The ride start with sprinkles of rain. Imagine that. The first 30 miles were relatively flat with the menacing presence of the Giant of Western CO on the horizon.
This area of CO is referred to as fruit and wine country. Plenty of vineyards, orchard and farm houses replete with lovely gardens.
The ride is a brutally difficult. The climb is over 6000 feet in elevation from Grand Junction with 4500 from Mesa with a virtually sustained grade of 8%. To get a sense of that, imagine for every 12 feet you move forward the road rises 1 foot. This is looking down fr Powderhorn Resort back to the base.
Right after this photo, above rest stop 4, it started snowing. We made it to 5, and got shuttled (code word: SAG'd) to rest stop 6 at the top. It shaved 6 miles and about 1,000 feet off the total, but given the lack of winter riding gear on our person, it wasn't risking hypothermia. Here's a shot at the top.
I rode down and it started raining. I was shaking so hard that the front wheel was wobbling. Not a good thing. Final stats - 88.2 miles, 5176 feet elevation climbed; 5,214 calories burned. Tomorrow is 67 miles from Delta to Ouray with another 3000 plus feet in climbing! Time for sleep!
Coach
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Location:Grand Mesa and Delta, CO
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