Author: Greg Pezoldt

I got up and made it to the bike shop. I did not have too get up early since the shop did not open until 10:00. Now supplied with new inner tubes, I again feel confident and prepared to continue the trip.

I am going to ride to Julesburg today. This was not my original plan. Initially, I was going to ride straight north and eventually ride east on Nebraska Hwy 20. Now armed with a map, I decided that is going to far north and a bit west and too far out of my way. I am going to go east from here and angle north as opportunities present themselves via roadways. I will need to make some new choices once I get to North Platte but that is a couple of days away from now.

CO Hwy 138 started off terrible. I had to continually dodge huge potholes on the shoulder and in the lane. The worst road I have ridden on so far. Fortunately, that only lasted for about 8 miles. Some recent construction made that situation much better. Also much better was the wind situation this morning. There is virtually no wind at all. And there are absolutely NO hills either. But the Hwy is great to ride in from a traffic perspective. Most of the traffic is traveling on I-76 which is running parallel to CO 138. Not much traffic on my route at all.

I cannot say it was completely flat though. I lost about 500 feet of elevation over the first 60 miles I rode today. Not enough to notice but I supposed it helped. I did see one hill in the distance this morning but it turned out to be a pile of cow poop piles high in a nearby feed lot. That is how flat it was.

I rode through some little towns that did not have much to offer. A convenience store at a gas station was about it in most cases. So I just kept on riding for Julesburg. I eventually got there around 4:30 due to my late start this morning. I intended to eat dinner at the local cafe and then head for a campground on my map in Brûle, Nebraska. So after dinner, I started riding again. I crossed into Nebraska after only 2 miles.

I should mention that I have been following the So. Platte River for the entire day. I haven’t seen it even once but I know it’s there because the tree lined banks are dominating the landscape. The campground I am heading for is supposed to be near the river.

So arriving in Brûle, I did not see any sign for the campground. Hmm. I turned toward the river at the only intersection in town and eventually saw an old sign for the Riverside RV and campground. It is pretty run down and abandoned. I am going to camp here anyway. I am tired, it is getting dark, and I’ve already ridden 82 miles today. I am not going any farther. Period.

But I did get to finally see the So. Platte River!

I wanted to get an early start today to try to beat any strong winds and potential rain that might come up in the afternoon. The wind has calmed down this morning, but not completely gone. It is still a light headwind. Well, I have to make Sterling no matter what the weather brings.

The pedaling was going well this morning. The headwind was pretty light but there none-the-less. I stopped briefly in a town, New Raymer for some drinks and a candy bar for some pedaling fuel! (Anything counts as pedaling fuel at this point).

The miles kept ticking off at a regular interval despite the mild headwind. The weather seemed to be remaining steady so I was hoping that the winds would remain slight and not pick up to gale force like yesterday.

I met another cyclist in the morning. His name was Miles from Minneapolis. He was riding to Boulder, CO and he was a wealth of information for me. He even gave me his ragged, taped up map of Nebraska which I will be needing tomorrow. He also gave me some route suggestions to coïncider as I work my way across Nebraska and Iowa. We did not talk for long though. He had a tailwind and was going to make a big push for Ft Collins today and wanted to get going to take full advantage of it.

So far, the Plains are not boring to me. Not yet anyway.

You might have a different opinion about that. I tend to avoid boredom as I seem to be continually caught up with my thoughts. They range from one moment thinking about global politics and a moment later to why are pants called a “pair” when there is only one? As I often say, “it is not easy being me!”

I made it to Sterling at 1:30. Unfortunately, the first bike shop I called when I got there turned out to be a “vroom vroom” bike shop. The second was closed today and will open in the morning. Since I really need to get some things, I am staying in Sterling today. 63 miles is enough and the wind is still blowing and I would have to do a minimum of 30 more miles to get anywhere near another large enough town. Yes, 63 is enough and the weather is beginning to look like late afternoon rain. So not only am I staying in Sterling, but I am getting a cheap motel room as well. I wonder what is on TV tonight?

One interesting thing about Sterling. The elevation is 3925. I really cannot remember the last time I was below 4,000 ft. I wonder if I will get above 4,000 ft again? Something else to contemplate as I cross the heartland of the country.

