A very tough day, with 3 individual long climbs to over 10,000 feet. These all occurred in the first 60 miles - around 8200 feet of climbing. The final 49 miles (109 total for the day) were a reward for all that hard work - a screaming descent into Ouray (accompanied by some teeth clenching due to no guard rails), and a nice 25 - 30 mph tailwind for the final 22 miles into Montrose.
I had a very scary moment climbing to Molas Pass (the second big climb of the day). The highway stripes were being repainted, and there is not a lot of space between the fog line and a sheer drop off. Orange pylons had been placed on the fog line to keep traffic off the fresh paint. I was attempting to ride on that narrow strip of pavement to the right of the fog line (at about 4 or 5 mph), and it kept getting narrower. At one point I was faced with going over the edge or taking out a pylon. Needless to say, that pylon is history. I had to move over to a pull off area on the other side of the road and walk the length of the pull off to calm down enough to proceed. After that experience, I refused to ride to the right of the white line - the traffic was just going to have to wait.
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| Almost to the top |
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| One of the 3 summits. Paint truck in background |
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| At summit of Molas Pass |
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| I knocked over one of these pylons rather than go over the edge of the road |
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| Not much between the riders and a drop off. Colorado uses guard rails sparingly. |
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| Exciting descent when you are going 35 - 40 and have a 15 mph curve ahead |
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| Looking down on Silverton CO |
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| Repurposed 50s Dodge in Silverton |
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| Main street in Silverton |
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| Some of the traffic to contend with on a descent. Add some wind and no guard rails, and the rule was "take the lane!" A couple of riders couldn't handle the stress and rode in a van. |
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| This shows the drop off along one portion of a climb |
If anyone could make that route it was you, Bob.
ReplyDeleteI bailed out of your back pocket when I saw what was ahead and not on the side !
Deep breaths..
Continue to stay safe, My Friend [ huggz to both of y'all ],
Peggy
I figured that the ride on this day must have been quite tough because you had been posting every evening, but the post for this day appeared to be a couple days behind the usual schedule.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the roadway -- Yikes!!
You have likely noticed that I tend to move away from the edge the fog line and toward the middle of the lane whenever I ride across a bridge. I do have some issues with precipitous drops, even with guard-rails. Sometimes I move toward the middle of the lane when going over a bridge because the thought going through my head is "if a car hits me, I want to be pushed INTO the guard-rail or concrete "Jersey barriers" being used as a guard-rail rather than be THROWN OVER the guard-rails and onto the road (or whatever) that is under the bridge.
If I had been on that ride, I may very likely have been one of those getting into a van.
I tell people "Bob is tough; tougher than you think." I know that you are tougher than me.
Glad you made it through the day. Glad you took the calm-down time when you needed it.
Keep riding, and as always,
Enjoy the ride,
... Martin