Maybell, CO
Jul 7th
For every town that we go to, one rider was assigned before the trip to research a town so we could learn about the town, interesting things to there, and the affordable housing cause in the area. I was given Maybell, CO and Vernal, UT (today and tomorrow) and so I’ll first share a little bit about Maybell.
Population 370, 95% white, 139 of 193 homes are occupied with an 80% ownership, and interesting things in town are (the only things in town are, literally) a general store, library, restaurant, and gas station. It’s a popular destination for bird watchers and solitude seekers alike.
So really there isn’t much here, in the way of entertainment or cell phone service, but the restaurant was good and the folks at the library here are very nice.
I was halfway through writing that the ride today was for the most part uneventful, but now I remember haha, about 30 miles into the 73 mile day, I blew the sidewall out on my rear tire! Bang! And the tire (and tube) were done for. It was Mark, Dave and I at that point, and we had averaged 21MPH and no tires we had. So we called the van which couldn’t have been too far ahead since it just passed, but since it was an easier day we weren’t that spread out so she didn’t really have time to turn around to get me a tire, I had to wait for sweeps…. So we decided to ghetto-patch the tire itself, and I put in the whole patch for a tube (with the metal wrapper0 that had some strength, and a new tube. Pumping it up the first time, the tube was popping out of the sidewall where it had busted, but deflating it, taking the tire back off and moving the patch got it to hold!! By that time, some people had passed us, (Laura was only a minute behind us by herself..she was cruisin), and Will Paradis actually had two spare tires with him! I thought that the patch we had made was actually pretty strong, so we decided to ride that out till lunch and it did hold, even with glancing the rumble strips a few times.
At lunch, Will said that I could take one of his tires as long as I get him a new one when we can, which I did and now I’m rockin a 25C on the back (slightly wider) which I think is a good chouice on his part. I had about exactly 800 miles on that Gatorskin before it blew out…bad luck I guess. I chowed down on three PBJs and we headed back out.
I’ve only got 5 mintues before we head out, but in short the terrain changed to desert basically, we stopped and swan in the Yampa a few miles out of town which was nice, I set up the hammock under a tarp which I’m excited about, and we’re camping in city park. It looks like it’s about to thunderstorm like crazy in about 5 seconds out there, dark and really windy!
Gotta go, thanks for reading!
Steamboat Springs!!
Jul 7th
In one sentence: The ride here yesterday was great, I really enjoyed the one climb and big descent, Steamboat Springs is an awesome bike friendly town, and the day off today was perfect. The internet here is useless, so I’m going to try writing from my new phone so hang tight!
Picking up where I left off, we got to see fireworks the night before in Kremmling and I got some pics that I think will come out pretty cool. Playing with sparklers and long exposure is always great.
It was our first night camping and oh boy it was cold, I think it got down to 15 at night and without my wool socks it would’ve been a stretch. Getting up and around in what couldn’t have been more than 30 degrees was hard, but once we got going it wasn’t intolerable. I tried to stay warm with everything I had on, and hopped on the bike and starting spinning away as soon as I was ready. I headed out by myself, and after 5 miles started to warm up a little I stopped to take off my sweatshirt that was under my jacket and some pictures of the morning that was beautiful despite being tad crisp. Kristen caught up while I was stopped and we got to ride together for a good while which was nice. There wasn’t a whole lot to see, just hills and every mile there was a small billboard for “F.M. Light & Sons” about cowboy hats or boots for the whole family haha.
There was one big climb on the way, just before halfway of our 60 miles, up and over Rabbit’s Ear Pass. I crushed both up and down the hill and it really felt great. I caught and passed pretty much everyone in front of me, and at the top where the continental divide was, I met four Tech grads who were meeting up for the first time after graduating together in 94. They were dissappointed to hear that their streaking ritual was no more and that Pritchard, where they had lived, was now coed! It was neat getting to meet some fellow Hokies, Hokie Nation alive and well!
Going down the pass was something like 7 miles at -7% grade, so I thought it was going to be a bnb speed record breaker but there ended up being a strong headwind which held us to just over 50MPH…sad haha.
When we got in the first thing I did was stop by the Verizon store to get a new phone that I needed desperately to stay in touch with Lauren, and I went with the Droid by Motorola. So far I love it so much…so many incredible features, though I still need to get used to it.
As a group we went out in town at night, which was fun because there were some cool places but we didn’t stay out very late at all. For our day off, I got to first sleep in, then walk to a diner for french toast which was great after not having it all summer! Then Noah and I suited up to go rent some mountain bikes from the Ski Haus which was one of three cool bike shops in town. We were super excited to rent some 29ers (29 inch tire diameter bikes…bigger wheels) and ride some of the world class singletrack, but after we sped the two miles there, they were out! Big bummer…so we decided to go check out on of the other shops. I’d been to Orange Peel earlier and they seemed pretty chill and turned out that they had bikes to rent! And they were 29s! I rode a Kona and Noah rented a Moots, mine was mid level at about 1500 retail and I got it for the two hour rate with a big discount bc we’re bnb for 17 which was sweet. The Moots was a titanium frame with X9 and went for 5500, so he paid a good chunk more.