Today, I am a bit anxious. The Plains are going to be a new experience for me and I have no idea what to expect.

The day started ominously. It was raining when I woke up in Ft Collins. I took a wait and see approach and packed up the bike at a very leisurely pace and visiting with Danny some more and waiting to see what the weather was going to do.

It did stop raining so I ended up leaving about 10:00. Before leaving town, I did have a consumer success story. Back in April, I bought a new camera at Best Buy. I also bought a product guarantee policy since I was taking it to the Grand Canyon and I knew the sand is hard on electronics. The camera survived the GC but cracked the preview screen a few days ago when I dropped it. So in Ft Collins, I took it in to exchange it, no questions asked. And they did! OK sorry for the Best Buy plug.

Leaving Ft Collins, I headed straight east on Hwy 14. I am planning on staying in this route till Sterling, CO. Then north into Nebraska. Immediately I noticed the vastness of the Plains. I did turn to take a last look at the Rockies.

Then, no looking back. Now in the Plains, there isn’t a National Forest of course. There is instead the Pawnee National Grassland. It has a subtle beauty to it. Green grassland as far as the eye can see. It is mixed with additional green fields of grazing land for the many cattle out here.

The wind is going to be the big factor for riding in the Plains since there isn’t much vertical challenge. And the wind did come in the afternoon. With a vengeance I might add. It wasn’t a head wind, but rather a strong side wind from the north with scattered rain mixed in. It really took it’s toll and I cried “uncle” after only 38 miles. I decided to camp in one of the Pawnee National Grassland campgrounds in the area near Briggsdale.

At the campground there were some interesting people. John was a photographer who was fascinated by my bike. He took a few photos of course. And later I had a very interesting conversation with a guy from China. He spoke a little English and we got by with the help of his amazing phone app that could translate Chinese characters into English. I have no idea how it works but it did.

Tomorrow, I need to get to Sterling. It is 63 miles and I really need to get to a bike shop. I had a flat today and found that the valve stem was compromised and unrepairable. Now with no spare tube, I was really nervous. Plus I need to try to put in some longer mileage days across the Plains so I can make the east coast in a timely manner. I am getting nervous about that too. So tomorrow I hope the wind and weather cooperate. We will see since the wind is still blowing here at the campground tonight.

Today I leave the mountains. But not before one last ride through some nice countryside. With very tired legs too that are a direct result of the big climb up to the top of Trail Ridge Road. Today’s ride might be a little difficult.

I have this “cartoon” map of Estes Park that their chamber of commerce outs out. It shows some roads that connect up to Devil’s Gulch Road which is the way I want to leave town. The map is just wrong. It shows that Lone Pine Road connects to Devil’s Gulch. It doesn’t. I eventually did find a route to Devil’s Gulch though and it was all worth it.

There was a very slight climb to the top of the road and then an extremely enjoyable downhill into the little hamlet of Glen Haven. The road was “swoopy” on buttery smooth pavement. The only drawback was that I interrupted the descent for a stop in Glen Haven for a muffin and beverage. Then it was back to the descent.

I should back up a little bit. I ended up on Devil’s Gulch Road because it was recommended to me. If you remember back in Wyoming I met Rupert who hailed me along side of the road outside of Big Piney. During the lunch we had, he pointed out the the Devil’s Gulch road and another road I would take later in the day through Masonville as an alternative route into Ft Collins. Rupert’s advice was worth listening to it turns out.

The Devil’s Gulch Road eventually intersected Hwy 34 but the downhill descent continued. This was turning into a very enjoyable day after all. My tired legs seemed to have sufficiently recovered with all of the downhill.

Hwy 34 came to the intersection where I would turn off to Masonville after about 9 miles. This route would go the back way to Ft Collins and avoid the flat road from Loveland. There will be plenty of time to ride flat straight roads in the next days and weeks. This road went through some classic “red rock” country that is unique to Colorado and Utah. I don’t think I could ever get tired of red rock country.

