Kristin and Robbin's Rocky Adventure

The Elevation

2008-10-28T20:54:00.004-04:00

Day 7 We're Done!

2007-06-23T21:44:00.001-04:00

When we got back to Frisco, we crammed our bikes into Keri and Lisa's rental car and went to Main Street to have the best breakfast at one of the little cafe's in town.....What we didn't tell you is that we took the bus from Leadville to Frisco. We were done with the bike! Our legs and lungs were actually feeling great. It was *other body parts* that were unable to continue. Butt, no shame! :-) We had come up to the mountains and had an outstanding week!

So, we went back to the high school where the ride had started, took the bikes apart, and headed to Denver where our Marriott Courtyard (non-community shower and bed!) awaited. On I-70 we saw a sign for Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater. So, still playing the tourists card, we veered off the highway and down the road a little ways, came to the park. Widespread Panic was playing tonight, so the park was closed. (Bummer! I have a cd of the Dave Matthews Band playing there.) But we still managed to block traffic and snap a pic. They really did look red!

Then, we got back to the park entrance and we could turn left to the interstate, or right to a "Point of Geological Interest". We turned right! We found dinosaur fossils in the rock... how cool!

We headed on around the mountain and came to another place to stop. This time there were dinosaur foot prints. This sign says that this was a "dinosaur freeway" and they traveled back and forth with social groups. Too cool!!

"Hey, is this guy shooting us the bird?"

As we were driving into Denver, we realized there were no mounains around. We were actually sad, so I took a pic out the back window at the last glimps of our snowy mountain peaks.
We're flying out tomorrow at 4:10 MT, and Charlie's picking us up in Tampa at 9:30 EST.

What a great experience we have had this week. This was my third bike tour and Robbin's first and we both have learned somethings about packing, sleeping in 30 degree weather and Coloradians! See us for details!

Thank you all for reading our blog. We hope you have enjoyed it :-) K and R

Day 6

2007-06-23T20:55:00.001-04:00

Day 6 was full of anticipation for the 21-mile climb up Independence Pass... what we came here to do! We woke up in Aspen to find no bears had come into camp. (They told us not to keep food at our tents in Aspen because of the night visitors). There were traffic restrictions on the pass, and we had to be at aid station 1 by 8:30 in order to avoid being forced to sag to aid station 2. We made it right at 8:30! So that 8 miles to the 1st sag stop was our warm up. The next 13 miles was "Hell on two wheels" (thanks Robbin, he's chiming in as I type aloud. Ha ha) And it was! We chugged along the winding, steep climb, sometimes by ourselves. We saw several local cyclists flying down and we thought, "that looks like fun!" as we climb at 4-5 mph.

On the way up, we saw the remains of an 1830's "gold rush" settlement. They had preserved their dwellings and paths so people could take a walking tour. It was really neat to see this kind of history with our own eyes. There was also a sign that said "ghost interpreter on site". Ooohhhhh!

This was taken about 3 miles from the summit. You can see the road curving behind me that we had just climbed. The "Ghost Town" is in the valley but you can't really see that in this pic.

Ok, here we are at the top of the world! 12,095 feet above y'all in Florida! I remember there was a steep little jaunt right at the top. Son of a gun! Didn't need that after 22 miles of climbing this mountain! But, dang it, we did it!! It was SO cold at the top. I wish I had a thermometer, I know it was in the 30's. And I know this, because it snowed! Yes, I said SNOW! We were dusted with small bits of ice and saw a snow storm off in the distance in two different directions. It is June, right?? The summit was so peaceful. Completely different feeling than just 1 mile back. We scarffed down the last of the sag's cold carnitas on a cold tortilla, but we were cold, too, and didn't mind. With food in our bellies we left the chilly summit for our 17 mile decent to the 4th sag station. When we arrived, there was no food or water. Miffed, we were done for the day and climbed in the warm sag van as it started to rain a chilly rain. We were so proud of our accomplishment, we didn't really mind sagging in :-) We had spent 7 hours on the bike to go 39 miles and that was enough for us!

Day 5

2007-06-22T22:33:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all. I know we haven't written in a few days.. we were tired. I'm going to fill you all in on our last three days!
We had much better roads on Day 5 than we had in a while. We were heading to Aspen after a much needed rest in Glenwood Springs at Hotel Colorado. We had a lovely afternoon and evening ordering room service and shopping at the many stores along Grand Ave. We even found the energy to swim in the hot springs and play put-put! It was a wonderful break from Sherpa-Ville!!

Anyway, our ride to Aspen from Glenwood Springs was about 42 miles, mostly climbing. But it was a very nice climb. Miles of Colorado bike trails with rushing white water rivers on one side and a rock wall on the other. I filled my rear bike rack with several different kids of wild flowers. (This is becoming my tradition on bike tours!)

