Because of our schedules, we are able to get away for a couple of days at a time right now. We took advantage of this past weekend to do a two-day bike tour. This tour started in Kremmling, CO.
Kremmling is a small town (1.3 square miles) west of Boulder that sits at an elevation of 7,347 or 7,313 depending on the source used. The town had about 1,578 inhabitants at the 2000 census. It doesn't appear it's likely grown much since. It was founded in 1881 during the Colorado Silver Boom days, and according to Wiki, the lack of mineral resources in the nearby mountains made the town grow very slowly. 
While small, it was full of character. We couldn't go 20 feet without finding a fun sign or something picture-worthy. A cow in a cup? No problem. Spelling out 'teeth' in a garden? Of course. It looks like a cool place.
We ate at the Mexican restaurant in town which touts itself as the "best Mexican food in Grand County." We think it may be the *only* Mexican food in Grand County! The serving were generous!
After dinner we headed back to our hotel to watch some bad tv. The picking were slim - the only real channel was the Animal Planet that was on a tear of ANIMALS THAT KILL AND EAT YOU!!!! 
The next morning we got up and got the bikes ready for the first leg of our road ride. We were headed to Steamboat Springs via Gore Pass. Somehow we thought this leg as about 57 miles. After we started, we noted that was wrong and the ride was in fact 73 miles long. No worries, the pass was early so off we went.
The ride went nicely. There was no shoulder (and I don't mean a small shoulder, I mean NO shoulder) for a large portion of the ride. That sucked. We got to the top of Gore Pass and took a few photos. We sort of anticipated a drop after this, but what we got were a series of rollers and another climb to a second high point. After that, it was rollers virtually to Steamboat.
We passed three little towns en route. The first didn't really seem like a town at all. The second two were cool places with fun things to see (e.g., dinosaur). The dinosaur made it impossible to pass. Who could pass up an opportunity to get on this thing and not be incarcerated for it? :)
When all was said and done, we were in Steamboat. Our total elevation gain with the pass and all the rollers ended up being 5,799 feet. According to one source the max grade somewhere during the ride was 30% though neither of us were sure exactly where that was. It seemed high.
We checked into the coolest hotel: The Rabbit Ears! The sign was classic. It is named this since the other pass out of town is the Rabbit Ears Pass. We showered then walked up and down the main street of Steamboat Springs. We found an Italian restaurant and ordered dinner. 
And we over-ordered. The servings were enormous. Look at Dave's pizza! He conquered half of it (which he now agrees was far more than he should have) and we gave the rest away. I had a pasta dish that was far too much as well. Still, it was fun.
In the morning, we headed out. It was pass-grades virtually immediately. Happily, there was a decent should for this section (which ended promptly at the border of Grand County). This ride was not as pleasant as the first leg. Yes, we had a shoulder for part of the ride. But then, there was no shoulder. In fact, in many places, the white line had crumbled into the dirt. 
And there was wind. Heinous heinous wind. Blow us off the bikes, blow us into traffic, soul-sucking wind. We would be headed down some steep grades into these terrible head winds peddling going about 6 or 8 mph. Unreal.BTW, I checked on weather.com and found that the winds were 29 mph winds. NOT gusts, but those were the winds. It felt every bit of that. Bleck.
It made the last part of this ride very unpleasant. We were mostly happy not to have been killed by a vehicle. In total, this was only 53 miles with a total elevation gain of 5,717 feet. We did stop to see the name-sake of Rabbit Ears pass. Two little rocks (see photo). I was actually surprised this inspired the pass name - the formations were tiny.
We were happy to get back to the car. We were wind-whipped and tired of fighting the wind. We piled into the car and got home. Always nice to be home. :)
1 comment:
you guys are great at getting out and finding fun things to do!
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