July 29-31

On July 29, we completed our tour of Colorado and entered Utah. As we left the Rockies, Colorado in the west resembled Colorado in the east; fairly flat, lots of farmland, and quite sparse. We ended the day in a RV park, where we camped. as we get farther west, the wind seems to be more directly and powerfully in our face. Other than that, it was a very pleasant ride.

July 30 was our first full day biking in Utah. From the very beginning, it became more and more spectacular. The rock formations in someways resembled those in Sedona, although the geographic extent is far more vast. It is somewhat less green here than in Sedona. As best, I understand it, the sandstone red rocks in Utah derive from tectonic plates, pushing the area up from an ancient ocean, sometimes at an angle, leaving large fissures and cracks that can be at any angle. Wind and rain smooth many of the rocks also creating striations  that are at very dramatic angles. Anyway, that’s my non-geologist understanding.

We finished our ride yesterday very close to the Colorado river. We were to stay at a campsite next to a lake fed by the Colorado but many years of drought have dried the lake and the campsite was closed. We ended up shuttling to the next stop in Hanksville, Utah. Some contingent of the group shuttled back to our original stopping point so they could have the entire biking experience. I chose a day off.

July 28

Today we left Telluride via gondola. Put the bike on the back and rode up and down about 1700 feet to a neighboring village and then started the ride. We biked up our last mountain pass in Colorado called the lizard head pass. The next 40 miles were supposed to be a downhill piece of cake, but we had a headwind that was strong enough that biking downhill was still quite an effort. Tonight we’re staying in Dolores, a tiny town near the Utah border.

The route we have taken through Colorado has been exceptionally beautiful and an error in areas of the state that I haven’t been. Most of the roads have been relatively empty. The biking has been spectacular. We will see what Utah brings.

The one non-geriatric member of our group is a recent Cornell grad named George. He is taking a couple of gap years and then intends to apply to medical school. It’s interesting to see him interact with this diverse, but all older group. I think it bodes well for him with regard to his potential ability to interact with a diverse patient group should he follow through on his plans.

July 26 and 27

Yesterday we biked across another mountain pass, and then up to Telluride. As you can see from the pictures, this is a gorgeous part of Colorado. The biking was tough; 4600 feet of climbing. Telluride itself is a beautiful little city surrounded on three sides with mountains. We had a rest day today. I used it to relax a bit but also hike to a waterfall at the end of the box Canyon. Very beautiful. This evening we had a group dinner.

Telluride has the reputation for being the most expensive municipality in the United States. Given what Airbnb and hotel prices were, I don’t doubt it. Tomorrow we cross our final mountain pass in Colorado to Dolores and then the next day into Utah. It will be interesting to see how the geography changes.

July 25

Today matched and probably exceeded the beauty of yesterday. Because of bridge repairs we had to shuttle the first 25 miles which made the ride only a 40 mile effort. I can’t say I was devastated by that news. We left Gunnison and traveled along a beautiful reservoir. After we got dropped off, we climbed through the black canyon of the Gunnison, which is a deep narrow Canyon cut by the river below. Towards the end of the ride, we descended from 8000 to about 5800 feet to high desert. We are staying in Montrose tonight.

One of the great things about biking is that you can absorb the changes in geography, temperature, and the appearances of towns at a pace that lets you really appreciate  it. We left Gunnison this morning when it was 39° and arrived in Montrose when it was 96. The variety of the terrain in between was just incredible.

July 24

Well, today was as advertised. 4300 feet in 23 miles. We crossed the continental divide at 11,318 feet. The climb was hard but incredibly beautiful and the ride down 10 miles of hair raising descent. This was our highest point, which I guess makes sense since we crossed the continental divide.

We are staying tonight in Gunnison, Colorado. We are in the city park with about 25 Pickleball courts all of which were completely occupied until it got pretty dark.

July 23

Today we had a fairly sedate 46 mile ride through the Colorado Highcountry. No big Mountain passes; I think we moved from the range towards the main and bigger mountains. Tomorrow we climb to the highest point of the trip, about 11,300 feet to pass through monarch pass, it should be a hard but beautiful climb.

July 22nd

Today we biked 56 miles into the Rocky Mountains. Made it across the first mountain pass about 9300 feet. We had about 5000 feet of climbing. Although hard, it was a lovely ride. Amazing to see the mountains in the distance, get larger and larger, and then finally be in the midst of them. We are camping at about 7800 feet and it’s pretty cold and windy. I am hoping we will avoid a storm but we’ll see. Everything is very hazy here as a result of fires in Canada.

July 19, 20, 21

On Friday, we biked 56 miles, leaving Kansas and moving to Colorado. The first portion of Colorado looked very much like Kansas; flat and with grain elevators in every small town. We stayed in Eads, a tiny town.

On Saturday we biked 115 miles from Eads to Pueblo Colorado. This is the distance record for my biking career. It was surprisingly pleasant. The train was fairly flat, but as we went west, it became more textured and interesting. By the time we reached Pueblo we could see the mountains in the distance. Sunday was a rest day; Kathy met me in Pueblo and we drove through the  foothills. There was an amazing structure called Bishops Castle, a completely random collection of spires and staircases that couldn’t have passed any building code, but which had hoards of people, including us climbing all over it.

Tomorrow we seriously head into the Rockies. There is a 9000 foot pass that we traverse as a prelude to the 12,000 foot pass we will encounter two days later.

July 18

Today we biked 102 miles due west towards Colorado. We reach the border in about 15 miles. Today was much less hot than previously and the wind wasn’t in our face so the miles went fairly quickly and pleasantly. Now that we’re almost through Kansas, I can say that it’s a pretty homogeneous state. A few hills sparsely situated and towns that all seem to be organized around a train track and a grain elevator. The people have all been very cordial, but the towns seem to be about only halfway populated.

We stopped today in Tribune Kansas, which is the county seat which has 770 people.
The county is Greeley county, named after Horace Greeley, even though he never came anywhere close to Kansas. I went to the county historical museum, which is a lovely old former courthouse. The people working there also had no clue how Horace Greeley ended up the namesake of the county.

July 16

Today we biked 102 miles on our way west. The morning was cool and cloudy and the first 50 miles were lovely. We started just before sunrise. Sadly, the afternoon got sunny and hot and the last 35 miles or so were in 95° and muggy.

On the positive side, my bike is fixed, which made life much easier. The heat dome in the west is evidently moving east and so the next few days I hope will be much more temperate. We encountered some cows on the road. As we rode toward them, they stayed on the road and galloped away. We probably followed them galloping for about a half a mile before they got tired and gave up.