The first day was a long day with plenty of climbing on loaded bikes. I sleept okay but was up a few times despite being tired. We packed up under over cast skies which looked like rain, a possiblity today at least for the afternoon. I heated up water again and had some tea and two batches of oatmeal.
Off we went with the divide covered in grey clouds---hoping we could fast enough to avoid afternoon thunderstorms.
We found a little canal connector over to Lake Granby which was a nice way to warm up the legs this morning.
And a few more dirt roads around before the highway was unavoidable again for a bit.
But, this is a nice route even with some road sections--the views are great.
Another side spur through some county dirt roads--this one started with a steep climb but the views were worth it.
We had a good bit of wild life on the trip, including several deer that seemed to have it out for David both days. Here we saw some Antelope grazing in the morning sun.
Views of Grand County
John's setup
David's setup
Nearing the Granby Airport
There was a City Market and subway in Granby so we stopped to resupply and have breakfast number two! All of us were hungry again and the cafe in Winter Park was still a few miles away--maybe late lunch?
Eventually near Snow Mountain Ranch we got on the Fraser to Granby trail--no more highway for a long time!
Clouds were moving in but we all were pedaling strong and kept moving towards Winter Park and our final climb back over the continental divide to Nederland.
Stopped at the town park in Winter Park proper to refuel water and stretch before another large climb up Corona Pass.
The clouds....from a radar check we were going to see rain no matter what on the pass, just a matter of when.
This way used to be the railroad grade up and over the divide--nice part is it pretty much is 4% the whole way so you just have to sit, spin and grin!
This trestle is called gun sight notch where the track used to loop back over itself to get over a steep grade. Here we ran into the rain and being right at tree line we jumped into the trees for a while. You can see the rain drops on my handlebar bag. I was slow up this climb with having to stop several times and just walk--congested today and maybe coming down with something but hoping just allergies.
I setup my tarp real quick and we huddled under it to keep from getting super wet until we had a dry window. I had been stashing these M&M's so I broke those out to give us all a little boost.
David in his rain gear ready to finish the divide crossing
John also just about ready after we tore the tarp down.
Look closely--someone built a little snowman at the top of the snow pile.
Crossing over above tree line.
The clouds back at Winter Park did not look so good but we committed to moving over the divide either way.
Got hot so took off the rain gear...then of course it starts to rain again! :)
Almost there--Corona pass is in the middle of the pic at 11,648ft.
Heading over, and a small snowfield to cross first.
The view back North East did not look so good and we could hear some rumblings
Tired, wet and ready to get home!
A little alpine area to bypass a collapsed tunnel on the route.
You can see the railroad grade cutting across the bowl on the East side. Here we let air out of tires. I decided not too and do that later. After I did my front tire went flat twice--not sure why but after I pumped it back up with the Co2 with a little more pressure, it did not happen again (and has held air this week). Very strange.
Almost back to tree line. The mosquitoes were horrific here and of course I needed a pit stop. Poor David and John got eaten pretty good but again, they hung in there and were patient with me.
We finished the railroad grade nad back to Nederland. It was 8pm so we opted to race back, get the cars and come back to Ned for some Crosscut Pizzeria action to refuel before we all headed home.
Today was another solid day--75 miles and 5400ft of climbing. This made us all tired and eating some pizzas was just the way to end the trip. That gave us a total of 165 miles and 13,400ft for the two days. Mapping software told us it would be 17K feet of climbing--good thing it was not or we all would have been in a world of hurt I think!
This was a great trip with good friends and great shakedown for our next big August trip--actually only 1.5 weeks away...hope the legs and sit bones have some time to recover for many miles ahead. Thanks for the company John and David!
1 comment:
Great write up as always, impressive job of getting that many shots on two tough days.
Post a Comment