It was a nice cool morning.
Woke up and packed most of my things on the bike by 6:30, then spent some time cleaning the road grime off the bike. John always teases me about how dirty I let my bike get, but now that I have a brand new bike I guess I'm taking more time to keep it clean.
By 6:50 Sean was packed as well so we headed to a place called Jan's for breakfast. I've eaten at Jan's many times when I come on camping trips with guys. We do a big camping trip every September just as the colors are changing.
John and Angela joined us for breakfast and it was as good as ever.
After breakfast we gassed up and headed back to the hotel for final prep to ride.
At 8:30 everyone was ready. We talked about the days route and what everyone could expect, especially whether it would be cold. I pointed south and said we had to go around the mountains, then back north. We said a prayer then mounted up and headed out. As soon as we left, John turned North instead of South, so Sean took off to try and catch them. I stopped the couple ahead of me so we just sat in the parking lot waiting for them to come back.
John's GPS had split the day in half and was trying to fasttrack him to the start of the 2nd half rather than taking the route we had planned.
Once we were all back together we drove 2 miles South out of town, then turned North East on our route.
It was instantly obvious that the I-70 traffic was on the road with us. There were long streams of cars coming past every few minutes. We got stuck behind a few slow RVs but it wasn't all that bad.
We stopped in Fairplay for a bio break and snacks. I took the time to try to figure out how to fully reset my bluetooth headset. It wasn't passing audio to me any more. So I tried to reset to factory defaults. But before I could get it reset, it was time to go.
We headed East out of Fairplay for 30 miles to the town of Grants, then turned North on Guanella Pass Road. I rode over Guannella pass about a month ago and really loved it, so John decided to add it to this ride and I'm glad he did.
We grouped up to make sure everyone was together, then they headed up the pass. It was right about this time that I realized I hadn't put my camera lanyard around my neck, so I couldn't take pictures. I stopped and tried to rush removing my helmet which of course, meant that my glasses got tangled and nearly fell to the ground. I grabbed them, finished taking off the helmet and tried to rush putting the lanyard over my head which, again, hooked my glasses and nearly flipped them off.
So I took a slow breath, put on the lanyard, then calmly put on my helmet and headed up the pass.
It's always when I let myself feel rushed and try to hurry something that I really screw things up.
The South side of Guanella pass has a more gentle slope with only a few hairpins. There were a few section of road cut into a steep rock wall, but all of those sections had guard rails. It was a relaxing ride all the way to the top with few other vehicles on the road.
Once we reached the top was a different story. There had to be 100 cars parked along the road and in various parking lots on top. It was Saturday, but still, the number of cars on top of an eleven thousand foot high pass was crazy. And almost no people. Everyone was off mountain biking or hiking the trails.
We pulled into a parking lot to stop and get some pictures, and, of course, there was a bathroom.
I managed to get my bluetooth headset fully reset. I had to push and hold the phone button for 10 seconds when the LED turned red, then push the big round dial button once and it reset. I re-paired it with my bike and everything was working great again.
We took a group photo then got back on the bikes and continued down the the far side of the pass.
The north part of the pass was MUCH steeper than the South side. We immediately started off with a tight hairpin turn and they continued all the way down. We spotted a herd of mountain sheep along side the road but they got spooked and took off too quick. But after the next hairpin, there were two mountain sheep eating grass along side the road who didn't care that we were riding past. They just munched the grass contentedly.
We passed several reservoirs and a hydro generating plant. We also passed many scenic overlooks but with so much smoke in the air it wasnt worth stopping.
The last mile was non stop hairpins down a super steep rock face. It really wasn't scary, but when you look back at that face and see all the hairpins, it makes you a bit nervous to think about it. Once we got down into George Town we stopped for another break.
From George Town we had to get onto I-70 for about 20 miles to the Central City exit.
Central City has casinos so it's a big nice exit and a really nice road up and over the ridge to the casinos. It needs to be as easy as possible to seperate you from your money I guess.
We parked in a lot just as soon as we entered town, then walked down to main street to find something to eat. I was shocked at how many businesses had gone out of business. There was empty window after empty window all along the street. We stopped to try looking for something on Yelp when a guy sitting on a bench nearby recommended a nearby pizza place. We had no better ideas so we headed there.
There was no inside seating, and no shade outdoors but we decided to eat there anyway. I ordered a small pepperoni and mushroom. The pizza was great but it took almost 30 minutes to come out and we were sitting in the sun the whole time. A weather app claimed it was only 76 degrees, but it felt more like 95.
From Central City we headed due North. The was really nice with plenty of turns and views through the foothills of the Rockies. We passed through several small towns and all of them were packed with people trying to escape the heat.
We saw many trailheads full of cars and empty UTV trailers.
I had hoped it would be nice an cool, but it felt pretty warm. Besides just the heat, the smoke continued to get thicker. There's a fire just North of Rocky Mountain National park and it is continuing to grow.
We arrived at our hotel in Estes Park and split off to our rooms. Tonight was a "find your own meal" night rather than trying to get all 13 people into a single restaurant. Sean and I decided to go get a Gyro over near the park. It was a really good Gyro.
After we ate, we rode to the visitor center to check on the park status.
RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park) is currently under covid restrictions. You have to make reservations for a specific time to enter the park. But if you arrive and enter the park before 6:00 am, you don't need a reservation. We double checked with a ranger and she told us to use the more Northerly entrance and to be in line before 5;30. She also told us that the restaurant at the top of the mountain was open so people could eat there if they didn't want to bring in food.
Back at the room, Sean put on the first game of the Avalanch vs Stars hockey game. He had to explain a few of the rules to me. I've known them many times over the years, but I'm not a big fan and I always forget them. It was not a happy night in mudville when they lost 5 to 3.
Since we need to be in the park by 5:30, we need to be packed and ready to leave by 5:00 and which means waking up before 4;30. So I need to finish the blog, get showered, pack up my gear and get some sleep.
Sorry about this, but the pictures seemed to load backwards and I need to get to sleep.
Higway 285
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