"Faith will move mountains." Grand Junction, Colorado to Montrose, Colorado 117 miles. 7350 feet climbing. Warmest morning so far. Started off with a lifa top as the only extra layer. Feels good to ride without the layers, but I'm a little concerned about how hot it may get this afternoon. Rode out through the suburbs of Grand Junction following the Colorado River, then on the I-70 for 5 miles through a narrow pass still beside the Colorado. Then 10 miles up another narrow canyon made by a tributary. The scenery was spectacular from the bottom of the gorge, the grade was slight and the temperature was nice and cool. If there had been no headwind it would have been perfect. The grade certainly was a concern. Grand Junction is at 4,900 feet elevation, and by mile 52 we'll be at the top of the Grand Mesa, at 10,800 feet. The mesa is reportedly the largest flat-topped mountain in the world (I'm in the US after all; everything is the world's biggest this or that). And we're not really certain when the real climbing begins. We're only at 5,800 feet by the first sag stop at mile 33. There's 19 miles to the top and 5,000 feet to go. Everyone's spaced out by this time and the four of us (we're back to the original group of four) are near the back. We seem to take longer at the sags than most of the riders. Some of them barely stop long enough to fill their waterbottles and stuff food in their pockets and they're off again. Our group seems to have a more leisurely approach. We keep passing riders on the road, who then pass us at the sags. We started up from the first sag and now we could see the climb in front of us. It's a huge flat topped monolith, covered with pine and aspen. There's a ski resort (Powderhorn) on the side. The road starts out at about a 5 to 6% grade. But we've been climbing for 9 days now, and have faith we can do this one too. With 19 miles to the top we each worked out our own pace that would get us to the top. Pretty soon we were separated by a few hundred yards. I was off the back in my smallest gear until I could see how comfortable I was. It was hot (75 degrees F.) but by keeping it slow I eased into it and started upping the pace. Things improved even more when we got out of the dry scrub and into the pine and aspen. The trees provided occasional shade, the pines smelled great and the aspens were changing to a brilliant yellow. There was a sag half way up. Then a last push to the top. Even with stopping to take several pictures my strategy of starting out so easily worked well and I felt better and stronger as I approached the top, passing lots of other riders. Our group arrived at the top within 20 minutes, first to last. Then we were right into a 20 mile descent to lunch. There were magnificent views (and pictures) of high mountains to the east, and the agricultural Delta valley far below to the south. We dropped 4500 feet in 20 miles. Then the usual great lunch, after which we dropped another 1000 feet to the final sag. The road was scenic but rough for the last 30 miles to Montrose. The double shorts have been very effective, so my butt was very comfortable, but my feet didn't like it much. One of my best cycling days ever, but we were all glad to finally pull into the hotel, and even happier to see an outdoor hot tub. I soaked in it for about 45 minutes. Don Friedlander ------ To unsubscribe, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Club Office: [EMAIL PROTECTED], (613) 230-1064 Web/mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb Newsletter: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb/Newsletter ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiDo.a2i8p1 Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
