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RR: Colorado Trail (Part 4)



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 30th 08, 11:53 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike
Corvus Corvax
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Posts: 301
Default RR: Colorado Trail (Part 4)

Days 4 and 5: South Park

One thing about bike touring is that it arouses sympathy in just about
everybody you meet. The road to Goose Creek is navigable by car, and
there are a few other campers at the site. Near where I have pitched
my tent is a father with his three sons, who have just moved from
Kansas to Denver, and are still full of the wonder of living in
Colorado. They are fishing for trout, and pull out a number of small
pan-fryers, which they bread and cook on an open fire. One of the
teenage boys appears in my camp with a paper plate carrying two small
whole fried trout and says they're for me. I accept them gratefully
and it takes me no time to finish them off, the first fresh food I've
had in a few days. The flavor is sublime. I have nothing to offer in
return, so after dark I stroll over and chat with them by the
fireside, and I teach the kids the constellations and the names of the
stars, which they seem to think is more than a fair trade for the
trout.

My morning routine in camp, breakfast and packing, takes two hours if
I focus and don't **** around. The water in my bottles is frozen to
slush, and I pour the icy mix into a pan and heat it for coffee and
oatmeal. The experience of the day before has me pretty rattled, and I
am facing eight miles of steady climbing to start my day, up to the
nameless 8,800 foot pass into South Park. I finish my packing and wave
goodbye to my new friends, who look at me with what seems like a
mixture of awe and pity, mostly pity. I begin the climb. To my
suprise, the switchbacks which had destroyed me the day before are no
particularly big deal with fresh legs. I work up a sweat, I am
breathing hard, but I settle into a spin and make excellent time. As I
climb, I get more and more panoramic views of the burned valley, and I
begin to traverse groves of eight-foot high aspens, taking the first
steps toward renewal of the land.

I make sure I stop to eat at regular intervals, and the miles fall
beneath my mighty Kendas. By mid-morning I crest the pass, and gaze
into the beautiful, green valley of South Park. The descent is another
six miles or so of winding fire road through cattle pasture and aspen
groves. At this moment, I am quite certain that I am the happiest
person on the planet. I have never seen such a beautiful valley in my
entire life. I keep the bike under twenty miles an hour, because the
trailer starts to get a little squirrely at high speed, and I roll
like a freight train down to the pavement at Tarryall Road.

From here it is a road ride through the rolling hills along Taryall
Creek toward the town of Jefferson about thirty miles away. Traffic is
light, and the only difficulty is a steadily growing headwind, which
slows my progress considerably. I am hoping to find a cell signal here
so I can call my contact in Denver and let him know I am doing ok, but
I have no luck. There are no towns, no restaurants, only a long
series of tidy ranches with forbidding NO TRESPASSING signs along the
roadside. I finally find a little fishing lodge, and the owner very
generously lets me make the long-distance call to Denver on her phone.
It's that bike tour thing again.

The wind is now ferocious, strong enough that it is kicking gravel off
the road and into my face like little stinging insects. I forge ahead
as far as Taryall Reservoir, and pitch my tent in the howling wind,
exhausted. There are a few other people around, and again I am greeted
with offers of food and a place by a warm fire, this time by an ex-
Army Ranger named Bud, who seems amazed that I have pulled that
trailer all this way. He regales me with tales of his paratrooper
training as if he feels I will understand his suffering. I trade him
expensive French Absinthe for a couple of cans of cold Bud Light --
funny how economics becomes distorted in the wilderness. I sleep like
death.

The morning of the fifth day is an easy ride, twenty miles, all
pavement, climbing up to Kenosha Pass at 10,000 feet. Or so I think.
Absolutely nothing is easy here. It is seventeen miles from the
reservoir to Route 285, and then a short climb up to the pass, and the
headwind kicks up immediately after sunrise, rapidly growing to a
howling crescendo. I cross the last hill before the highway, and I can
see the Jefferson shimmering red in the distance like Lago. The wind
is insane. I am going five miles an hour on level pavement. My legs
are on fire with lactic acid. I finally lose it, and begin shouting at
the wind:

"STOP BLOWING!!! STOP BLOWING, DAMMIT!!"

I am railing at God, impotent. The wind picks up even more. I finally
struggle into the little general store in Jefferson, and huddle in the
corner over a bag of Chex Mix and a Gatorade. A woman wearing a
RAGBRAI T-shirt says something perky, and I just sort of mumble at
her. Another miserable ****ing day on the bike. I put on my jacket and
head out onto U.S. 285 toward Kenosha Pass. The shoulder is maybe
eight inches wide, I am in a forty mile-per-hour crosswind with a
trailer, and eighteen wheelers are flying by at seventy miles an hour.
Not fun. I take to pulling off and waiting for a break in traffic and
sprinting for half a mile, then waiting for the next cluster of cars
and trucks to pass. But as the road begins to switch back up to
Kenosha, the shoulder widens and what had been a headwind is now a
tailwind.

The wind takes me up to 10,000 feet as if carried by angels.
Ads
  #2  
Old July 1st 08, 12:46 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike
Bill Sornson[_2_]
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Posts: 66
Default RR: Colorado Trail (Part 4)

On Jun 30, 3:53*am, Corvus Corvax wrote:
Days 4 and 5: South Park

One thing about bike touring is that it arouses sympathy in just about
everybody you meet.


