Hardships and Difficulties

Right now I'm in Gunnison CO, this will be my 14th day of Riding. Its finally good sunny weather today; but this being Colorado it could all change in an instant as I've come to find out.

Since my last blog entry I've ran into many hardships, many more than I did in New Mexico.

Here's the list:

Rain-
Of all the days I've been in Colorado its rained nearly everday. The day will start off nice and sunny but by mid-afternoon, the storm clouds roll in and the rain starts pouring. Some days its just a light drizzle and I don't even bother to pull out the raincoat, other days its a total downpour so I have to put on all the rain gear. Usually I just ride through it and dry off pretty quickly when its over. Its really not that big a deal, its just annoying. What's really annoying is when it rains at night/morning and I have to pack a wet tent and sleeping bag in the morning; meaning that at night I will get to fall asleep in a nice damp tent and sleeping bag. Something that is never fun after 10 hours of riding.

Hail-
Being that I am at high altitude, I run into hail just as often as I run into rain. Hail is much the same thing at rain except it stings a little more once it hits you. Fortunatly (and this is to re-assure all the ladies out there) since I'm always wearing my helmet, its usually never a problem. I've only had to stop once so far because of the hail, all the other times I just ride straight on through

Mud-
This is probably the worst side effect of rain: Mud. Being that this trip is 90% on unpaved roads (aka dirt roads) some of them turn to a total mess when it rains. Most of the time they turn a little muddy and its not that big a deal. Its slows the bike down a little and my legs get nice a brown, but those are the only extent of it. However some roads become IMPASSABLE when muddy. One road had much a good 6-8 inches deep. Someone in a pickup truck told me to watch out for the road in a mile saying it was real muddy. I didn't know what to make of it as the road I was on was already muddy. When I got to the section he warned me about, I got to experience first hand how bad mud can be. Lets just leave it at this: In 2 hours I barely covered a mile.

Snow-
Trying to pass through Colorado high country in late may is not advisable. Many of those mountain roads don't open till late June at earliest, but being hard headed and stubborn I tried my luck at going over Grayback mountain anyways. The mountain itself is the highest point of the whole trip standing at 12,000'. I started out in a cold rain at 10,000' which by 11,000' had turned into a full on blizzard. Snowdrifts as high at 10 feet blocked of the road. I walked the bike for a good 5 hours in freezing, snowing weather to make it over Grayback mountain. Probably one of the most wreckless things I've ever done in my life as I was CLEARLY not equipped for alpine weather, but I made it none-the-less and was able to bike down to Del Norte in the morning. I'm glad everything worked out, but there was a point where I seriously doubted whether I would be able to make it.

Bike-
Had one flat tire on that day on Grayback Mountain. Fixed it in the middle of a snowstorm which led to nothing but cold hands and lots of frustration, fortunately it held and is still holding up pretty well. Also I had 2 spokes give out on me yesterday near Sargents which made the bike impossible to ride. Fortunately I was near a town on a main road and I was able to Hitch a ride with some Mexican day laborers to Gunnison where they have a bike shop. The bike was just fixed and its good and ready to ride.

Elevation-
It seems that everday I have to crest above 10,000'. Hard work on the lungs but they're getting used to it. I aslo rarely drop below 8,000' which makes nights really cold. So cold I have to sleep with multiple layers of Clothes on in my sleeping bag.

Hoping to make it to Wyoming in a week. Till then, I'll be eating lots of Pop Tarts, pedalling lots of miles, and hopefully staying out of trouble.