To Hell You Ride

I am sitting at a bar at happy hour (9-12) in Mountain Village (right next to Telluride) after a beautiful sunset gondola ride, stealing some internet and enjoying some intense conversation about life, the future and the past.

I think I explained meeting Holland in the last blog, but we had a great (let me rephrase that: fun) time riding from Breck to Telluride. It was some of the hardest riding of the trip with passes and headwinds, but the company made up for it, joking to get our minds off of traveling 8 mph downhill.

We also hit some stellar clothing optional hot springs, hence the lack of pictures from that episode.

The ride into Telluride was pretty epic and we both had some mechanical difficulties getting into town, but we both look at that as earning it (the festival that is).

We clunked into town with two broken bikes and the only thing on our minds was where we were gonna sleep that night and how to get into the festival. After only 30 minutes of searching we got the best tickets and camping possible (no lie, people enter a lottery for these a year in advance) under face value and fell in with one of the coolest groups in the campground. Some of these people have been coming here consecutively for over 20 years. Total old school hippies.

For a couple of guys that showed up with no tickets and no where to camp at a sold out festival we got loved on to the max. Great tickets, great camping and great people. I am so thankful for the way that the whole situation turned out.

The festival absolutely rocked! Music, hippies and unlimited smiles. All with one of the most beautiful backdrops imaginable. I don't even know how to describe how much fun and good vibes was packed into four days. Ask me about it later.

After the festival we needed a rest day. Or three. We went to a wonderful post fest condo party Monday night with some of the best people around and were very fortunate to be included. Then spent all day Tuesday wondering what to do with our lives. Wednesday (today) finally exploring the beautiful surroundings that we have been living in for a week.

The plan as of now: get back on the bikes for the first time in a week and kick it back to CO Springs via Crested Butte and over an off road pass that everyone "promises" us is ridable just in time to meet my wonderful girlfriend and then a spend week of exploring the Pikes Peak/CO Springs/Manitou Springs area with my best friend.

Now the pics... I will hopefully get some more from friends made at the fest, but these are limited due to preoccupation with music and smiles.

Holland and me at the Blue Mesa Reservoir after a couple of days of serious headwinds trying to hightail it to Telluride in time for the festival.

View of the Cornet Falls (top left) from halfway up the hike. Notice pensive Holland in the bottom left corner.

Bridal Veil Falls from the basin where we got soaked by the mist. You can barely make out the power plant in the top middle.


Another great view of the falls and the power plant/crazy historic looking house.

Two of my favorite musicians from the weekend and one of the coolest guys I met jamming on the condo roof top.

View of the crowd watching a slide show from the top of the spiral staircase.

View of the falls in the distance from the condo rooftop.

Tom rocking the guitar on the day of confusion as we all prepare to move on with our lives.

Christina enchanting the crowd with her beautiful daughter Kaya.
View of the stage at night.
The winner. Probably the best pic taken all weekend. We are all so blissful and happy to be here and alive and well.
View of the town from the gondola. We were here for a week until we actually jumped on. Definitely worth it.

Towards the top of the hike with the town in the background cheating death.

The crowd and band at the potluck dinner. We had just been inducted into the Pod after an epic journey to the festival and were super hungry and super stoked for free food.

Grub time.
Grub time late night. Salami, cream cheese and tortillas. Don't knock it 'till you try it.

Me looking sassy, but the only good picture of the campsite.
Daytime festival tarp sitting marathon.

One Week

Exactly one week since my last post. That is pretty diligent if I do say so myself. A lot has happened in the past week.

I have been sick as a dog and talking like a horse. I am sick of being sick and looking forward to feeling better. It is hard to take care of yourself when you are living in a tent and riding around 60 or 70 miles in the wind and rain each day. But honestly, I have been in great spirits and just bummed that I can't make more jokes since I can't talk much. The others probably appreciate it :)

I am glad to be out of Wyoming. We had a few nice days but mostly extreme winds and not so extreme rain. Finally in Colorado. It has been a long time coming since I have wanted to visit and spend some time in CO for years.

Spent a couple of nights in Breckenridge and had a blast at the well timed annual town party. Summit county rocks and I'd love to get to spend some more time there either in summer or winter.

Stayed at the coolest hostel with the coolest owners ever and said goodbye to the rest of the group. I had planned on breaking off at some point and it seemed quite logical to stay in a cool place at a great hostel and rest up one more day and try to get well. We had picked up another rider (Holland, turns out he is really cool and fun to be on the road with) and it wasn't hard to convince him in joining me at Telluride.

By the way I'm going to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and extremely stoked. A couple of great days of riding and a couple more, then the festival starts Thursday. We are really trying to hightail it down there to make it in time to find tickets since they are sold out.

