Pease Bike Adventures

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)

Segment 2: Out of Durango again! 3:32 PM (7,058 Feet of Climb)

OVERALL SUMMARY (Day/Overall)

Miles - 67.01 / 294.64
Elevation - 7,984 feet / 19,034 feet
Riding Time (H:M:S) - 5:23:59 / 21:25:54

Here are some photo's I was able to take today. These are right from the camera, no editing.

As we had driven from Montrose to Telluride last night, it was after 11:00 PM before I went to bed. I really wanted to get the blog post up before it was to late and I am so far behind. Jordan was tired and fell asleep easily.

I woke at 5:30 AM and felt like I had a solid nights sleep. We were in a very posh hotel (Hotel Telluride) that Jordan found for under $90. Now this is a place that tops $400 a night in a peak season, $200 off-season! This is the second time he took me to a very nice hotel to the likes I could not afford. That is nice!

To allow him to get the needed rest, I went to the car (underground parking garage) and unpacked everything to clean and organize for the day. I consolidated items to make the trip easier. I also washed his bike, made minor adjustments and lubricated all the essential parts.

At 7:00 AM, I went to the lobby and read the 110 pages of a deposition I needed to review. Jordan woke at 8:15 AM and we prepared items ready for the day. We both showered and were out of the room by 9:30 AM. We had a little welcomed delay as Jordan realized there was a guitar to play in the lobby. He proceeded to play for a little while. He is really good!

Jordan heard of a cool little breakfast place call “Baked inTelluride”. To me, it sounded like some Colorado Pot joint, but it was a glorified donut, bagel and pizza shop. He had a breakfast burrito and a donut to go. I settled for a peanut butter sandwich from the food bag in the car.

It was about 11:00 AM when he was on the bike path out of Telluride. The path was about 4 miles then he had a very long mountain road climb! All I could think was “why not” as that is all he has experienced since we left. He had major climbs, heavy head wind or both. So one more ascent today is not unexpected.

Leaving Telluride, Colorado (Cold morning)

As we had Cell service, I was able to make a work Conference call at 11:00 AM central time, but lost service before it ended. I was in a good location, although after 20 minutes I needed to look for Jordan as it started to snow/sleet. That made for a cold morning and as he climbed, it just kept getting colder. About 10 miles into the ride, he Lizard Head Pass, elevation 10,222 feet. It was sleeting to the point was almost like a snow accumulation. Good time to start at the decent!

Lizardhead Pass

One the decent, it was almost better if the sleet continued. While it made the road slightly slippery, the thunderstorm that followed was worse as the painted lines became slick and visibility diminished. I wanted him to stop as it was not safe and my stress level was off the charts. The other issue is no cell service. So I stayed close in case there was an issue. Of course, this irritated him as every mile there I was and he could not zone out and enjoy the ride.

It was 2:00 PM Mountain time when he stopped outside Delores, Colorado. He needed to dry off and take a work related conference call. He had just covered about 60 miles in just less than 4 hours. That included the climb so you know he was doing 30 MPH or more on the sleet and thunderstorm decent.

Since his conference call was postponed, he was back on the bike by 3:00 PM. It was a goal to make the Four Corners National Monument before they closed at 6:45 PM. So the goal was no later than 6:30 PM (or 3.5 hours). That meant 58 miles he must average 16.5 MPH. Should be easy except for the head wind and unstable weather. In addition, the next 60 miles was mostly flat or slight incline and a narrow road.

Jordan made decent time for the next 12 miles, to Cortez, Colorado. We stopped at the local store for restroom use and to get beverages needed to make the Monument. That took another 15 minutes, but due to safety issues, we drove him the 4 miles through Cortez, which meant 42 miles in 2 hours and 30 minutes. That should still be possible. Although he, as well as I, had not been eating or drinking properly. Improper hydration, nutrition and stress erode the emotional and physical well-being. Enough said on that topic.

Weather was looking good and he was averaging almost 18 MPH

With high hopes he could make the Four Corner monument in time, they were soon crushed when a major storm was upon us just outside of Cortex, Colorado. The thunder and lightening accompanied with winds 20-30 MPH required us to look for a safe location to wait it out. That resulted in a 30-minute delay. So now he needed to ride the remaining 38 miles in 1 hours and 50 minutes. This was a concern.

Once Jordan was back on the road to the sunshine, we still thought there was hope. After about three miles (I was six miles up the road) he had a flat tire. The least this was one of the times we had phone service! I arrived and changed the tire as quickly as I could. However, when it was completed, I realized I did not inspect the tire. Looking at the tire I found a small piece of glass, which I prayed was the culprit.

After losing another 10 minutes for the flat tire, the little margin of error appeared gone. He now had 1 hour and 35 minutes to cover 35 miles with a head wind. He needed to average over 20 MPH. He was riding hard; so hard as a father I was greatly concern. He just had an intense focus!

Then to make matters worse, we had another unexpected lightening and thunder storm. While I suggested he stop and we drive to the Four Corners, he refused (and we argued a little while he was riding). This only escalated tension of an over-concerned father and a confident young man (let's see how he looks at this when he is 50).

It was looking like it was possible when the weather gods just punished him again! It kind of reminded me the ending scene of The Truman Show. He just was not going to quit! The lightening and thunder were intense. The winds drove rain at crazy levels.

I was really stressed that he wouldn’t stop! After being punished for 10 minutes, the weather cleared. And guess what, he made the monument at 6:35. His average speed over the last 35 miles was near 25 MPH.

While at the monument, we met a mother and daughter from Florida. The Daughter worked as a Park Ranger and was in Florida in the winter and I think Yosemite in the summer. They took our picture and the mom asked about my Nikon D810. This lead to a good conversation about many things before we left.

I was thinking (an hoping) he would stop for the night, but he insisted he keep going. This is common, I am ready early in the morning and have to wait and he wants to go late, when I am wrong out. So he started to ride, and then ride some more. After more than 125 miles for the day, he stopped.

The stress was getting to us and after a significant argument, we decided to make a change in plans, at first, he wanted to go home and send me home ASAP. Then he decided Northern Arizona is not a sightseeing paradise as there are no towns and it is desolate. We wanted to make the next 200 plus miles of the goal more enjoyable.

So since I have not seen some state forests in the Southwest United States, we decided to stop the destination ride and tour areas worth touring. So we opted not to end at Flagstaff. He needed about 660 miles to make the flagstaff goal, and already has about 430, So the revised goal is to finish his vacation with a total of 650 miles or more and get back one day early. That means an average over 90 miles a day. Recall the first five days he has been pounded buy the weather gods!

So we proceeded to go to drive to Page, AZ where, to our surprise, most of the hotels were full. There were some $160 a night places, but I did not see the benefit in $160 for 7 hours of time in a bed. So at 11:00 PM Mountain time, we were tucker away in the corner of the Wal-Mart parking lot, all ready for some sleep.

Segment 1: 11:00 AM Start (3,160 feet of climb)