Written by Michael
To say that we approached today's ride with some trepidation would be an understatement. Today's ride was 78 miles long and started out with a climb of roughly 1,400 feet to a 9600+ foot pass at the Continental Divide. This was our longest day yet with the highest altitude yet. But it turned out to be a fairly pleasant day with most of the incline being rather gradual.
Today we took breaks every 5-6 miles and that seemed to work well except in the steepest places. Somehow we were able to eat and drink at almost every single break.
After leaving Walden the road quickly became a two-lane road with no shoulder but also with very few cars. For the next 45 miles or so if seemed like a car would pass us in our direction maybe every five minutes. That was a trade-off for not having shoulders that we would take any day.
We passed through the Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge and multiple national forests. With Alicia's help, we identified many small birds, prairie dogs, and ground squirrels. Alicia took many pictures including an excellent one of a ground squirrel eating grass blades. She also got a close picture of an antelope next to the road.
Shortly after we passed Rand, I spotted two moose behind some trees behind a house. Since I was behind the others, I could see the moose clearly at my angle while the others were not able to see it. Alicia confirmed my sighting based on my pictures.
Virtually every part of our trip today had beautiful flowers along the roadside. Purple flowers and yellow flowers were most prominent.
Immediately after passing the city of Hot Sulphur Springs we rode through a beautiful Canyon about a mile or two long. There were virtually no shoulders to speak of but the passing cars were very careful.
Based on Bob's blog from 10 years ago we were nervous about the traffic on the road for the last 20 miles. However the shoulders were so wide that we all felt pretty comfortable until the last six miles when the shoulder completely disappeared. That was a little unnerving. Now we know what Bob was writing about. However, we arrived safely in Kremmling and quickly found our hotel. We had a fine dinner at a local restaurant and are now settling in for the evening.
Tonight and tomorrow more travellers are arriving to join us for part of this trip. We are looking forward to having them with us.
Today has been another great day to ride. Only 2 more days of climbing and we will be over the highest peak we will climb on this trip. Gloria will be so disappointed when we get out of the mountains.
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