Once in Ft Collins, I called Danny Long. If you recall from long ago, we climbed the North Cascades together. He moved to Ft Collins to begin his PhD in mathematics. He has lived in Ft Collins for exactly half a day and is still willing to let me sleep on his floor. Or more exactly, his roommate Elly let me.

It was great to see Danny again. I had last seen him in Winthrop, WA before he headed south. He told me all about his bike tour. He had a blast riding to Portland and the down the Oregon coast, and down to San Francisco. Now it is time for him to buckle down with his continued studies, but it seems like Ft Collins is a good landing spot.

For me, Ft Collins seems like the end of a chapter for this trip. The end of the western mountains and into the plains. There is an adventure out there too but I just don’t know what it is yet. Beginning tomorrow, i will start to write the next chapter.

After getting back to my camp after the ride up Trail Ridge Road, of course the weather cleared. I have edited the original post to add some late afternoon photos and clarify some of my thinking on the ride. Be sure to go back and check out the revised Day 54.

I woke up at 5:30 because I heard a few drops of rain on my tent. I jumped up because I needed to put up the rain fly. I left it off since the previous evening was clear. Well, you know about how the weather can change quickly in the mountains.

Today was going to be an exciting, but strange day. I was going to be a “cyclist” today instead of a bicycle tourist. By this I mean that I would be riding without the bags. Just the bike and me. Also, for the first time since the beginning of this trip, I would be wearing cycling shorts without the “civilian” shorts over the top. Today I was going to ride Trail Ridge Road, a short little 4,000 foot climb up to the highest point you can drive to in the park.

I set off around 10am trying to let the weather settle a bit since it still sprinkled rain every now and then. Without the extra weight, I found that I was still using the same gearing, but I could spin the pedals at a higher cadence and climb faster. Big surprise, huh?

The first part of the ascent was nice. Cool cloudy weather, ideal for this ride. I got a hint of things to come when I stopped at a pull out. A woman approached me and mentioned that she had considered riding the road too, but decided against it due to the weather. I told her that the weather was really nice, but she said the weather at the higher elevations was pretty nasty. I thought to myself….. Pa-Shaw . I was wearing thermal underwear and my trusty rain jacket. How bad could it really get? Well, it got pretty bad. Wind, rain, mist and misery galore. So bad that I thought it was going to start snowing at any minute. At one point a car driving by took a photo of the crazy cyclist. I did make it to the high point of the road but there wasn’t a sign that I could see and the weather was so bad that all I wanted to do was turn around and get the heck off the ridge. Plus, you couldn’t see anything worth taking a photo of anyway except clouds. Sorry for the lack of any photos.

On any other day I might have turned back or even have decided to do this ride on another day. For me, today was the day. I was going to leave the park tomorrow no matter what. Whether that was a bad decision was not really an option for me. Today was the day!

The 21 mile descent was REALLY, REALLY cold! I was shivering so bad I could barely steer my bike. I stopped at every stop to go into the restrooms just to warm up for a few minutes. I might have been as cold as I have ever been on a bike. The hail storm on the Tiger Summit was close though. Call it a tie! Luckily, the weather warmed as I lost elevation. Arriving at my campsite, I put on warm dry clothes faster than you can even conceive. Really fast. Next, I needed some warm food so I rode the half mile out of the park to the nearest restaurant. I am feeling better now.

In the afternoon after I went to the restaurant, the weather cleared and I took some photos of the great scenery of where I had been.

The ride up to the top of Trail Ridge Road was the last hurrah for the real mountains of this trip. I know there are “mountains” on the east coast but not like the Rockies and Cascades. So riding up to 12,183 ft ASL was not only a challenge, but symbolic as well. Tomorrow I ride to Ft. Collins to visit Danny Long who Natalie and I rode the North Cascades with. And then it is out into the Great Plains. That will be interesting.

I am going to Estes Park. Not to see the town, but because it is the east entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

So leaving my camp in the morning , it was on to RMNP. The road was all above 9,000 all morning. Up and down, up and down. I knew there was a long downhill somewhere since Estes Park is “only” 7500 ft ASL. I just wasn’t sure where it was.

Above 9,000 the views are fantastic. You can see Long’s Peak and RMNP from a long way away.

