arriving July 24th, 2009

The Sign/Logo

2009-05-30T17:14:00.000-06:00

Here's the sign to look for if you'd like to talk to us at the festivals!

Our Gear List

2009-05-30T10:07:00.001-06:00

Many people ask what kind of gear we take on extended bicycle tours. While we consider ourselves lightweight long-distance hikers, I wouldn't consider our biking set-up lightweight. Since we're a couple, we get to share lots of items. Where we have 2 of something, I've noted accordingly. This is not a complete list but it covers at least 90% of the weight we'll be carrying.

Panniers - Ortlieb waterproof back roller classics front and back
Handlebar bag - Ortlieb handlebar bag (2) w/waterproof map holders
Tent - Sierra Design Meteor Light CD, 2-person, very heavy, our one luxury item, (though it has begun to have leaking issues which we mitigate with our camp towels)
Sleeping Bags - Marmot Sawtooth down bag 15F, Western Mountaineering Caribou down bag 35F
Sleeping Mats - Thermarest Prolite 3/4 mats (2)
Tarp - 8x10 ft sil-nylon tarp for added rain protection at the festivals
Kitchen - alcohol stove I made myself, MSR 2-qt pot with lid, titanium sporks, wind screen
Pocket Knife
Rain Jackets - Marmot Precip Rain Jackets (2)
Rain pants (2)
Gloves - Outdoor Research Meteor mittens (just the shells)
Down Jacket - Mont-bell super lightweight down jacket (2)
Knit hats (2)
Veggie baggies from produce section, for hands and feet for cold/wet conditions
First-aid kit, small, just basics, some pain pills just in case.
Compass
Hacky Sack - Lightest weight fun around
Shoes - I cycle in running shoes, Kiki cycles in Keen sandals
Extra shoes - I have Tevas, Kiki doesn't carry any
Extra clothing - we'll have enough to dress differently in towns but that's about it.
Camp chairs - Opps, did I say we only had one luxury? So nice after a day in the saddle.
Guitar - Martin Backpacker Guitar, straps on top of the back rack
Thermarest repair kit - saved the day twice for me. I even fixed my pannier with this patch kit.
Fuel bottle - 20 oz. gatorade bottle for holding denatured alcohol (2 oz/day)
Books (2)
Colorado Gazetter - for hitting the small roads!
Headlamps - Petzl Tikka (2)
Camera - Cannon digital with small charger and USB cord

Bicycle Maintenence Stuff:

Set of bike tools (Alien II, Gerber multi-tool, patch kit, levers, among other things)
Pumps - we each carry one
Tubes - 2 spares
Tires - one spare tire, twisted and zip-tied so it's half it's size
Bike lock - one very small and very light just for locking bikes together

Notable items we don't carry: cell phone, ipod or any music playing device, gps

Frequently Asked Question about the BBT

2009-05-28T13:49:00.001-06:00

The following are questions that get asked a lot regarding the BBT. Below are the answers.

1) How did you come up with the idea for the BBT?
2) What type of bike are you using?
3) How are you carrying all your gear?
4) How much does your bike weigh?
5) Will a car be following along?
6) What types of roads will you travel on?
7) Does the BBT cost money?
8) How far will you be traveling each day?
9) Do you expect the idea of the BBT grow?
10) Where will you camp en route to each festival?
11) What do you do about drinking water?
12) Is bicycle touring expensive?

1) How did you come up with the idea for the BBT? I have hiked some long-distance trails and really enjoyed it. I have also done some bicycle touring. Then it dawned on me, "Why is it that trails and tours always go from say, coast to coast or Canada to Mexico?" It seemed like a better idea to plan a tour around events, like bluegrass festivals. So that when you arrive somewhere, there is a big party going on. I wanted to ditch the notion that a trail or tour had to go in a straight line.

2) What type of bike are you using? We use 1980-style mountain bikes with slick tires. We put on very comfortable seats with lots of cush. Our bikes have no suspension.

