What does this have to do with the bike tour? Ah, nothing. Still, it was a lot of fun and a cool way to start a day! We didn't take the camera along on the climb, but I have a few photos of a previous time on it. It's a super classic and fun 5-pitch climb, though we do it in two long pitches with a bit of simul-climbing.
After the descent scramble (which takes longer than the actual climbing) we headed back to the house to pack for the bike tour.
Our plans are for a four-day, counter-clockwise bike tour through the San Juan Mountains in South Central Colorado. We will drive to Gunnison and spend the night. The map posted here shows the route. Gunnison is top center. From Gunnison, we take only one change of clothes and a credit card for the next four days.
We plan to go from Gunnison through Powderhorn to Lake City on day one (head west out of Gunnison then south). This is approximately 55 miles with no mountains passes. Though there are no mountain passes, this segment has a lot of uphill. We have to go over Ninemile Hill (nine miles of climbing) as well as another decent elevation gain. We didn't realize this before we went! In total we will gain 4,108 feet in elevation and lose 2,835' in elevation. Yikes. (Found this information in a road biking Colorado book).
Day two involves a road ride from Lake City to Creede, CO. This we anticipate to be the hardest day in terms of elevation gain as we have two mountain passes to navigate. On this day, we cross the continental divide (blue dashed line in the map). This ride should last about 51 miles. In total, our gain will be 4,624 feet and our loss will be 5,606' in elevation.
Day three we head to Saguache. We will go through South Fork and Del Norte this day. This ride is the longest mile wise (about 78 miles) though it is relatively flat. Well, flat except for Wagon Wheel Gap. :)
And the fourth day takes up from Saguache back to Gunnison where the car is. We expect this to be the second toughest day as we have a mountain pass (crossing the continental divide again) and 73 miles to travel.
Packing is easy for this trip since so little is needed. We load the car and head to Gunnison. The weather for the trip isn't looking as good as it had been. We've prepared ourselves mentally for some road riding in the rain. Regardless, it should be a lot of fun.
We hop in the car and drove to Gunnison. To get to Gunnison, we drive through South Park - the city that inspired the famous television show (and later movie). Our destination in Gunnison is the glamorous Roadway Inn. It was a nice hotel room and it had cable tv. We don't have do television at the house (can't get signal because of the mountains and won't pay ridiculous cable charges) so it was a treat getting caught up with quality programming such as "Wife Swap" "The First 48 Hours" and other shows of mayhem and deceit.
We set the alarm clock for 6:30 so we could get up, eat, and head out to Lake City in the morning.
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