Day 19, Thursday, June 23, 2005
Gunnison, CO to Salida, CO
(3,930feet o0f climbing) 70 miles, 12.9 mph, 5hr 9min 38sec
Max speed 43.8 mph
Up at 5:30, 6:15 load luggage, 6:30 continental breakfast at hotel, 7:15 on the road.
Forecast again today was for nice cycling weather (NO headwinds). One half mile down the road today I stopped at a convenience store and bought some ice cream and cake, put it in a cooler of ice in the gold van so I could share it when we get to the Monarch Pass summit.
The route today started off with a gentle 32 ride with a 600 foot altitude gain. This is essentially a flat ride and then we started a 10 mile climb to Monarch Pass, 11,312 Feet elevation. We started the day at an elevation of 7,700 feet. This climb was mostly a 6-10% grade.
It was very difficult riding the same route with 2,300 other cyclists, many of which did not demonstrate cycling courtesy with appropriate verbal signals when passing, ie. "on your left". Too much congestion! It will be more comfortable from now on because we will be going East and they will be going North.
Cyclists at our SAG 1 today thought it would be cool to show 63 fingers to match my age, actually I think it was Mel's idea. It's hard for someone to imagine what it would be like to be in a group of 2,300 cyclists so I tried to show it through some photos.
People who have never been out West are probably surprised at my photos that show no guardrails on a mountain road that has a very steep drop off. (See pics)
It was a relief to finally get to the summit. It was like a party atmosphere up there with a diskjockey and support personnel. The diskjockey let our group use his microphone to sing "happy birthday" to me. Guess who did the talking and encouragement - Mel!. There were about 600 - 800 cyclists that joined in. It was awesome!
I passed out my ice cream and cake and my ABB group made this a special experience that I'll always remember. Oh, it was quite cold up there at 11,312 feet. The descent was quite steep, 10-12% at times and for 20 miles. Several times I reached about 44 mph.
I continued to capture some great photos of beautiful Colorado. This has been another great cycling day and a wonderful birthday. I very much enjoy the company of my fellow cyclists and ABB support staff. If I must be away from home, these are the kind of people I want to be with.
I stopped at a Walmart to get some batteries and arrive at our hotel about 3 PM. We had route rap at 5:30 and at 6:00 went to dinner at Pizza Hut, then back to my room to write my journal. Tomorrow is a 95 mile ride to Pueblo, then a rest day.
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