Day 92: June 22, 2007
Ride the Rockies Day 6
Aspen to Leadville, Colorado
Distance: 60.6 miles in 5 hours 01 minutes
Total: 3,695 miles

Day 93: June 23, 2007
Ride the Rockies Day 7
Leadville to Frisco, Colorado
Distance: 32 miles in 2 hours 19 minutes
Total: 3,727 miles

Days 94 and 95: June 24-25, 2007
Rest days in Breckenridge and Denver

Review of Colorado and 'Ride the Rockies'

Colorado was everything I expected it to be, and I'm sure glad I took a detour of several hundred miles and two weeks to spend time here. On a sad note, my friend Jorge Sandoval, who has done a super job as photographer and support vehicle driver throughout New Mexico and Arizona, had to return to his family in San Diego after we reached Durango, Colorado. His mother tragically lost her battle with cancer after a long illness. Jorge and his family will be in the thoughts and prayers of all those who have met him these past few weeks, and hopefully I will get the chance to see Jorge when I reach California.

Upon traveling from Phoenix to Durango by car, I decided naively that I should ride my bike from there to Denver. This is harder than it looks. I asked several young mountain bikers in Durango for route suggestions and they remarked that heading north from Durango would be 'sick'. I'm not quite sure what this means, but I believe it is loosely translated as: "Do not attempt this if you are over the age of 25." Instead, I pedaled east towards the town of Pagosa Springs, a picturesque town where I camped next to the San Juan River. So far, so good. The next day, I continued east and with an exhausting amount of effort made my way over the dreaded Wolf Creek Pass. Definitely the hardest thing I've ever done on a bike. Because of the steep climb and the altitude, I had to stop about every half mile to catch my breath, drink water, and rest. It took me nearly three hours to pedal up the steep eight miles and by the time I got to the 10,800 foot summit, which straddles the Continental Divide, even my eyelashes were sweating. It was snowing lightly, and of course I was wearing shorts as usual. It was really cold up there, and I only lingered long enough to snap a few photos. I crossed the summit and flew downhill as quickly and as safely as I could in order to get back to warmer weather. Unfortunately, rainy afternoons seem to be the norm in Colorado these days, and I got drenched before I could reach my destination, the town of Del Norte. To make matters worse, heavy rains were forecast for the next several days.

The next day I had enough sense to accept a ride instead of stupidly and stubbornly pedaling my way through heavy rains. My friends Tom and Renee, who had cycled with me in Texas, asked me to join them for the Ride the Rockies trip, and Renee drove her car all the way from Breckenridge to rescue me from the horrendous weather. I was starting to regret that I had left Arizona. However, the following day things started to clear up, and Renee led me on a bike tour from Breckenridge to Copper Mountain. We had an incredibly scenic bike tour - my first one at high altitude - and completed a round-trip of nearly 40 miles, almost all of which was on bike trails. This was good preparation for the challenges I would face in the upcoming days.

For the 7-day 'Ride the Rockies' event, it went by so fast, and so much happened that I can barely distinguish one day from the next, even though the journey just ended. I enjoyed all the destinations we visited, especially the towns of Steamboat Springs, Glenwood Springs, and Leadville. I cycled through the steep canyons near Glenwood Springs, and also passed through one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen, between the towns of Rifle and New Castle. I wish I could have stepped off the bike and just explored that valley for a few days.

Along with more than 2000 other riders, I rode more than 400 miles and experienced several cycling days of more than 4000 feet elevation gain. I found some of the days very challenging, and was glad that I had pedaled for three months and 3000+ miles to prepare for them. The other cyclists I met were all friendly and outgoing, and while some of them were hardcore cyclists (sometimes referred to as 'hammerheads') many of them wanted to have fun and enjoy themselves without taking the cycling too seriously. I spent most of my time with the latter group, and was happy that I did. I will miss all the people I travelled with this past week. 

An additional note about the ride: the support and logistical planning was superb, and the staff members really did an outstanding job of making sure everything ran smoothly. Every 12 to 15 miles, there were rest stops with food, water, repair shops, and sometimes music and other entertainment. At the end of each day, there were designated camping areas, shower facilities, food vendors, beer tents, and information booths where cyclists could find out about things to do and see (and eat) in the nearby town. One of the bike shops from Denver, called Bicycle Village, set up a shady canopy with chairs and offered free snacks and drinks to all who passed by to say hello. I made sure to visit their tent every day for some serious carbo-loading!

In the past two weeks, I have pedaled across four major mountain passes in Colorado. I don't think I'll be pedaling up more mountains any time soon - except for some in California - but it was a wonderful experience which I'll never forget. Colorado is surely one of America's greatest national treasures, and seeing it by bicycle was a fantastic way to enjoy it.

Day 96: June 26, 2007
Transport by car from Denver to Phoenix

Thanks to my old West Point classmate Sam Mancini and his fiancee Didi for hosting me during my Denver visit. Sam also drove me from Denver to Phoenix, which was a tremendous help and a huge effort on his part.

Days 97-99: June 27-29, 2007
Rest days in Phoenix

Thanks to Bob Avey, and Kevin and Sandra Kluetz for lodging. At a small gathering on Friday night, I had the pleasure to see several of my Phoenix friends who I met when I was here a few weeks ago, including Bob Gadd (West Point, class of June 1943). Bob, a World War II and Korean War veteran who saw action in Germany during the war, kept us entertained with stories of Army life in the 40's and 50's.