2015 Transam Trail Days 19-21

Day 19, 9/5: Ready for Something New
Odometer: 11,427
TAT Mile Marker: 2,132
Total Trip Miles: 3,692

Well, last night was the last night for my tent. I repaired another 18″ of seams during the day but when I put the tent back up I heard the sound of welded seams pulling apart. Sure enough, an entire side of the bottom pulled away from the rest of the tent. Also, the side I fixed earlier on this trip was pulling back apart. Seeing the tent grandly fail was actually a relief as I was starting to worry I’d be fighting it for the whole trip. Good bye old friend, we have a lot of happy memories from the last 12 years!

I swung by Walmart and bought another tent for $30. Onward!

The highest risk gear now, I think, are the panniers and bike frame. Most anything else is just a Walmart trip away, maybe a few days in hotels while I wait for new somethings to ship.

Up at 6, quick breakfast, gassed up in Trinidad and back on the trail where I last left off. The rest day was just what I needed to recharge.

Riding was awesome. Road surfaces were great and the scenery was amazing. Right off the bat I got to ride around the Spanish Peaks and through wide open ranch and public lands. There was a pile of threatening clouds staring me down but it looked as if I would stay ahead of them.

Continuing to ride through the unique types of ridiculously beautiful scenery that the Rockies never fail to deliver, the trail wound it’s way up to 10,700 feet. The bike performed well which was a relief. I leaned out the jetting before I left and was glad I did. I had been getting a paltry 40 mpg so I knew it was rich, I was over 50 mpg when I finished my work. At this altitude there’s much less oxygen, causing the bike to run richer. There have been reports of people having to turn back and bypass higher elevations because they were jetted too rich at low elevation (to juice up horsepower) and didn’t have the power to make it over up here. The bike didn’t have the pep it does at lower elevation but it had plenty of power in reserve so I should be good for tomorrow when I’ll be close to 12,000 feet!

I stopped at Westcliffe for gas and passed a bakery. Hmm, did I just say “bakery”? They had fresh everything; I was in the mood for savory and warm and ordered a sausage and egg biscuit with a hot chocolate. I met a guy named, I think, Danny who is a dual sport rider and knows Colorado well. He gave me a map of Colorado and a lot of local tips. Thanks!

After this break I was back on the trail heading towards Cotopaxi to stop for the day. Arriving at Cotopaxi I discovered it is a single intersection stop and Salida was only 40 miles farther. Rain clouds were still threatening but I had luckily been staying on the outskirts, only getting a few drops so far. The storms looked likely to intersect me later so I went ahead and donned my rain gear and covered my panniers. The next 40 miles were some of the best yet. The trail took me over several passes, again over 10,000 feet, through expansive evergreen forests (Douglas fir and spruce I believe) then Aspen groves, then more wide open scenery.

I managed to dump my bike at maybe 20mph when I hit a small patch of rocks. My front tire pushed out on a funny rock and down I went. The shift lever was bent too bad to function so I carefully bent it back to avoid snapping it. Unfortunately I strained or sprained my thumb and had a tough time working the clutch the rest of the day.

I did eventually run into some light/medium rain and had to slow down and focus on the slippery muddy road until I got to Salida. Twice I nearly stopped to set up camp but didn’t feel like figuring out how to put up a new tent in the wind and rain.

Being a holiday weekend everything in or near Salida was jam packed. Lucky for me, everyone is in an RV so while there are zero RV spots I fairly quickly found a tent spot. The great news for tent campers is we have a lot of excess inventory. The bad news is that campgrounds are catering to RVs more and more due to increased revenue per site. I can imagine in 10 years we tent campers will be living in a world made for RVs. There is also a new culture to many campgrounds with music playing, lots of lighting, TVs, heaters and air conditioners, and more of a party atmosphere that an outdoor enthusiast one. This has been a stark change I’ve noticed over the last 10 years as I’ve followed the industry.

Anyway, the new tent went up easily enough, I called Denise, ran to the store for more food and a large bottle of Advil for my now very, very swollen thumb, then back to camp to study maps.

In camp I met Zach who was riding a Honda naked/cafe racer that he rebuilt and highly customized himself. He rode from Kansas City, Missouri to Salida, 770 miles, overnight to check the town out for job prospects. There are oddly no motorcycle mechanics in town so he came up, talked with a guy that does motorcycle restorations there and lined up a job. He now expects to move out here in several weeks. We talked motorcycles for a couple of hours, exchanged contact info and called it a night.

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Day 20, 9/6: The Riding Gets Even Better
Odometer: 11,590
TAT Mile Marker: 2,232
Total Trip Miles: 3,445

It was a chilly night. I actually put my fleece top on and zipped up the bag for the first time. Since I had been using my fleece as a pillow I ended up using my folding chair instead since it was the only other thing in the tent. Not comfy but anything better meant getting up.

