Day 49- A 2 Pass Day

Today I would start a 2 day effort to get to Colorado Springs. It is 92 miles and there are three 9,000 plus passes to cross in order to get there. No rest for the weary. And the “best” part is the first pass starts right out of the starting gate this morning so not much opportunity to get warmed up. Trout Creek Pass.

I am riding on US Hwy 24 going up the pass and all the way to “the Springs”. There is a LOT of traffic. Luckily the shoulder is pretty wide or I would be pretty nervous. The climb has its moments. It is steepest on the initial portion but then moderates on the upper sections. All in all, not too bad except for the copious amount of sweat that was mixing with my sun screen and then burning my eyes! I had to stop at least twice to flush my eyes with water so I could see were I was going.

I made the summit. It was up on a broad flat top with scattered pine timber. Nice. And then some additional good fortune. There was a Hwy junction just past the summit where most of the traffic veered off toward Denver leaving me with a much less traveled road to negotiate.

I would ride on across a broad flat plain to Hansel, CO where I knew there was a cafe for lunch. Not much else but lunch was all I really needed there. While having lunch, I could see the weather changing. Changing to windy with thunder storm cells building in the distance. By the time I finished lunch, the wind was a gale and the sky’s were getting pretty dark. With these weather cells, it is real random where they will center. Just because you see one right in your path doesn’t mean it will still be there when you get there. With that chance, I decided to carry onward. Especially since the gale wind was a tailwind for me and I wanted to take full advantage of that!

So off I headed out into some pretty nasty weather. But I made good time with a few miles averaging almost 25 mph! As I approached the beginning of the climb up the second pass of the day, the weather really caught up with me and I got slammed with one of those storm cells. I got pretty wet, but that was the chance I took. I just grinned and bared it.

Wilkerson Pass was a pretty short, gradual climb. Actually one of the easier climbs for the trip.

There was a nice Visitor Center at the top where I got a chance to escape the rain and warm up a bit. And as luck would have it, the weather cleared and the sun came out so I actually dried out quite a bit.

With the sun out and a long downhill to enjoy, I headed out toward Lake George for the end of my ride for the day. The miles ticked off rapidly and Lake George arrived before I knew it. I found a nice RV park that offered tent sites and hot showers.

While I was just relaxing and enjoying the sun for a few minutes I happened to look toward the West and saw another huge storm cell heading my way. I got in gear and hastily set up my tent and stowed all the gear just in time before it hit. Wind and rain again for the second time today, but this time I would be able to take shelter instead of riding through it. This was much better than the first one this afternoon. So much so that I actually enjoyed this one from the comfort of the porch of the RV office. A nice warm and dry view.

A great end to the day was Michelle, an employee of the RV Park inviting me to have dinner with the staff. What a fantastic offer. Her friend, Linda was baking lasagna with garlic bread and some wine. Wow! What a great time we all had. An amazing end to a wild day. Thank you Michelle and Linda for the dinner, but more importantly the amazing generosity and kindness shown to a complete stranger.