Craig, CO to Kremmling, CO

Our ride started with a pesky headwind today. In these higher elevation areas, it is not uncommon for a wind to come down from the mountains into the valleys below during the morning hours. The valley we are in suddenly changed into a more lush area, with grass and marshy areas and the hills on both sides took on a greener shade than we have seen for a while.

Our route took us through Steamboat Springs today, a big time ski area. There were several ski slopes we could see cut out of the mountainside. Steamboat Springs was at the 40+ miles mark on the ride and at about 45 miles, our challenge for the day began. It was a 2,500 foot climb to get up and over not one, but two passes in that mountain range. The passes are called the Rabbit Ears Pass. This climb ranks up there with the toughest we have faced. It was a steady steep grade all the way up, without any level or lesser grade. Also, the altitude caused my leg muscles to cry out for more oxygen. I took my own pace and stopped several times to get my breath back. When I reached the first summit, Julie was at that spot with a SAG stop. Then it was a short break of down hill fun to the beginning of another shorter climb to the second summit. After that, we crossed the continental divide and I had someone take my photo there.

It was then a long, fast downhill ride that all cyclists love. We left the high mountain forest to another very dry area and it was suddenly very hot again. It is amazing how much the mountain areas differ from one side to another, with the one side catching most of the moisture.

Today was all on US-40 again, and once we left the mountain passes, there was less then a foot of shoulder and the traffic is nuts. It was fairly heavy, and the drivers in this area seem much less favorable to cyclists. They do not move over much, even when there is no oncoming traffic. Some wave at you to get over and there is absolutely no place to go. Others give you a verbal greeting. There is no way to look at the passing landscape in these conditions, as my nose is buried on my handlebars, staring at the white line and the one foot to the right of it.

With the hard climb and the long distance of 96 miles, it was a very tiring and long day. I arrived in Kremmling at about 5:30, having started out at a little after 7:00 a.m. Don Brunsting and I finished the last several miles together and said to each other that we used it all up today. As soon as we hit Kremmling, we were looking for a place to get a couple gallons of Pepsi, but did not have any energy to look around and stopped at a local watering hole for some of the local refreshment made with the local mountain water by another guy named Peter somebody.

The night was quite cool, probably down into the 40s and this challenged our light sleeping bag. We had a brief shower just after we set up camp at the West Grand High School soccer field that was the greenest and thickest we have had the whole trip and better than most W. Michigan fields. The Big Boy Eastern Rockies are now in sight in the distance. Wow, we're going over those!?

Love to all, P & J