Day 45,46,47

Rocky Mountain High

Miles Biked: 37
85
66

"And the Colorado rocky mountain high Ive seen it raining fire in the sky
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply
Rocky mountain high (high Colorado) rocky mountain high (high Colorado)"
-John Denver

Hello from Buena Vista, Colorado (which my non Spanish speaking friend Lisa says means "Nice View")! I've been in the Rockies for four days, crossed the continental divide twice, now know what it means to climb a mountain........and I'm still alive and kicking. Not only that, but I'm psyched to bike everyday in the most beautiful state in the country.

Pat and I almost peed our pants from joy on day 45 when we found out the shuttle would be dropping us off just outside Idaho Springs. So we missed nothing from our intended route! As soon as we were dropped off we headed straight for the continental divide and Berthoud Pass. We started the day right where Pat and I ended at a little over 8,000 feet. The climb took us into switch backs for 12 miles straight up. I used to think the hill by my house in Morris was a tough one. After climbing Berthoud pass to around 11,300 feet.....I chuckled to myself. The climb actually wasn't that bad. I'm not going to say it was easy......I'm not even going to say I wasn't chugging for air as sweat poured off my body.....but it was do-able. When I saw the van parked at the top I actually asked myself why it was stopped. I figured since my body wasn't ready to keel over in the fetal position.....this couldn't be the top of the pass. It was, and whatever goes up, must come down!

As I winded down the mountain at speeds of over 40MPH I decided I needed to stop and throw my sunglasses on or my eyeballs were going to fall out from the wind. The trip took us into ski country, past Winter Park ski area and to a YMCA Ranch just outside of Granby for the night.

As I woke up in the morning and headed out I realized there are entire forests full of dead pines (and when I saw forests, it includes entire mountain sides). Reuben, who is from Colorado, explained that they are having one hell of a problem with a bark beetle which is laying larva in the tress and causing a major forest fire problem. Day 46 took us on an 80 mile trip to Frisco. I am in love with the Rockies because there is no rolling. There is up, down, and an occasional flat. Our first 40 miles took us from 8,750ft down along the Colorado River to 7,100. Then we headed up in the afternoon. Amazingly the climbing was so spread out it didn't really feel like we climbed to over 9,000 in Frisco.

Before we reached Frisco we stopped in Dillon....an outlet town right off the highway. We decided to go to the Pearl Izumi bike store. Just outside the store Beth stared at my face and then said
"Ben you need to get some chap stick"
Beth had looked at my lips.....and instead of seeing dry chapped lips she saw black. Beth thought that my lips were so sunburned, they had turned black.
Seconds later Emma told me me I had Oreo cookie stuck on my face......we both just looked at Beth......realized she thought I had third degree burns on my lips.......and laughed. Hopefully if my lips turn to black from the sun Beth will call an ambulance, not suggest chap stick.

Frisco was an awesome mountain ski resort town. There are several major ski areas in driving distance. The group I was riding with got in early and we headed over to Po-Boy's....a local pub. A group of us spent the afternoon drinking Po-boy punch (a blue concoction that nobody had any idea what it contained). The pub loured us in with a rumor that your first drink cost the temperature at 4:20 (40 degrees.....40 cents; 30 degrees.....30 cents). Apparently they only do that in the winter, which we didn't understand from a business point of view. When we went back to the community center we were staying in I found out Claire had befriended two kids who were hiking the Colorado Trail. The kids spent the night HBC styling it with us on the hard floor and waking up at the ass crack of dawn.

Today we headed East toward Freemont Pass. The climb took us right by Copper Mountain Resort which I was really excited about because my Mom and I skied it back when I was in high school looking at colleges. Freemont Pass was a 12 mile climb up to 11,318! My average was about 6MPH. (Tour de France Cyclists go 18MPH up hills). The rest of the day was awesome....since we dropped down to just under 8,000 feet in the town of Buena Vista. We stopped for lunch in the highest incorporated town in America, Leadville (10,200ft).

When I arrived in Leadville I headed out to see if I could get my original jersey fixed. The zipper fell off back in Kentucky, I bought a new Zipper, and haven't found a place to fix it.......until today. I walked down a block or two to a place called "Ben's Sewing". I almost jumped in the air from shock and joy......walked inside and asked if they could fix my jersey. A very large woman behind the counter responded "oh we don't do sewing here". Apparently they only sell sewing stuff. I had no response from disbelief.....walked next store to the laundry mat where I was greeted by my new friend Sharon. Sharon was happy to go home and sew my jersey for $9. I asked her when I can get it.
"Well.......why don't you head down to the softball field after 7:00"
"The softball field"
"Yeah, I umpire softball games at night"
"And.....I just wave you down in between innings?"
"Yeah.....I'll keep it in my bag."

Currently it's 7:55......Sharon's games got rained out from some thunderstorms, and she says she'll call me when I can come over since she put it off all day. What a weird business transaction.

Tomorrow we head West for good. Supposedly it's a 86 mile day with a trip back over the continental divide. I think once I get my jersey I'll pack it in for a good night's rest.

Some interesting facts:
-I've decided to grow a mountain Beard. It looks pretty good so far. Pat Muha is growing one as well. I'm gonna chop mine off once we are out of the Rockies.......Muha.......who knows.
-The temperature in the mornings is in the 40's. I look pretty sexy in tights.
-I almost hit a deer on a bike. It was trapped from a cliff on my right, there were cars to my left, and the deer was flipping out........I'm lucky I wasn't in the Volvo.

Last HUGE climbing day tomorrow.......then all down hill to San Francisco.......right?