Total Mileage: 1718
What a crappy day!
We got a late start out of Montrose for no particular reason, and it was pretty hot out.
I made it about 6 miles out of town before I realized I was in WAY too much pain to continue. The day before, my back had been bothering me while riding, so I took off my Camelbak and strapped it to my bike, which seemed to help. Perhaps I had put too much strain on it yesterday, or perhaps sleeping in a bed was the problem. Either way, it hurt. (The pain was initially so sharp I actually checked to see if something had stung me!)
I hitched a ride to Cimmaron, our midway point, with a trucker named Brandon. There I took some pain medication and stretched out my back (and napped a little too).
I had passed my three companions as they grunted up the road, and a couple hours later Debbie and Karin rolled in. Wesley must not have seen me snoozing and pushed on. Karin was exhausted after sleeping poorly the night before, and the heat of the midday was getting to all of us. We biked two painful miles to a burger and pie place and rested a while.
At lunch, I got friendly with one of the locals.
The three of us planned to hitch a ride the rest of the way to Sapinero, but a ride together was unlikely with all of us and all our gear. I rode up another mile and got a ride from a nice lady in a truck. Karin and Debbie had continued riding up and finally into a pretty canyon.
I got dropped off by the sign that read "Sapinero" and found myself in the middle of nowhere. I rode a few more miles looking for signs of Wesley, but found nothing, so I doubled back to a likely spot to wait for the girls. I ran into a bike touring couple camped at Blue Mesa Reservoir, but they hadn't seen any of my companions.
Finally, Karin and Debbie showed up and we decided to continue down the road a stretch to check for Wesley at some campgrounds around the lake. Luckily, Debbie's phone got reception and we had a message from Wesley. We were happy to be reunited. The evening colors were pretty over the lake, and we relaxed and planned for an earlier start the next day.
*Only 15 of these miles count for me since I was thumbing, but I'm putting them in here to keep an accurate record of the trip.
3 comments:
Hey-
Maybe your back hurts because your boobs didn’t have the support they needed on that last ride in Telluride: )
Holy crap, did you know that when you clicked on your pictures they zoomed right in?
Ride On!
FOX
I was thinking that you went through the town of Stoner a while back, and you are still having back pain? Didn't the name clue you in? We have prescriptions for that here in Cali, and I'm sure no prescription was required in Stoner.
You may like old bearded men, but I'm pretty sure that guy has just been reading your blog. He never looks at the photos, though. He just reads it for the articles. And no that wasn't a pickle...
Almost to the continental divide, though. Monarch Pass over 11,000 feet. Good luck with that!. At least it's all down hill from there... till the Mississippi.
Enjoy the Great Plains. By the time you finish with that you will be wishing for a stray mountain pass to break up the monotony.
Oh, and no full-frontals in Appalachia! You'll have the hill-billies swarming all over you. No need to meet some cousins/brothers.
Happy adventure and you truly are an inspiration.
KC
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