But first was Estes Park. The long downhill came from right above town so it was a screaming descent dropping a couple thousand feet very quickly.

Of course lunch was on my mind. It seems it always is. I found it st the Estes Park Brewery. Estes Park is a tourist town and it was BUSY with all of the tourists. Very busy. Unlike the tourists, I did not loiter after lunch except I had to go into the rock shop to see the cool rocks and fossils there. But only for a minute or so.

Then it was on to the Park only 3 miles away.

I was lucky to get a campsite. Most parks have a hiker- biker designated area but not Rocky Mountain. The campgrounds were all full but luck would have it that someone had double-booked two sites. So I got the other one. Like I said, lucky.

So with camp set up and dinner made, I headed off to sleep. I would fall asleep thinking of the BIG day planned for tomorrow.

After Denver, all I really knew was I was going to go to Estes Park. I wasn’t very sure what route I was going to take. My friend Shirley was living in Littleton, but had recently moved north to Wheatridge. This changed my thinking.

It turned out that there was a bike path all the way to Boulder so I decided to take it. I would figure the rest out later. The bike path paralleled US Hwy 36. It is a very heavily traveled Hwy so the bike path was a great option.

Once in Boulder, my priority was lunch. Once lunch was taken care of, I needed to turn my attention to an exit strategy. I ended up choosing to go to Nederland through Boulder Creek Canyon. As you might imagine, the canyon was nice.

Now there ins’t a pass going to Nederland. But it was still a 3,000 ft climb through the canyon. Nederland sits at 8253 ft ASL. I was pretty tired after that so I wanted to find a place to stay that was not very far at all from town. The lady at the gas station told me where all of the camping places were. I picked one that was 5 miles north of town. She didn’t mention it was uphill! So what is another 700 or 800 feet?

This campground was bare bones. Not even an outhouse. But it was free so I guess I cannot complain.

In hindsight, I think there might have been an easier way to go toward Estes Park, but then I wouldn’t have gotten to see Boulder Canyon. I guess things work out.

As I mentioned, I am taking a rest day in Denver.

Here are the latest statistics of the ride so far:

Miles Traveled: 2521

Highest Elevation: 12,095 ASL

Crossed Continental Divide: 7

National Parks: 5

National Monuments: 3

State Parks: 6

Bike Path Miles: 147

Flat Tires: 3

Note: in 1987, I did a cycling tour in New Zealand. I did not keep a record of the total miles I traveled, but I always said it was around 2,500 miles in total.

Now passing the 2,500 mile mark, I am going to say this is now “officially” the longest bicycle trip I have taken.

Also, I will not be crossing the Continental Divide anymore times. I am in the Mississippi and eastern drainages for the rest of the trip.

I wasn’t planning on riding all day today. I was heading north to Denver, but I was not going to attempt riding through downtown Colorado Springs nor downtown Denver either. I would just ride the more rural areas in between to 2 large metro areas today.

So Paul and I ran some errands in the morning and had a last lunch before I got him to drive me up north out of the congestion of the city. I had decided to ride Hwy 83 to the Castle Rock area so I only needed to start in the mid afternoon to get there at a reasonable time.

I was out of the Colorado mountains and on the eastern side of the front range.

The ride was really nice, but a slight headwind might be foreshadowing of hard days to come in the coming weeks in the Great Plains. I hope I get more tailwind than headwind out there, but those are stories for the future.

As for today, I am only going so far and I am having another reunion with another friend! Shirley Berg is meeting me in Castlerock and going to drive me into Denver so I can avoid that urban traffic challenge.

Shirley and I worked together for a few years at the Chelan County Public Works Dept many years ago and we have kept in touch as she has moved around over the years.

After meeting me in Castlerock, we went and had dinner and a couple of beers and had a great time catching each other up on everything.

I am going to take advantage of the city and take a rest day tomorrow. I plan to replace my rear tire even though it still has some life left in it. I need to do it sometime soon and this seems like a good time to do it with the myriad of bicycle shops in the area. And I will get to do some much needed laundry here too. I think the general public will appreciate that as much as I will! Whew!