The riding was just insanely awesome, some of the most fun I’ve had on the trip, rippin up the trails up and down the mountains. I got some scratches and covered in mud and it was perfect. There were some breathtaking views from the mountains we climbed, and I loved just running over everything on the mountain bike. I enjoyed creek crossing of the cool clear stream we rode up with that I had to try hard not to drink haha, after sinking the bike over the bottom bracket in mud but even with the crossing, rock gardens and steep section I never had to unclip so I impressed myself a little. They told us just to bring them back before close which was sweet and we rode for a good three hours before takin them back…sooo much fun. I’m definitely mountain biking more this fall.
Then I got to mail some stuff home so I now have space in my bin finally, got a sweet deal on a smart wool shirt across the street, ate dinner made by us which was good stir fry and then go to the hot springs!
I almost filled a printer paper box with stuff, which I used because I didn’t want to do flat rate because that goes priority which I don’t need. And they charged $3 for the ready post…what a rip haha. So I got it all organized and shipped for $15 which I was happy with and in time to check out the 50% off smart wool sale going on at the outdoor store across the street. Got to use my cell phone app that reads barcodes and uses gps to do a local product search and it works perfect and in like 2 seconds I knew that I had a sweat deal. I got a medium weight base layer and I’m excited to use it!
The hot springs were like 7 miles away, and since pretty much everyone wanted to go we did van shuttles out there. It was super relaxing, there were both hot and cold pools and I used them both to help recover my legs after some hard riding today. A perfect way to cap off our day off, and now I’m hittin the thermarest to be up in 5 hours! I just wrote this all on the cell and the real keyboard is definitely the best.
Sorry there aren’t any pix yet, thanks for reading!
Granby and Kremmling, Colorado
Jul 4th
Yesterday we battled massive headwind (30-50mph? at 12K ft), freezing temperatures, cars, rough roads, and the mountain itself over Trail Ridge Road. Our reward: conquering the highest paved road in the United States and experiencing the beauty and wilderness of the Rocky Mountains in a way that can only be felt.
The ride! What it doesn't show is when the road turned to gravel, and the winds approached 50MPH at the top haha. The descent we also had a strong headwind, which kept our speed down a lot (probably good!)
Last night we partook in the tradition that is Bike and Build Prom, by decorating the gym of our elementary school host not unlike many of our high school proms. We were still at 8,000 feet so we did our best to stay hydrated, and it was a lot of fun. I’m pretty sure because of the day’s ride, everyone was out by 11PM still. My date for the prom was Raleigh, and everyone was looking pretty ridiculous, see the pictures below haha.
Today we slept in before our ride (for the first time ever!) and left at noon for our shortest day yet: 27 miles. I joked about going for the “hour challenge,” to get to our host in less than an hour, until we got out on the road and were nailed with a 20mph (gusting over 40mph) headwind. Pedaling just as hard, it took us 90 minutes to get here, and I think everyone made it in two hours somehow. I got an excellent shake and buffalo burger in town here in Kremmling, and we’re excited to see the fireworks tonight for the FOURTH OF JULY! Yeah ‘Merica!!
Looks super easy, but wind is equally as a hard as hills and so it was a harder, but very short still, ride!
Pictures
The internet here, which I’m glad we got, is slow so I’m going to try to be a little more picky haha. First are going to be of Trail Ridge, then prom, and then a few from today!
The first scenic overlook
Love the rockies
Woo! You can see where we started at the far edge of the green, the meandering stream and the road we took up!
Kazane loves it too
Above 11K feet, it's a different world. Check out the Elk on the Alpine Tundra, what the ecosystem is called up there
Our lunch stop
Snow?
After the big part of the descent!
The view back down on the bottom
Awesome lake on the way to Granby
After I got in, I got to talk to Lauren which was really nice since I haven’t been able to in so long, and then came prom!
Heather looked awesome haha, I had purple in the mohawk, black slacks and a white coat!
We all looked great
Prom princesses: Emily, Sarah, and Lindsey!
And today:
And Bike and Build camps!! No other pictures from the day, because I didn't clip out once haha we were cruisin!
Maybe more pictures when it takes less than a minute per to upload, but yeah going to see fireworks soon for the fourth of July, and heading to Steamboat Springs tomorrow where there should be a Verizon store so I can get a phone!
Thanks for reading!