The other day I was talking about the formidable Rocky Mountains. Today I said as I stood at the top of Monarch Pass (11,312’) “the Rocky Mountains aren’t so tough after all. To go back to the start, the day started out as another cloudy cool day. I broke the stem on my rear tube as I was pumping up my tires to start the day. If you are going to have a flat, the hotel is the place to do it. Gerard had a new tube in the tire and Bruce and I were on our way within 10 minutes. The route was fairly flat with no head wind for a change. Bruce and I made pretty good time as we rolled into the first Sag stop. Four miles after the Sag, the climb up Monarch Pass began. Bruce had left a few minutes early than I did as he is a much stronger climber than I am. Bruce lives in Estes CO, which is up in the mountains. The elevation at his house is 7920’, he is used to altitude and elevation. Anyway, I started out with Meiri. She and I ride at pretty much the same pace. We started up with gorgeous mountain scenes on both side of us. A lot of times, I could see 500' or more over the edge without any guard rails. I decided to stop every mile for a drink and something to eat. I was able to get to over 10,000 feet before I really began to feel the effects of the altitude. I think the Iron supplements I have been taken since April did the job. Meiri and I finally reached the top of Monarch Pass to the congratulations for Gerard and Michele. Meiri, Alex, Michele’s son, and I took the Tram up to the observation deck and the views were spectacular!!!!!. The amount of snow up there was amazing. The elevation at the top of the observation deck was 12,000’
About the time we went into the gift shop a thunderstorm began to come into view. After lunch, there was a lot of thunder and lightning so we waited for a hour or so for it to stop. Finally at about 3:30, Alex, Meiri and I started down the hill in the rain. Alex went first then Meiri and then me. Meiri and I held our speed to between 25 and 30 mph for the first 10 miles down the mountain. Alex was soon out of sight. I began to worry because I didn’t think he could have gotten so far ahead. I hoped that he hadn’t gone over the edge. Michele went past us in the van. She said later that she was really worried as she expected to see him within a mile or two after she saw us. She said that she didn’t catch up with him for seven miles. Alex said that he had hit 50mph on occasion. I think he was crazy to go that fast on wet roads but he is 22! After the steep part of the mountain, it was still all downhill in Salida. We averaged over 25mph for the last 23 miles into Salida
Meiri and I decided to go into the old section of Salida. It was almost 5:00 and the group was going to Pizza Shack for dinner. I obviously am not a Pizza Shack fan so we ate dinner at a restaurant on the Arkansas River. The Arkansas’s headwaters begin in these mountains. It was raging as a result of the recent storms. There were kayaks on the river while we ate. Pretty cool stuff. We would have stayed a little later but her boyfriend was meeting her at the motel, so we had to leave. I was amazed at all the Victorian houses in the town. I wish we had our rest day here instead of Pueblo.
I have beaten the Rockies and it is 1,000 miles all down hill to the Mississippi River!!!!
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