White Line Fever: Day 6: 5/21/10 Durango, CO to Monte Vista, CO

Click below to view today's route and ride stats:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34058933

I have died and gone to cycling heaven. Today was one of those days you rarely get on a bike.

The big attraction on todays 145 mile ride from Durango to Monte Vista was the climb up Wolf Creek pass at almost 11,000 feet above sea level. I recall the last time I was up at these types of altitudes, we were at Rocky Mountain National Park (in the car) which I believe gets up to about 12,000 feet. I remember a short hike to a monument at the top and gasping for air after only a short walk. So I have been a bit nervous about how I would react to climbing in this environment.

We rolled out at our usual time at 6:30 to cool mountain temperatures. Although the sun was up, Durango is in a valley, so we didn't actually see it for more than an hour. At this point in the tour, most participants have fallen into the daily routines and have found other riders of similar abilities to ride with. We began with many familiar faces from previous days and as we got rolling toward the first rest stop, we were a group of six. We maintained a reasonable but not breakneck pace and fell into a nice conversational rhytym which made the first several hours fly by.

The big climb up Wolf Creek Pass began at about mile 90. We climbed for a ways just to get to the start of the real climb. Fortunately, there was a SAG stop at the base of the pass and the lunch trailer was waiting at the top 8 miles up.

We took a brief stop at the base of the climb to fill bottles. To this point, our group of six had stayed pretty much together the whole morning, but since climbing is sort of a personal thing where each person needs to find there own rhythym, we all pretty much wished each other well and got on our way. This was an amazing stretch of road which twisted its way up the mountain top. Grades averaged between 6 to 8 percent with some less steep stretches somewhere in the middle.

I managed to make it to the top in just shy of an hour and was greeted by the lunch wagon staff. Had 2 hot dogs. Because you lose a lot of salt while riding in these conditions, I dressed the hot dogs with mustard, dill relish, and 5-6 green olives each. It was fantastic! I think I'll need to order dogs this way from now on. There is only one logistical problem with the olives, they tend to roll off the bun easily. We will try to perfect that in the future.

Susan had hot chocolate waiting for us at the top. It was extremely windy on top of the pass and the still snow covered peak was in the 50s. So, you cool off pretty quickly after coming in off the climb covered in sweat. I got to sit in one of those lazy boy type folding chairs with my feet up on the cooler and a blanket over my legs. PAC Tour takes excellent care of its riders!

The rest of the day I rode with Tim ("Foon" as he is called) where we decended for more than 10 miles off the pass and down into the town of South Fork. The last sag stop was at mile 123 and as we made our way the grades leveled off but the wind was screaming from the west. With very little effort, me and Foon

and I were able to hold 25 mph. And when we got our legs back, we were well into the low 30s.

As we made our final 10 miles into Monte Vista we picked up Max whom we had been riding with most of the day prior to the pass, the winds swithched to our right, spoiling what would have been a perfect day in the saddle. The last 30 miles were on a 10 foot shoulder with brand new blacktop. Add the strong tail wind and we were totally spoiled.

The hotel we are staying at tonight is fairly unique. It doubles as a drive-in movie theatre. Each guest room has a huge picture window which looks out to the screen and has a volume knob on the wall. I don't know what's playing tonight, but I sure hope it's not Breaking Away.

Here are some of the pics I took today: