Dolores, CO > Telluride, CO
Miles Ridden – 64.3
Mileage to date – 1,299.2
Oops, sorry for the typo in the title…. should read “Telluride”. Speaking of the four letter words, one four letter word that we discussed at length when planning the trip was… rain. When you plan to spend 6 to 8 weeks riding your bicycle nearly everyday, you are bound to get rained on at some point. For John, that some point came today. Luckily, John is well prepared for rain. His bike has fenders which helps reduce the spray off the wheels. He has a really nice Gore Tex rain jacket and pants. Despite all of that, when it rains and you are on a bicycle you get wet. Period. Throw in some mountains into the mix and you get wet and cold.
John’s account –
“It was beautiful when we started and had a great lunch. We pulled into lunch in Rico and it started raining hard. After about an hour lunch it started to lighten up a bit. I put on my rain gear and we started up the pass. After a few miles or so it started raining hard and hailing. Jamie and Heather got in the car (Ethan’s) and I kept riding as my stuff is gore tex etc. after about 4 miles it let up and mostly stopped. I got to the pass and waited for them and it started raining again. I descended and road into town because it was cold.”
I have never been to Telluride, but it has a reputation for being one of the most beautiful ski mountains in the US. It is in southwestern Colorado. John ascended nearly 4,300 feet today the bulk of the climbing was on Lizard Head Pass. How cool a name is that? John describes it as a “long, but gentle climb all the way from Dolores”. It tops out at 10,222 elevation above sea level.
Here is a photo of the pass –
Photos from today –
Cool spot for lunch –
Delicious watermelon juice-
