Pease Bike Adventures: Monday, May 9, 2016

Jordan was able to get a solid nights rest after a few ice bath and hot tub rotations. I was up at 6:30 AM and not having a good outlook as the rain was falling hard and it was 43 degrees. Since I knew we would not be leaving in that weather, I started to organize the gear while he slept. In addition, the hotel had a laundry room for guests so I was able to wash our clothes.

He woke at 8:30 and we discussed the plan for day. His knee, while still a little sore, but was better. He was going to ride a few times around the parking lot to evaluate his continuing the ride. Subject to the continuing, we planned the day while eating breakfast. We would leave Durango and head to Four Corners monument. According to Google, this was just over 90 miles, with a few minor mountain climbs. (NOTE: Only minor to him as they would still kill me!)

As Highway 160 west out of Durango was a busy four lane road with debris filled shoulders, Jordan took the offer of a safe ride about five miles out of town to Highway 141. At 11:30 AM, he started the ride at at Wildcat Canyon. The ride started with an uphill and into the wind, of course.

The road was safe and he was able to ride 12 miles before we turned onto Highway 140. The highway was heavily traveled and many trucks were challenging with little or no shoulder. Trucks typically get dangerous without the wind. The a wind, the swirl caused by the truck going 65 MPH 3-5 feet from you is enough to toss you off the bike. We opted to load the bike up and have him ride that 4-mile stretch.

I must preface we are following Google mapped bike route. Yes due to the limited planning time, we trusted google. We would soon find out that is a HUGE mistake!

Jordan proceeded to ride 8 miles where the road became clay. Not gravel, but clay. It had rained and it was wet. We decided it was best to load the bike and drove the rode, unsure of where the pavement started again. Google had this as the "Recommended Route".

Clay road?

We proceeded about 3.5 miles and the further we went, the worse the road conditions became. The car was getting coated with clay and the tires were becoming slick and useless. I was worried as we are in the middle of nowhere, no phone service and now we have a big delay for the day. Not even a fat tire bike would have made this trip. As you can see below, the decision to turn around was made for us and glad we did. THANK YOU GOOGLE, your Bike directions are not trustworthy!!!

After 3.5 miles, we came across this sign and the road was so bad, it was best to turn around.

When we finally escaped the clay road nightmare, we assessed the damage. There was no way we could continue without finding a car wash. So it was back to Durango. We arrived in Durango and took about 30 minutes to get the clay off the car and bike. It was a real mess. I was so fortunate this ended the way it did as opposed to being out in the middle of nowhere, stuck in clay.

After we were able to get the car clean, Jordan just wanted to take the Million Dollar Highway for the day. As stated yesterday, the Million Dollar Highway is a series of mountain passes with a base elevation 5,600 feet in Montrose and 6,500 feet in Durango. It is surrounded by the Sultan Mountain, Kendall Mountain, and Storm Peak.

There are three peaks: Coal Bank Pass at 10,640 feet, Molas Pass at 10,970 Feet and Red Mountain Pass at 11,018 Feet. There is a about a 2,000 foot drop between each pass. Do the math, it is scary, especially after riding over 200 miles and covering several major passes in the past few days, this would be a challenge. It was also the same road where they had a minor blizzard the day before!

So after the day, we basically made up what we missed yesterday due to the weather. Even though this was only a 67-mile day, it was filled with four ascents that were far from easy. Well except coming down, that was rather scary. The video below is a little long, but you can see what the ride down entails. It is beautiful scenery but if you take the eye off the road and his a rock, you are in DEEP TROUBLE. He hit speeds over 40 MPH on this decent.

Here is the video leaving Ouray.

When we finished, we were unsure if we should camp or see what bargain hotels rates we could find. We found a 4 star hotel in Telluride (the name just rang with me). It was $87, which seemed like a steal. It was, when we got there they told us it was a mistake (the place is usually twice that off-season) but Jordan showed her the phone and they honored the rate. This is a very luxurious place, just see the website.

Segment 1: Out of Durango 11:30 AM (926 feet of climb)