3) How are you carrying all your gear? We use 4 Ortlieb waterproof panniers each. Two in the front and two in the back. I also carry a backpacker guitar that straps to the top of the back rack. We each have a waterproof handlebar bag that is more like a feeding trough.

4) How much does your bike weigh? With gear, food and water, about 70 lbs.

5) Will a car be following along? No. The BBT is not meant to be a supported tour. Participants need to have everything they need to survive. Still, you could "credit card tour" if you wanted. That is, ride from motel to motel and eat at restaurants and hence carry small loads. The BBT does not discriminate. And heck, if you wanted to have a car follow you, that's totally up to you.

6) What types of roads will you travel on? We try to choose interesting routes from festival to festival. If there is a dirt road option instead of a major highway (Hwy 50 for example), we'd choose the dirt road option. The smaller the better in our book even if it's a bit longer.

7) Does the BBT cost money? No, the BBT is free. Compare this to the Ride the Rockies that costs $335 for 6 days of touring. The BBT is 8 weeks and free.

8) How far will you be traveling each day? We average 60-65 miles a day. If conditions are favorable, we might do 80 miles.

9) Do you expect the idea of the BBT grow? Yes, I think the idea of the BBT will strike a chord with long-distance hikers and bike tourers who are looking for the next adventure. One reason that it's unique is because you are bicycling to these big festive camping events and when you out on a long-distance adventure, these types of events have a special allure.

10) Where will you camp en route to each festival? Wherever really. That's the beauty of be self-supported. When ever you get tired, there is most likely a spot within a couple miles for you to plop down your tent for the nite. Often that will be in Nat'l Forest campgrounds, SWA's, or nice people's farmland. Or just out in the trees somewhere. One can be pretty stealth and low impact on a bicycle. That said, we are not opposed to getting a motel if the weather has been particularly heinous and we are miserable.

11) What do you do about drinking water? When bicycle touring, unlike hiking, you pass establishments often (gas stations, stores, etc). We fill up at these spots. If its a place you can't serve yourself, (a bar, a rural home), I have never ever been refused when I have politely asked someone if they would fill up our water bladders for us. We also carry a water filter that allows us to filter river and stream water. So for us, when it is, say, 1 hour before camping time, we'll fill up about 1 gallon of water and pack it on the bikes. In this way, we can then bicycle on and when we see good camping, we can take it and it won't matter if it is near water or not.

12) Is bicycle touring expensive? It definitely does not have to be. We keep meticulous records of how we spend money and I can tell you unequivocally, that it is cheaper for us to bicycle tour than it is for us to live in one spot. That's because when you are bicycle touring, you can't really buy anything except food. When you are living in one spot, you have all the lures to spend money at your fingertips (home depot, internet, etc). If you are credit card touring though and getting motels every night, it would be a different story.

The Future of the BBT

2009-05-08T13:08:00.001-06:00

I envision the Heart of the Mountains Bluegrass Bicycle Tour (BBT) developing along the same lines of say the Appalachian Trail, or the Pacific Crest Trail, or Adventure Cycling routes like the Northern Tier or the more obsure Hayduke Trail. How is this you ask? Let me explain. Each of the aforementioned trails or routes was at first just an idea someone had in their living room. This idea progressed to the point that the person actually went out and did the trail. Word got around, maps and data books were printed, more folks began to do the route and before you know it, you've got a cemented adventure that people do on a yearly basis.

The reason I gravitate so much to the BBT idea is because I have always thought that it is so cool to visit a location when something is going on. Usually this happens to me by accident in my travels. I happen upon a location that happens to be celebrating something and I celebrate with them. Always remembering fondly that location because it was so lively during my visit.

Then I thought, why not, instead of just letting this happen randomly, make it happen on purpose. End up in a location that is getting down, on purpose! Get it?

That's what the BBT is all about. You are on a bonafide bicycle tour, but every 3-4 days, you end up in a location that is having a big party with lots of kindred spirits. You get your solitude on the bicycle and then you get some rest days listening to music and camping with cool people. It seemed like the perfect marriage.

My ultimate vision of the BBT is that it becomes an annual event that people for the exact same reasons they might hike the Appalachian Trail. Is there a good reason? Who knows, I know I love to do it and I know so many who do as well that I'm confident that the idea could blossom.