Today was epic. 83 miles with was the tallest pass yet and most ride time yet, just over 8 hours in the saddle. How's that for a work day? Pretty great if you ask me.

I miss my friends and family (and pretty much everyone else I know since everyone I come in contact with is a stranger. I continue to think of you all and pray for safety and well being.

Sorry

Hello everybody. So I'm sorry that I have been really lousy at posting to this blog. I'm not sure what the problem is... Maybe a mental block or the simple fact that it is impossible to describe what an amazing experience this is and that the pictures and short descriptions just don't do it justice. Also, I am completely over Blogger, but I'll force myself to deal with it until I decide to work on a real site.

I'll pick up at West Yellowstone. We camped there for three nights, rented a car and had two rest days, one in Yellowstone and the next we went through the Tetons to Jackson and back.

In Yellowstone he geysers were definitely my favorite and each one was just as amusing as the next. For me it never gets old marveling at the fact that we are walking around on a huge volcano and the geysers are only tips of the iceberg of the underground ductwork.

The Tetons were larger than life. Absolutely brilliant. I went for a swim in beautiful and cold Jenny Lake. We had some killer burgers in Jackson and it seemed like a pretty cool town for the locals, but way too touristy.

The ride through Yellowstone after our rest days was pretty awesome too. We ended up doing over 90 miles, but it didn't seem like anything after two days of rest and I was distracted by the amazing scenery.

On the way out of the park we went to a little secret waterfall and swam and jumped off the top. Paul had a hard time convincing me that this was a good idea, but when he said that he had done it before and jumped first I was right behind. We even talked Karli into jumping.

We camped in the Tetons that night and the next day riding out of the Tetons there was the biggest pass we have come to yet. This was the most epic day I have ever spent on a bike. About 70 miles total with 26 miles and over 4000 feet for the one climb. That was the easy part. As I got to the summit, it started snowing and I got a big kick out of it. As I geared up for an awesome 26 mile descent it started hailing and 5 miles in I was cheating death and holding on to my bike for dear life. Finally I couldn't see a thing and had to stop and find shelter in a Catipillar excavator at a construction site. I was frozen to the bone since I was till in warm weather clothes. When the hail and snow let up a bit I made a dash to get some warm things and changed in the Cat. Still not so bad. All suited up with warm, but not waterproof (I ditched that stuff a while back) clothes I got back out in the storm for the descent. Next comes a 15 mile construction zone. I felt like I was on a hardcore mountain bike trail. Gravel and mud roads covered in snow and ice. The lady let me ride through, come to find out that all of the others ended having to get in the back of a truck to get through. I saw a motorcyclist loose control and fly off the road and prayed for his and my safety. After the construction zone I had to endure about 20 miles of riding with numb, wet limbs and as soon as I reached the edge of town I checked in to the first hotel that I found. Frozen solid and completely covered in mud, I had one of the most welcomed warm showers ever. It was also quite nice to have the room all to myself with some peace and quiet and relaxation. I didn't leave until 11 on the dot the next morning.

Other topics of interest:

Kev broke his frame at the rear weld of his right chain stay and hitched a ride to town to find a welder, but is all fixed up.

The wind is crazy in Wyoming.

We picked up 2 other cyclists and they are super cool and we are having a blast riding and hanging with them.

I will have a map with pinpoints at each stop and some commentary and pics soon.

I'll write more about these past few days, but I think I've had enough for now.

And now for some photos.
In no particular order since Blogger is such a pain.

The view of the road ahead from atop the rocks. Look closely or click for enlarged image.

The gang hiking on the rocks at the Oregon trail historic stop.

Linus one of the new guys with his bike flipped upside down from the wind.

Me at the top of Togwotee pass Elev. 9658. Right before the snow and hail.

The only shot I could get of the hail before I had to hide my camera for safety.

Beautiful days in Wyoming after a couple of nasty rainy days.

Another storm blowing in over a ghost town of all abandoned buildings.
Luckily we had shelter at the abandoned Lions club. A cool little commune in this picnic area.

Cool geysers.




Killer waterfall.

Me at the Tetons.

Karli and me with the buffalo.

Karli and me at one of the many divides we have crossed.

Earthquake lake. Formed by an earthquake that created a slide that damed the river. You can see all of the dead trees that were covered with water.

Where the buffalo roam.


Another well earned pass.

Kev with tons of paraphernalia on the back of his bike.

Our honorary group member Clive. He is riding solo, but we keep running into him. A really great and fun guy.

The group with our car at the Tetons.


Me at the solitary geyser. Finally a break from all of the other tourists.