After that steep, long climb, Robbin and I looked at eachother and one of us nuts said, "Ya wanna do it again?" And of course, the other nut said, "YEAH!"

This is the picture at the top of that climb. Mary, if there was ever a time to sing "The hills are alive..." THIS WAS IT! And I actually did! There were rolling hills of grass blowing in the breeze and the snow-capped mountains that we missed so much the day before, in the far off distance.

After leaving our "little Austria", we pushed on to Aspen and I got an action shot of Robbin :-)

Then!! after a little break at the tent, a much needed shower (it was about 90 degrees) and some food, we trucked into town, via the charter buses they had for us all week! and picked up our tickets at will-call for The Emerson Quartet. This was the first day of the Aspen Music Festival and School and this was the first performance of the season. We enjoyed a glass of wine while waiting for the ushers to let people in. The area was filled with young musicians toting their instruments, moving from one rehearsal to another. We couldn't chose our seats when we got the tickets online last week, so we didn't know where we were sitting in the Benedict Tent. But when we saw that we were sitting in the first row, we were quite pleased!

Bobby, I mean Dr. Adams :-) I have a 100+ page program for you to peruse! The quartet's performance was spectacular. They performed Beethoven's String Quartet in F major, op. 135, Bartok's SQ No. 3, BB 93, Beethoven's SQ in B-flat major, op. 130 and his Grosse Fuge in B-flat major, op. 133.

2007-06-20T23:49:00.001-04:00

Wow I can't believe that it is already Wednesday.... finally a warm start to the day and it got (someone said) up to 100 degrees. We started off around 8:00 this morning and FLEW through these mountains... Kristin was crazy fast today, we climbed for the first 12 long miles without a break seemed liked the climb would never end. The top of the first mountain was our first rest stop and was the only one we used all day. We were ready to get to the finish today where we had a hotel with a real shower and a nice bed waiting for us!!!! We stayed a the historic Hotel Colorado with a natural spring fed pool waiting for us to enjoy. There is a wild fire in the mountains that almost cost us the ride today but the winds and fire fighters did a great job getting it under control so the ride went on.

Tomorrow we go to Aspen... another semi short day - 43 miles, but the climbs start to get bigger and longer (I love big climbs). We hope to get in early because we are going to see the Emerson String Quarter in the evening, should be great!

Colorado is a great place to cycle the air is fresh and clean and the climbs are great with a lot of flat land as well. Looking forward to the rest of the week, from here it starts to get a lot tougher the climbs start to get huge and we are going to see some really COLD weather (We hate cold).

Day 3

2007-06-20T00:05:00.000-04:00

Day 3: We decided to sleep in a little this morning, even though they told us to start early because of afternoon traffic. It was cold and windy again, so we started off with our jackets and long fingered gloves. But, we slowly peeled the layers off by the afternoon. I think the temp. got up to 97 degrees! We were a little red when we got to camp in Rifle. Let me tell you about Rifle, Co. Nothing here except for a Saloon. We peered in and saw the locals and decided it wasn't for us! Eclectic group... Here's a pic of K trying to climb the rocks with cleats... and one of R on the open road. The countryside was more pleasing this morning than it was yesterday and this afternoon. The traffic in the afternoon was horrendous and the heat was unbearable! It was a hot and dangerous situation.. (again, don't worry, mom!)
Tomorrow is 39 miles, with some climbs, but not too bad. And we get to sleep in a BED at our hotel. I'm sure it will be cold in the am and still windy. It will be a short ride tomorrow to Glenwood Springs, but there's lots to do (unlike the past two nights). There's hot springs, caverns, and dining. Plus our hotel!! Wish us luck tomorrow and send us some energy!!! (However, we are feeling great and riding strong! Not too bad for Floridians!) G'night.

Day 1 and 2

2007-06-18T18:19:00.001-04:00

OK, so I deleted my first blog about Day 1 and 2...ooopps. Hope you read it already!! Here are some pics I finally got up here. This pic shows the landscape of the first day's ride... we spent the whole 99.27 miles on one highway that had lots of Sunday traffic... cars, semi's, and campers. They were the worst! (Don't worry mom!) In addition to the long miles (11 hours out, 8 on the bike) we had Rabbit Ear's Pass stating at mile 70 which was a 5 mile, 7% grade. What a challenge. We thought about SAGing in, but didn't. We passed several people walking up the mnt. Today was an easy day compared to yesterday. 44 miles, not a lot of climbs, and a lot of decents. We got into camp in Craig, CO early and was able to schedule a 30 min. massage. We're "gearing" up for tomorrow's ride to Rifle which will be 89 miles with 4400 feet of climbing. We're already at 5000+ tonight!! The camping part is going well... very chilly at night. Stay tuned. I'll try to write more tomorrow. Ciao!