In years to come I could see the entire tour starting each year in Lyons, Colorado, the home of Planet Bluegrass. There'd be a kickoff party, (modeled after the PCT kickoff party), each year around the end of May at the Planet Bluegrass location where there's plenty camping and the kind folks at Planet Bluegrass might even supply some entertainment for the event. New Belgium might even get into the act as they love bicycles as well. After 1-2 days camping in Lyons, we'd all set off for Pagosa (300 miles) and the Bluegrass Festival there, beginning the 8 weeks of travel around Colorado and Wyoming while going to 6 Bluegrass Festivals along the way. The tour would end where it started, Lyons, Colorado, at the wonderful RockyGrass festival, some 1750 miles later and 99 bands later.

That's the idea. My wife Kiki and I will be the first to complete the tour in 2009 along with anyone else who might want the join in. Then hopefully the idea will catch on as more long-distance minded folks see the beauty of coupling their love of the outdoors with their love of music.

The Beginnings

2009-05-05T20:35:00.000-06:00

The love of bluegrass music and festivals. The love of bicycling. A penchant for doing things simply. These were the seeds that led to the idea of the "Heart of the Mountains Bluegrass Bicycle Tour".

It began with our bicycling to the Four Corners Folk Festival in 2008 from our home in Crested Butte, Colorado. A 3-day ride for someone taking backroads and more importantly, taking it easy. It was so liberating to be at such a big event and not have all the stuff we normally take in our cars and trailers. We realized that all that extra stuff just made our life extra complicated and we could enjoy the festival so much more by having less and yet still having everything we needed.

So then my long-distance hiker/biker mind began to do some research on how we could link up more festivals. I found what I believe to be the ultimate bicycle tour.

6 Festivals in 8 Weeks, 1750 miles, 99 bands, 0 Gallons of gas. Now we're talking!

We (wife Kiki and I) have done a coast-to-coast bike tour (1999) and really enjoyed it, but I have to say, I am way more excited about this tour because of all the carrots at the end of many sticks, the festivals. Now we will be bicycling for 3-4 days, then hitting a huge camping party with my favorite type of music. It'll be almost as if the party is simply for our arrival! Here's the itinerary:

(All mileages approximate, dates are for the festivals)
Crested Butte ---> Pagosa, CO June 5,6 200 miles
Pagosa ---> Palisade, CO June 11-13 200 miles
Palisade ---> Telluride, CO June 18-21 150 miles
Telluride --- > Bighorn Mnt, Buffalo, WY July 10-12 600 miles**
Buffalo, WY ---> BearTrap Casper WY July 17-19 200 miles
Casper, WY ---> RockyGrass, Lyons, CO July 24-26 300 miles
Lyons, CO ----> Crested Butte (home) 150 miles

**This 600 mile leg will go via the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone NP.

On average, we cover 65 miles a day, sometimes more sometimes less. We ride mountains bikes with slicks on them and use 4 panniers each. So as you can see, we are not built for speed. We love to stay on smaller roads when possible and often like to do 20-40 miles of dirt roads as an option that might help us avoid something not so desirable.

That's it in a nutshell, The Heart of the Mountains Bluegrass Bicycle Tour. Heart of the Mountains, because when drawn out on a map, it roughly makes a heart shape, plus we love the bluegrass band Mountain Heart, so it all seemed to fit.

The BBT is open to anyone who wants to do it. All you have to do is free up some time and come along. The BBT is not a supported bike tour. That is, there is no car following us. We carry everything we need on our bikes and buy food along the way. The BBT is Free. It doesn't cost a penny to do it. (Compare this to the $335 per person for Ride the Rockies). It sure would be nice if there are others doing it with us so we could have a mini-peloton of bluegrass afficianados making the tour that much more fun! Think about it.

Look for more posts as the BBT takes off on June 2, 2009. We'll be giving updates on how the riding is going and how the bands are performing. And if you'd like to join for any of the legs, email kikngar@yahoo.com .