Laying in bed at 5am, wake up time, I noticed that my left hand was very swollen and I pretty much couldn’t use my thumb at all. I was worried that more hard days of riding would render it too painful to continue or worse, it wouldn’t do its job and I’d end up wrecking in a worse way than a minor bump. I decided to push on rather than take an off day in what was really a crappy campground but swore to ride slow and easy. In retrospect I should have seen what Zach was up to and maybe hung with him for the day. Anyway, I took my time getting ready and didn’t leave until 8:30am.

I gassed up on the trail which then took me up, up and more up. A long, twisting path up to Marshall pass, the scenery was so nice it was hard to keep my eyes on the road. Man, THIS is why I’m riding this trail.

An interesting tidbit about Colorado is that they often give directions by the names of passes. In town someone will ask “did you come by Cinnamon pass?”  the signs on off road routes will often just have arrows with pass or town names. I rode Poncho pass at 9,010 ft, Marshall at 10,846 ft and then Tomichi which was around 10-11k ft. The highest point I noticed on my GPS was 11,700.

The sky was mostly overcast and it was windy which meant it was crisp and quite cold. With my rain gear as a wind block and my fleece and body armor underneath I was comfy as can be which was a relief; I should be in good shape for this trip, I was worried I’d be cold at times.

Coming into Lake City around 2pm I was really struck by how beautiful the area was. There were log homes that are exactly what I’ve always pictures as perfection. Built on a slope, overlooking an expansive and rugged terrain at 9,000 ft elevation. What could be better?

As I left Lake City, which was packed with RVs, and ATVs outnumbered cars by 10:1, I passed a National Forest campground, did a U turn and checked it out. The sites were perfect, the scenery was amazing and the camp host, Joan, was born and raised in Lewisburg, Texas had all of the friendly persona we loved when we lived there. I decided to cut the day short and stay. I had been able to completely baby my injured hand and wanted to give it more rest. I also sadly knew that I was only a day or two from leaving Colorado and I’d like to enjoy it a but longer.

Camp set up, hammock pitched, me reading the Stuxnet book my mom gave me.

I took a quick ride back into town to check out the scenery again and stop by a cafe for dinner. Pulled pork BBQ was on the menu so I gave it a whirl. Colorado hasn’t redeemed itself, the oak flavor was nice the toasted bun good but the sauce was too mild, even for me. A good dinner for sure compared to my can of Progresso chicken.

Back to camp and Joan invited me to enjoy their fire as long as I’d like to tonight. I was planing to make my own fire for the first time but hers was already stoked and Joan was nice to talk to. She looked over my maps and we talked about how I should spend the lady few days in Colorado. I mentioned that I’d like to ride as much of the TAT as I can but would like to see Mesa Verde since I’m rarely ever in this region. She suggested a ride down the Million Dollar Highway to Durango, then over to Mesa Verde. I could still ride almost all of the Colorado TAT miles so I was in. My rear tire will be nearly bald and my front is overdue to be replaced. I may try to find new tires in Durango, otherwise I can make it to Moab if the trail isn’t muddy. If it is muddy and I wear out my tires on payment, I’m screwed, I’m already struggling with sliding on the short muddy spots I encountered earlier in the day.

Joan went in to watch the season finale of The Last Ship and brought popcorn out for me, then nearly insisted I have a Dr. Pepper. She’s a gem, I was really thinking I’d like to stay another day there. It was the best camping experience I’ve had yet on this trip and I let her know.

I read my book until I nearly passed out at 9pm, then walked to my tent which was quite cold. I was expecting roughly 32 degrees for a low and hoping the next day was as good as this one.

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Day 21, 9/7: Million Dollar Views of Colorado
Odometer: 11,745
TAT Mile Marker: 2,306
Total Trip Miles: 4,010

I could have stayed in Lake City longer, especially to give my injured hand a break but I promised myself I’d take it easy and hit the trail. I’ll never forget Lake City. Some of the best scenery yet and ATVs everywhere.

Not far out of town I the trail turned into a definite 4WD road and went up, up and away.

First was Cinnamon pass, then Hurricane, then California, I believe was the order.

I came upon this cool mining ghost town, Animas Forks, among the passes.

Some more awesome scenery from the ride:

Just before lunch I arrived at highway 550 which is also known as the Million Dollar Highway. I rode it down to Silverton, an old mining town turned tourist town. I a had a mediocre lunch in what to me was a dusty, tourist trap kind of place, not somewhere I’d go back to but I did get a great rest break in. This is a very popular tourist destination though, I presume because the surrounding area is so beautiful?

After lunch I rode to Mesa Verde National Park and got a campsite. At $30/night they aren’t cheap but the sites were excellent and they had showers, a general store and a restaurant within walking distance. My site was a fantastic, secluded little place in a juniper forest.

I rode back down to the Visitor’s Center to check out their exhibits and plan my next day. For whatever reason the native American thing has never interested me. I like colonial times, old Europe stuff maybe. I’m not sure if it’s the lack of any structure that I can relate to, the fact that they basically just barely survived or that it’s not part of my own history. I got a decent dose of the stuff while living in Tucson and while it was interesting, it wasn’t overly so.

The exhibits were so-so but there is a museum that I’ll see tomorrow so I suspect the good stuff is on the way.

A quick couple of phone calls then off to read and fall asleep.