{Terrific prose snipped}

The wind takes me up to 10,000 feet as if carried by angels.


My ISP dropped Usenet access a week ago, and reading via Google Groups
is not only boring but frustrating (can't tell who wrote what), but
these four tour accounts by CC were simply outstanding. Glad I stuck
around at least long enough to enjoy those. Thanks, CC!

Bill "still nursing a broken scapula (40 mph front blow out) but road
riding again" S.
  #3  
Old July 1st 08, 12:33 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike
Corvus Corvax
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 301
Default RR: Colorado Trail (Part 4)

On Jun 30, 7:46 pm, Bill Sornson wrote:

My ISP dropped Usenet access a week ago, and reading via Google Groups
is not only boring but frustrating (can't tell who wrote what), but
these four tour accounts by CC were simply outstanding.


Thank you!

Really sucks that Roadrunner dumped Usenet, although I think a.m-b is
pretty much dead anyway. It was handy to put the text here, because
spokejunkies.com filters out the bad words, and I didn't feel like
being sanitized.

Photos of the trip are at spokejunkies.com in five parts:

http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/in...showtopic=7815
http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/in...showtopic=7818
http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/in...showtopic=7826
http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/in...showtopic=7830
http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/in...showtopic=7837

CC

  #4  
Old July 1st 08, 05:21 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike
MattB
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Posts: 747
Default RR: Colorado Trail (Part 4)

Bill Sornson wrote:
On Jun 30, 3:53 am, Corvus Corvax wrote:
Days 4 and 5: South Park

One thing about bike touring is that it arouses sympathy in just about
everybody you meet.


{Terrific prose snipped}

The wind takes me up to 10,000 feet as if carried by angels.


My ISP dropped Usenet access a week ago, and reading via Google Groups
is not only boring but frustrating (can't tell who wrote what), but
these four tour accounts by CC were simply outstanding. Glad I stuck
around at least long enough to enjoy those. Thanks, CC!

Bill "still nursing a broken scapula (40 mph front blow out) but road
riding again" S.


Ooh, sorry to hear about your misfortune Bill. Ouch! I separated my
shoulder earlier this year (too much air off a water bar on a windy day)
and that was a real drag too. I'm now back to full riding condition and
have a stash of pain meds for if I ever need them again (knock on wood).

Hope your recovery is full and speedy!

Matt
  #5  
Old July 1st 08, 06:42 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike
Bill Sornson[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 66
Default RR: Colorado Trail (Part 4)

On Jul 1, 9:21*am, MattB wrote:
Bill Sornson wrote:
On Jun 30, 3:53 am, Corvus Corvax wrote:
Days 4 and 5: South Park


One thing about bike touring is that it arouses sympathy in just about
everybody you meet.


{Terrific prose snipped}


The wind takes me up to 10,000 feet as if carried by angels.


My ISP dropped Usenet access a week ago, and reading via Google Groups
is not only boring but frustrating (can't tell who wrote what), but
these four tour accounts by CC were simply outstanding. *Glad I stuck
around at least long enough to enjoy those. *Thanks, CC!


Bill "still nursing a broken scapula (40 mph front blow out) but road
riding again" S.


Ooh, sorry to hear about your misfortune Bill. Ouch! I separated my
shoulder earlier this year (too much air off a water bar on a windy day)
and that was a real drag too. I'm now back to full riding condition and
have a stash of pain meds for if I ever need them again (knock on wood).

Hope your recovery is full and speedy!

Matt- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Thanks, Matt. I was VERY fortunate, really -- helmet cracked in
numerous places, plus even my sunglass frame was scraped all to hell
-- but my face and head were untouched. (Didn't even know it hit the
pavement until a helping rider said, "Well, your helmet sure did its
job!") Road rash was pretty light, too, considering.

Landed hard on right shoulder (one that's already had two surgeries)
and hip -- still have two red "trauma circles" on both almost 5 weeks
later. Thought I'd torn up the wing really bad, but had no idea I'd
fractured anything. Should heal in place and not need hardware.

I'm going in for an "arthrogram" and MRI today. Surgery 50-50 odds
I'd guess; would really like to avoid.

What's hardest to take was a material defect (bead separated from
casing so tube poked through and...BOOM!) causing the crash and not my
own "user error". The latter would be MUCH easier to accept.

Still, considering I could have easily broken my neck or been run
over, I know how fortunate I was.

Bill "heck, I was even getting back into mountain biking weekly/
weakly" S.
  #6  
Old July 1st 08, 08:45 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike
Corvus Corvax
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 301
Default RR: Colorado Trail (Part 4)

On Jul 1, 1:42*pm, Bill Sornson wrote:

Thanks, Matt. *I was VERY fortunate, really -- helmet cracked in
numerous places, plus even my sunglass frame was scraped all to hell
-- but my face and head were untouched. *(Didn't even know it hit the
pavement until a helping rider said, "Well, your helmet sure did its
job!") *Road rash was pretty light, too, considering.

Landed hard on right shoulder (one that's already had two surgeries)
and hip -- still have two red "trauma circles" on both almost 5 weeks
later. *Thought I'd torn up the wing really bad, but had no idea I'd
fractured anything. *Should heal in place and not need hardware.


Yeeks! That sounds highly unpleasant, but I'm glad to hear it wasn't
worse.

Heal well.

CC


 




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