Last Day in Frisco

2007-06-16T18:28:00.000-04:00

This morning we got up fairly early and headed to Main Street for a bagel at a cute bakery we saw yesterday. The we headed to the wonderful, paved bike trail to Breskenridge. Last night, when we had dinner there, we saw the funniest t-shirts in a window of a store that was closed. We decided today, we had to go there and get them. The trail was almost all at a steady, 2-3% grade. Just enough incline to make you work a little. Smooth sailing on the way back!

On the way, we snapped these pics. The one of Robbin really shows the unbelievable beauty of this part of the country.

Cozy Stone Seating

2007-06-15T23:58:00.000-04:00

Tonight, we headed over to Breckenridge. It's about 9 miles down the road from Frisco. We ate at a great little joint called The MotherLoaded Tavern. They were playing the best blues music. We had a beer, even though it's only been 24 hours since we've been here.... but we're feeling great! We must be acclimated! After dinner, we walked to the Blue River Pavillion where they were having a Town Party. There was a "mountain music" band on stage and lots of people walking around. We found a cozy spot at a small stone ampitheater right in front of the Blue River and sat for a while, watching the sun set over the mountains. What a beautiful evening. We're going to check in at the ride start tomorrow. We'll get our ride packets with our RTR jerseys, water bottles and route maps. Getting pumped for our tour!!! We'll try to write every evening, but who knows if we'll get service at all the camp sites. Stay tuned!!

Saddle Time

2007-06-15T20:15:00.000-04:00

YEE HAW!! We harnessed up "Sassy" and "Diesel" today at Rusty Spurr Ranch. Robbin had "Diesel" and let's just say, he was out of fuel!... he would stay at the back of the line and not listen to Robbin when he kicked 'em to go!!!

I had "Sassy". What a good match! She was fairly calm and listened when I pulled back and said, "Don't run, honey!" What a great extra activity we were able to get in today! THE TOUR HASN'T EVEN STARTED YET!!!!!

2007-06-14T23:35:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow we are going to scout around town. There seems to be some good shopping.... mountain furniture, specialty shops and lots of dining. We'll ride a little bit in the morning after we go to a local bike shop and get my iBike put on (that's a contraption I bought that shows the grade we're climbing, temperature, humidity, wind speed, and of course time and distance).

We are also going to try "a horse of a different color". We're trading in our bike saddles for horse saddles! We found the Rusty Spurr Ranch about 30 miles out of town. It will be a 2 hour guided trail ride. We are VERY excited. www.rustyspurr.com

Time to chat about the altitude... at a little town we passed through on the way to Frisco, we found a flier titled "Effects of High Altitude on Visitors". So I'm reading it in the visitor's center and I'm starting to realize we're having some symptoms... here are a few. Nausea, restlessness, shortness of breath, headache, nasal congestion, easy fatigue, and... uh hem, gas.
TMI?

2007-06-14T23:08:00.000-04:00

After we got checked into the room, we put our bikes together, hoping there wasn't any damage done by the airline. They were fine... so we took out to a local bike trail. OMG! How beautiful! We took the trail through wonderful rollers and ended up getting to Summit High School where our ride starts on Sunday.

If you look closely at the banner behind me, it says Ride the Rockies, June 17-23!!

2007-06-14T22:42:00.000-04:00

OK, we are settled into our room at the Frisco, CO Holiday Inn. I'm ready to BLOG about the wonderful day we had. Of course, Robbin had to have his wake-me-up Java at the TIA Starbucks! And I couldn't wait to get my laptop out to check our blog page. What an uneventful flight! Just a little turbulance here and there, but 3.5 hours of smooth flying! We had decided to get a rental van so we could drive ourselves from Denver to Frisco. We took our time, enjoying the drive through the mountains and valleys, stopped for lunch at Bennigan's, then found a wonderful trail head just off the highway and tried to catch our breath in this thin air nwhile we walked up a short trail to the rushing stream. (Check out our picture at the top right!) I've got a few more pics I'll put up in a minute.......

Night at the 'rents

2007-06-14T11:54:00.001-04:00

We're in B'ton spending the night with my folks. We had an oh so nutricious meal at Sonny's bbq. Yummy !
The plane leaves at 8 from Tampa. We'll be up bright and early!

2007-06-13T13:39:00.000-04:00

Packing these bikes is hard work!!

1st challenge

2007-06-12T19:57:00.000-04:00

Packing is a challenge... lots of weather changes, so Kristin has to have matching fleece outfits. Believe it or not, she is a princess!