I missed a day. I'm sorry. We rode over 270 miles, over fifty On dirt. We were out of bed at 5 and off at seven thirty. We rode over Ute pass and down to Dillion where we briefly stopped to see two of my good friends, Anita and Helmut Singer. Then it was down to Breckenridge and over boraas pass.
These bikes do really well on the dirt trails. Granted they are not particularly challenging, but we are loaded down with side and top cases. Going off road just adds a whole new dimension for me; it's all I really want to do now. Lots of focus and lots of dust, but more for George as he refuses to depart from the ritual of me leading the way.
There have been so many spectacular experiences over the last two days that I cannot include them all in one entry and I am sure George has mentioned most of them. Two stand out. Maybe three.
Last winter, Celia and I bought inexpensive ski season passes. One of us flies for free and we have our friends in summit county where we could stay free. We were so bummed when there appeared to be no snow in December in Colorado. But we were wrong. While vail and keystone had no snow, there was this small ski area in southwest Colorado, wolf creek, that had tons. But to get there you had to drive five or six hours from Denver. We did it three times, once with my daughter Alex.
We did not mind the drive because most of it is between two mountain ranges, one of which is called the San Juan's and I forget the other. The ranges are separated at times by about 75 miles, and the valley floor is almost totally flat. It is beyond spectacular. In fact the dust from one end of the valley floor blows from one range to the next creating sand dunes so hight, the government created a National Park.
So that is the stage. And we are riding through it yesterday. The weather is beautiful but thirty or so miles away, there are black (not dark, black) stretching in a straight line (perpindicular to us) between the two mountain ranges. And underneath the black clouds are what appears to me to be a waterfall, seventy or so miles wide and about thirty miles ahead of us. Not a cloud between us and what we are headed into.
Now it is twenty miles away. We pull our bikes over to the side and talk. We could turn around and head back. It's not chasing us. Heading into it really terrifies me. We ride in the rain, but this gives meaning to the term sheets of rain. Then there is the wind. We can stay on with 30 mph wind; after that it gets tricky.
George wants to continue, with me in the lead. I am surprised. He is -- how can I put this politely -- conservative. So we decide to go on, but it feels very much like as if we are charging into something that could be bad.
But it isn't. It is a wall of water that drenches us for about ten minutes until we go out the other side and into the sun again. Exhilirating and exciting but probably never dangerous.
We left South Fork late today headed for Durango. Over Wolf Creek Pass. Forty degrees and raining hard. Dry on the other side of the pass. We stop at a waterfall. Margot has called George's cell phone five times. The top case of his bike had fallen off twenty seven miles back from where we are. He tells me that I should go back and get it because he had "bare knuckled" fear heading down the pass. He later admits (two hours after I return soaking wet), that this is a total lie. He wanted to hear about the new iPhone 5 on his iPad. Another day on the trail.
- Eric
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Holy Toledo, or should I say Holy Dorango. Today's riding ended much the same way that yesterday's did. We left Pegosa Springs around 2:30 hoping to make it to Silverton before dark. We never made it. About 30 minutes west of Pegosa the sky started to turn. It's amazing how fast the clouds changed from wispy white to thick black. And I mean black. At the same time the lighting started. We quickly found a small side road, turned in and found a closed snack shack where we took shader on the porch for an hour. Not sooner had we sat down than the winds started whipping, the thunder boomed, echoing through the canyon and the rain changed to hail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV95szrGtII
One lighting strike came very close and a thunder clap nearly knocked us out of our bench.
We got back on the road around 4 p.m., a little too soon. Just after restarting, another lighting strike lit up the sky. We both yelled into the intercom that we needed to get off again. Unfortunately there was no cutoff to be found. Luckily, although the hard rain continued, the lighting didn't. When 30 minutes later we cut off for fuel, the locals at the gas station were staring at us. These hardened Coloradans thought we were nuts. One older gent offered; "What are you guys, organ donors or something?"
We decided not to try to get to Silverton today, opting for the Econolodge on Main Ave. in Durango instead.
There were lots of spectacular views along the way. The day and the evening were otherwise uneventful.
Good night all.
G.
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Location:Main Ave,Durango,United States
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