Jeremy's Bike Blog

My sister Julie, and her husband Steve did me the huge favor of helping me cheat the snow due in the mountains, and drove me about 2.5 hours into the mountain town of Walden in North Park Colorado.  We enjoyed a lunch at a small diner, and some friendly conversation with a local who does guided horse tours and who gave Julie his card.  That seed is likely to sprout, I predict, as sis likesa the horses.

Steve and Julie offered to drive me a bit further, but Steamboat is 46 miles and 3000 feet of climb, according to Google bicycle directions.  Even though it’s day 1 back on the bike, and I really needed to get over the hills where there is snow due that would quite possibly sock me in, this seemed reasonable, and I had cheated enough.  So I declined and set out from Walden.  However, about 2 miles after I passed a turn-off on a muddy road through the Routt National Forest, I realized that this was a turn I needed to take for the 46 mile route.  As I doubled back, I also realized it was a losing proposition to try and take on a largely untraveled (passing motorists are both a nuisance and a lifeline) muddy road which would probably require a lot of stop-scrape-mud-from-fenders-and-go.  So, I doubled back on the doubling back and continued on the route, which was 60 miles in total, and included a traverse of Rabbit Ears pass, so named, I assume, because according to the elevation profile, it’s a couple of passes.

By the time I was starting the steepest part of the climb over the first rabbit ear my legs were cramping, something I’ve honestly never experienced before.  I didn’t have any bananas or other sources of potassium on hand, so I cast for said life line and thumbed for rides for about 10 minutes and as many vehicles, only 3 or 4 of which were really suitable for carrying me and my bike.  A bit of a low point for the day, I determined I was probably over reacting to the cramping having not ever had it before and it definitely not being totally debilitating.  Strangely, it hurt the most while my legs were being used for standing, and less when being used for pedalling.  I took in a heaping dose of water, some energy nut bars, saddled up, and took on the steep.

It kinda sucked, being in full granny-gear, and in a bit of pain.  But it was also beautiful, as sun poked through clouds casting flurries on virgin (modulo occasional snowmobile) tracks.  Some pick-up came within 2 feet of me, and when I made my standard gesture, sweeping my arm as if to say “you have the whole road, it takes the slightest effort on your part to not jeopardize my life, so go well the fuck around me, asshole”, he slowed to yell something like “get off the road”.   Pretty standard stuff, really.   As always, he yelled, then sped off.  Dudes like that an invariably dudes, and cowards.  Other than one other instance for the day, the drivers were willing to apply the necessary torque to their steering wheels or even, occasionally, as oncoming traffic necessitated, pressure to their brake pedals, to make sure that they gave me a wide berth.

The first rabbit ear coincides with the continental divide, and is where I took my first and only picture of the day.

I mounted my Chinese knock-off Go Pro (Geek Pro) on my helmet for the descent following the second rabbit ear, but it was tilted too far downwards.

In maybe 15 minutes, I gave up all the elevation I had worked for over the previous 4 hours, but I was happy to.  This was the goal, to get out of the mountains before the snow set in.  Not long into the descent, my fingers had no feeling whatsoever, making shifting, or cruising at 35mph (it feels fast on a bicycle) a real challenge, not to mention that my standard remediation of steering with one hand and shoving the other (with glove) down the back of my pants is just not sane at those speeds .

Hail stung my face as I rolled into the flats leading to Steamboat Springs, and the first pellets were downright shocking and needle-like.  I thought I would have much further to go than it turns out I did, and I came close to knocking on the doors of ranchers to ask for shelter.  But when I tried and found I had cell service, I saw that Steamboat was only another 6 miles away.

I really want to indulge in hotels as little as possible on this trip, and the hail had let up as I rolled into town, but I was totally happy to fork over $70 for a hot bath and a warm bed.  Steamboat Springs is, after all, still at 6000 feet and expecting more snow tonight…something I could handle, but which I’m not especially well suited for on this tour.  A local guy chatted me up as I was researching my options and confirmed that the Steamboat Lodge is run by locals and the best deal (hotel-wise) in town, so I didn’t even try couchsurfing, warm showers (couchsurfing specific to bike tourers), or airbnb.

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic first day, and it’s nearly indescribably amazing to be back on my bicycle.