Day 19
If it were any better, I'd have to be two of me to enjoy it!

DAILY DOINGS: I think a lot of our riders were a bit apprehensive about today's climb to the summit of Monarch Pass...11,312 feet.  It's awesome to think about it out of context, but we started out close to 8000 feet this morning and the total climb today was almost half of what it was yesterday.  Plus, we didn't have the headwinds pelting us as we started a steady climb to the foot of the mountain. 

I've been looking forward to riding today ever since I made out the staff ride schedule in San Francisco.  I really wanted to climb Monarch since I haven't ridden it since 2000.  I was concerned when I had my tooth pulled in Salt Lake that I wouldn't be able to ride by now, but aside from a bit of low grade jaw ache, I've been fine and didn't seem to have any side affects today.  I was last to leave the motel by about 30 minutes.  I was planning on pretty much riding sweep to the mountain and as I rode out of town, I was in sensory overload riding into the morning sunrise.  This area around here is absolutely beautiful and my favorite part of this ride. 

Our departure route took us on Highway 50 all the way to our motel in Salida.  As I pushed the pace to catch the rear of the bunch, my legs seemed to be rebelling and I was only doing about 18 MPH...then as I was surveying the surrounding terrain, I happened to look back and noticed I'd been climbing for quite some time...one of those "It looks flat in front of me, but the terrain is rising pretty steadily" kind of roads.  Anytime you are riding toward a mountain range, you can bet the road is going up...and it was.  After I figured out why the pedaling was so hard, I let up and enjoyed the departure while listening to the songbirds and the prairie dogs barking along side of the road.  It's hard for me to describe the scenes we saw today.  I wish I were better at descriptive writing, but the green mountainsides were a welcome sight compared to the brown, dry desert we've been seeing in Nevada and before we started to get into the Rockies.  I heard several times today, "I could live here."  Ranch houses were dotted along the landscape with horses grazing in the meadow that rose steadily all the way to the base of the mountains.  How would you like to wake up to that view (left) every morning?  All you have to do is see this area and you'll understand what inspired John Denver's songs about the Rockies and Colorado.

Everyone was moving pretty well until I came upon David who had broken a spoke.  Luckily, Karen was right there with the mechanic's van and I came riding up to help out.  I switched out his wheel with our spare and then got in the van and went up ahead, got out and fixed his wheel before he got to the SAG.  When he arrived, we swapped his wheel back and he was as good as new without missing a pedal stroke.  It's nice when a plan comes together.

The climb was uneventful and seemed to never end.  Riders that paced themselves said it wasn't as bad as they had imagined.  I felt the hardest part of the climb was the altitude...not the climb itself.  At this altitude, the air is much thinner and even small exertions seem to take your breath away.  I notice that when I'm just standing, I have to take a deep breath every once in a while just to keep oxygenated.  But pace aside, I pushed myself all the way to the top just to see if I could still climb an extended climb like this.  Climbs where I'm from are only about a mile in length so this was a real test.  I noticed I didn't climb at the same speed I did last time...well, I was only 52 then and in better shape probably, but I got all the way to the top and held a brisk pace all the way to the top...OK, I'm not finished quite yet...I can still ride a little.

At the top there were celebrations and photos to commemorate our accomplishment.  Everyone didn't zoom up the slope, but they all made it to the top and readied themselves for the reward of going down the backside.  The finish to Salida was pretty much downhill all the way.  In 2000, I topped 55 MPH on the descent, but today, I kept it down to 51...fast enough with coolish temperatures and swirling winds we had in the corners.  At one point about half way down, I saw a flash of lightning in the pass below so I stopped with several other riders and we took shelter in an RV park until the sky seemed to lighten in our path.  It was a bummer to have to screech to a halt, but better to do that than become a lightning rod.  There was a motor cyclist killed in Gunnison last evening by lightning...don't need to be another desirable target for the lightning gods...not today. 

After a short wait, we continued our descent into town and finished around 2:00.  We'd have been finished much quicker but several riders took lots of time at the summit to ride the tram to the "very top" and almost all stopped just inside town to eat lunch.  As we entered Salida, we converged with the Ride The Rockies Ride also staying in Salida tonight.  They will be on our route tomorrow on departure and then we should have some miles free from the 2000 rider road block they create...we don't need that, but we'll deal with what ever they throw at us.  I'm having everyone wear their ABB jerseys so we can pick them out of the crowd...should be fun.

Tomorrow we ride into Pueblo...and a rest day.  I think we're all ready for a rest after all the climbing we've done in the last few days.  We'll drop about 3000 feet over all tomorrow but we'll have a "bump" to get over just before Canon City.  If we survive the Ride The Rockies group we'll meet up with the Classic Cars bunch in Pueblo.  They have the big car show every year when we get in...they'll be cruising our motel parking lot into the wee hours of the morning...looking forward to that too...it's always something.  I think we can manage OK...check in and see.

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