Red: [narrating] I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every man in Shawshank felt free. – The Shawshank Redemption

Ride to Sargents, CO.

The ride to Sargents was comprised of 71 miles with 5500 feet of climbing on approximately 31%paved roads. This was one of those optional days though. The actual ride to Sargents was only 40 miles but you could ride an extra 31 miles and then be shuttled back to Sargents the same day. The next day the shuttle would take you back to your point 31 miles out. There is nothing there but this was to make the following day’s ride to Del Norte less than 100 miles. I took the “ride extra” option.

We started from Salida on a very cool morning but it warmed up fast as we got into an 18 mile climb up Marshall’s Pass. The actual climb was long but not difficult since the grade was low for an off-road mountain climb. Lots of beautiful vistas but I didn’t take any photos. I got up the pass quickly and was one of the first riders up and then we start a long descent that takes us into Sargents.

The descent was cool because it wasn’t too technical and had some moguls thrown in to make it interesting. I will take the moguls over gravel and ruts any day. The reason that I didn’t take any photos was the threatening clouds. Very early into the descent, it started lightening, rain and small hail. I stopped to put on raingear. My descent was a compromise between going too fast and getting extremely cold and too slow and just taking too long. As usual, many riders passed me going down.

Lunch was in Sargents and we also could make the decision to go or stay. We needed to wait for all riders to get in so I put up my tent. There were too many riders selecting to go on for the shuttle, so I and several other riders decided to ride there while the bulk were being shuttled to the drop off point and riding back. Ultimately, they made the better decision for 3 reasons, 1) It was 50% less climbing and most of there’s was on the highway while ours was on gravel, 2) We waited over an hour for the slower riders to get to the drop off point and 3) even though I saw the first return rider when I was 7 miles from the finish, they all beat us to camp. Also, I got rained on going out. Sitting in the van for so long was not fun either.

It rained most of the night and was miserable. We did have indoor ding accommodations and watched the movie, Ride the Divide, which is about the race covering our same route. We saw many of the same sights and small-town establishments.  The night was cold and rainy but my tent was dry and warm. Leaving it was the problem. All in all, a good ride for me.

Ride to Del Norte, CO

The shortened ride to Del Norte was about 80 miles with 4400 feet of climbing and 11% paved roads. However, there were so many alternates available and I took 1 to avoid some nasty single-track near the end. The day started out very cold as we were shuttled out to the drop-off point. The sun was peaking out through the mist and it seemed like the day would be nicer than the prior

Overall, we had two big climbs and two major descents with some rolling rides in between. Nothing is flat for long here. The first climb was not too tough and I met Aryan at the top for a coffee as well as several other riders. Her always breaks out the coffee at around the 40K mark. The second climb was much tougher than the first. They both had a somewhat flat top that went on for a spell before the descent. I think we were over 10,000 feet on both. The second climb was steeper and I had a mechanical problem in that my chain got stuck between the wheel and the cassette. Patrick helped me rectify it but I couldn’t really use the granny gear any more and we had a lot to go on the climb. It was a slog.

Th rest if the ride was uneventful but the scenery was nice and canyons. It was windy and I broke with my time-honored tradition and di ride the last few miles with a group.

Today is an off day. I had breakfast in the small town with a few riders. The wind is threatening to blow away my tent and it is very cool though sunny. Tomorrow we hit Indiana Pass, the highest point on this trek. I need the day of rest and Chris, our mechanic is going to put a new chain and cassette on my bike as well as a general tune-up. From my count, we have 11 more days of cycling and about 800 miles left to ride.

Thanks for reading!

Tailwinds

Chuck Hardesty – Riding for The Backstoppers.org