After plowing our way through the midwest, we were ready for a break, so we took a full week off with our friend Mike. The week included some local exploration, lots of dining, a little rock climbing, a trip to Water World, a hike up Mt. Elbert, and just the right amount of lounging on the couch and watching TV (which is to say, a lot).
Eventually, we worked up the motivation to keep riding, and set out for Moab, Utah, hoping to get there in time for the 4th of July. Getting back on the bikes after a week of relaxing was a pretty rude awakening, made much worse by the great natural wall that is the Rockies right in front of us. We did some of the climbing that first night, slept at a campground, and set out early the next day to see how far we could make it. Over 10,000 feet of elevation, many hours of extremely slow pedaling, and a few uncomfortably close lightning strikes later, we were at the summit of Loveland Pass, almost 12,000 feet above sea-level and the highest point of the trip!
We flew down the other side, stuffed our faces with burritos and froyo, and rewarded ourselves with a hotel room for the night. The next morning presented us with even more climbing, but only another 3,000 feet to make it over Vail pass. The nice thing about traveling west over the Rockies is that they lean to the east, which means after our two days of climbing, we had a nice long stretch of gentle downhill ahead of us. We cruised our way through ski towns and along a bike path through Glenwood Canyon (a strong contender for most beautiful bike path in the country I’m sure), eventually ending up in Glenwood Springs. After burgers and a relaxing evening in a park by the river, we found a campground and passed out.
We found a WarmShowers host for the next night in Grand Junction, something that was getting harder and harder to find the further west we traveled. We had hopped on the interstate a few times before, when there weren’t any other sideroad options, but this was our first real substantial interstate ride of the trip. Even though we had checked online to make sure this leg of I70 was bicycle-legal, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were going to be pulled over at any minute. Sure enough, we made it the whole way without anyone stopping us, and when we got to a tunnel where bikes actually weren’t allowed, there was a nice little bike path coming off interstate to take us around it. Our host Eric made us a delicious meal, and showed us his solar-powered recumbent bike camper prototype.
The next leg of the trip would be challenging. After Grand Junction, there was a town called Fruita about 10 miles away. After Fruita, Moab was 100 miles down the road. With highs in the upper 90s and nowhere to stop for water on the way, we knew this would have to be done carefully. We decided to split the riding in half, doing the first 50 miles in the evening and the second 50 miles in the morning, before the heat of the day. After stocking up on sandwiches and strapping water bottles to our bikes wherever they’d fit, we hit the road around 5pm. By midnight, we had crossed the Utah/Colorado border, found a clearing on the side of the road to make camp, and passed out.
The next morning, we hit the road early and made our way along the Colorado River. We were making good time, and kept passing campgrounds along the river with beaches for swimming and raft launching, so we decided to stop for lunch and take a dip. The water turned out to be dangerously refreshing, and the constant stream of rafters inspired us to get out our sleeping pads and do some rafting of our own. What was supposed to be a quick break ended up being a 3 hour diversion, and by the time we finally motivated ourselves to get back on our bikes, it had gotten much hotter.
Those next 20 miles were brutal, probably the lowest point of the trip for me. Thankfully, there were many campgrounds along the way where we could cool off in the water, and we even met some awesome rafters who saw us soaking in desperation and offered us cold water and snacks. Eventually, we did make it to Moab where we made a B-line for a gas station and I had probably the most delicious Coca-Cola of my life. We had contacted a warm showers host who was going to let us camp on their lawn that night, but seeing as we didn’t think we could stand up long enough to pitch a tent, we thanked them for their offer, got a (air-conditioned) hotel room instead, and collapsed. It had been trying, but we slept with the satisfaction of knowing that we made it through the desert, and would have the next day, the 4th of July, to rest and recover.