Tag: bike touring
PAGOSA SPRINGS, COLO. -We hooked up with a German couple on the road today who taught us about a new health drink, although we have yet to try it while cycling.
We packed up early at the hostel in Durango and took off. Anymore, I always feel better being back on the road, no matter how much I needed a rest day. Today we're following a new map behind the clear window in my handlebar bag. We're long-finished with the traditional Bikecentennial maps — that route veered north somewhere after Pueblo. We're on the Great Parks South Bicycle Route Extension map. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/26/day-45-this-health-beverage-tastes-better-than-gatorade/
DURANGO, COLO. – I can't imagine a better day bicycling, even though it did include several hours on a narrow gauge railroad.
The climb up Red Mountain Pass is a monster. It's a 13-mile ride from Ouray and rises from 7,706-foot elevation to 11,018 feet. It took us 3 and a half hours, partly because of the climb and partly because of the scenery – which we were all too happy to admire as we caught our breath.
We climbed switchbacks out of Ouray, which was surrounded by lofty cliffs, ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/24/day-43-by-bike-and-train-over-san-juans/
MAYSVILLE, COLO. – The climbing begins in earnest today, but we start with a long, cold, downhill after crossing the Silver Bridge, touted as the world's highest suspension bridge. The winding road takes us back down to the elevation of the Arkansas River.
Along US 50, huge red outcroppings of rock towered over the road. The river rushed alongside. We could hear it as we pedaled upstream on the gentle grade. Down here we could look up the valleys sometimes and see snow-capped peaks …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/21/1984-bike-tour-day-40-running-the-arkansas-river-upstream/
PUEBLO, COLO. – It's after midnight, and Bruce and I have just finished making basic overhauls and installing new parts on our bicycles. We used the “bicycle workshop” in the shed behind the home of our newfound friend — a 14-year-old in a house full of biking enthusiasts.
We got a late start this morning from Ordway after our epic 124-mile ride the day before. Fortunately the air had cleared this morning and we continued on good, old Route 96. In all, we'd ride this road for 241 miles, all the way from Dighton, Kansas. ..
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/18/1984-bike-tour-day-37-well-housed-in-pueblo/
ORDWAY, COLO. – Most of western Kansas and eastern Colorado was closed this Sunday, so we did the only thing we knew — we kept pedaling.
After patching up two flat tires just after sunrise, we rode out of town and back to the flat terrain. Everything was closed in the first town in Colorado — Towner. Same at Sheriden Lake …
So when we finally got to Haswell, thirsty and parched, there was nothing but bad water and what little water we had in our bottles. No bathroom. No shower. The only store in town was closed. Nothing to do but jump on our bikes and press on….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/17/1984-bike-tour-day-36-cant-stop-cycling/
JOHNSON'S SHUT-INS STATE PARK, MO — We're tenting in the group camp area near some Boy Scouts tonight. They're pretty comical, and a couple came over for awhile to talk bicycles, like: “Can you ride no-hands?”
I know Missouri is the “Show Me” state, but I don't know why it's called that. I would like to have people around here show us some common courtesy.
The folks in Ste. Genevieve were very helpful. … But as soon as we entered the Ozarks, things changed. People stare, more like glare. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/06/1984-bike-tour-day-25-cmon-missouri-show-me-some-courtesy/
STE. GENEVIEVE, MO. — We rode up along the Mississippi River to Ste. Genevieve to waves and some applause. If we had festooned our bikes with flags, the people lining the streets might have thrown money.
After crossing bridge across the Mississippi at Chester, we ran into the Olympic torch caravan again at St. Mary's. Everything is very low-key, compared to the scene in Berea.
Essentially two Winnebagos were parked in a roadside lot, some runners were milling around waiting to pick up the relay. AT&T sponsors the torch run, and the guys who do all the heavy lifting between cities are AT&T employees.
Two hundred were chosen, 16 on this week-long stretch, to run four miles twice a day with the torch. The torch, which they get to keep, weighs 2 pounds, 4 ounces, is about 2 feet long, and is filled with butane. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/05/1984-bike-tour-day-24-clearing-a-path-for-the-olympic-torch-in-missouri/
CARBONDALE, ILL. — We had plans to take off this morning for the Missouri border. I jumped out of bed early, did some laundry and putzed around. When it was 10 a.m. and we were just getting to breakfast, we came to the brilliant conclusion that we were still half hungover, we hadn't stopped since Charlottesville, Va., and we could …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/04/1984-bike-tour-day-23-rest-and-repair/
SEBREE, KY. — We're at the Sebree City Park tonight, camping downwind from preparations for the St. Michaels annual cook-out. They're preparing 1,500 pounds of mutton and pork for tomorrow, and this evening they're stirring a huge cast iron pot of homemade barbecue sauce.
While Bruce and I were talking with them, a couple of the old hands asked one of the younger guys to sample the hot sauce. He lifted up the wooden ladle, sipped it, squinted his eyes and choked out the words, “Hmmm. Just about right!” Then he gasped for breath.
“Just about right” describes our ride today. ….
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/06/01/1984-bike-tour-day-20-church-bbq-sauce-is-just-about-right/
We pedaled over to the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site today, just up the road from Joel Ray's Lincoln Jamboree. Yee-haw!
The park ranger giving the tour said, “As far as we know, this is where he was born.” Sounding a little cagey? Over in Springfield yesterday we had stopped in the Lincoln Homestead State Park, a woman in the office said, “Older people around here say that Lincoln never would have been born down in Hodgenville in the wintertime, so they believe he was actually born up here in Springfield.”
With my keen reporter's instincts, I asked him about the discrepancy. He shrugged his shoulders. “Nobody seemed to care where he was born until 1860 when he was elected president.” Makes sense. …
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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2020/05/31/1984-bike-tour-day-19-abe-born-here-honestly/
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