Up at 5am it’s quite outside, no wind, let’s hope it stays that way. I have a big climb up to 10,500 feet at stunner pass in the first 2.7 miles this morning. Then I stay up there for another 20 miles climbing to the peak of Indiania Pass at 11,900+ feet… the highest point on the trip. That’s the reason I didn’t wanna leave yesterday afternoon. I’m gonna be up high altitude for a long time and I didn’t wanna take a chance on getting cold out there at night, that could be a bad thing. So, it’ll be a lot of climbing in the next few hours this morning then I should have a big drop into Del Norte.
It’s 50° this morning….a little chilly.
On the road at 5:35am
6:20 A.m. I’m at 2.7 miles in and at 10,557 feet. There’s no marker but this should be the top of stoner pass so next will be Indiana Pass after a lot more climbing. Been doing switchbacks all morning and taking a lot of deep cleansing breaths—hard for me to pedal this hard and get enough oxygen
6:45 AM I just finished descending stunner pass I’m back down to 9,817 feet and it was cold—my hands my toes my face are freezing. I’m at 5.95 miles in.
I passed the lead southbound racer as he was going up stunner pass in opposite direction—he looked as cold as I felt. it’s 6:45am, so that means he went over Indiana pass in the dark probably— I can’t imagine doing that as cold as it is.
7:30 AM 8.2 miles in seeing the sun for the first time and that’s nice my toes are still frozen. Back up to 10,487 feet taking some really deep breaths on this climb.
8:32 AM 11.6 miles in I’m at 11,272 feet and still climbing. Switchbacks is the order of business for the day and the road is big chunky rocks, man it is hard, but the weather is perfect. I’m not cold anymore and I’m feeling good.
9:30 AM I had climbed up to over 11,600 feet and now I just dropped back down to 11,280 feet. It was fun riding down but also a little depressing because I know Indiana pass is at 11,900 feet so I’ve got to turn around go right back up. I repeated that same thing three or four times before actually hitting the summit of Indiana pass. Finally made the summit though. Stopped, took a short break then headed down the other aide.
The ride down was fun—over 20 miles of decent. I had to ride my breaks the entire time. My fingers were frozen pulling on the metal break levers. Had to stop twice to give my hands a break—warm them up and keep them from cramping. If my breaks went out coming down this mountain I would be in trouble. Should have some cool GoPro video.
Got to Del Norte at 1:30pm. Stopped at the bike shop and had 2oz of sealant added to each tire and picked up a couple extra co2 cartridges. Also, rigged some foam to my drip bars. I’ve been using those more than I ever have and my hands are starting to lose feeling from the pressure of riding on the for hours on end.
Back on the road at 3:25 pm.
Heading out of Del Norte I saw the first sign for the Great Divide mountain bike ride. Reminded me when I did Trans Am a lot of states had signs for the Trans Am route.
4:28 and met the third place guy doing the divide race going south. He’s from France—I can’t remember his name, really nice guy. His bike didn’t make it on the flight with him, so another rider actually loaned him a spare bike and cloths. I can’t imagine how it would be to race this thing without having your own bike. These racers are killing it—they ride day and night with very little sleep.
4:40 PM beautiful day. I’m riding in deep sandy roads again and just took a spill. I’m riding with clipless pedals which means my feet are locked into the pedal of the bike and that’s not good on sand like this cause you can’t get your feet out in time to catch yourself if you fall. So I’m just off pushing for a bit to get out of this deep sand hopefully shortly.
5:42 PM 60 miles in 8,512 feet been riding through open desert with mountains all around in the distance. Very nice day for riding—180 from yesterday which was hell.
7:45 pm Stopped at LaGarita trading post. It was a half mile off route, but well worth the distance. Got here 15 min before they closed and got an orange juice, Diet Pepsi, pure leaf ice tea, and ice cream sandwich. The owner offered to let me camp by his store if I wanted. Sitting here thinking about it. Decided to push on for another 20+ miles to set me up for a short day tomorrow and a half day off in Salida.
Left the trading Post at 7:11 PM
8:30 PM made it to Saguache, CO. I’m toast. Good night.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/49pn7jq402txvfq/AAAG329gcjs29CYLUAiHvuu7a?dl=0
