Day 19 – Gunnison, CO to Salida, CO via Monarch Pass, 19 Jun 2014

Map and Pics:  Click Here for Map and Pics.

Miles 1292 to 1355, 63 miles, 4080 feet of climb, max speed: 44 mph, avg speed 13 mph

Bob, Bryan, Paul, Al, Claire, Dave, Peter at Monarch Pass

Today was the big one! We crossed the Continental Divide at the 11,312 foot high Monarch Pass. This Sag Stop was a longer one than usual – we all needed to catch our breath before the long descent down the east side of the mountain into Salida. Jane, the Sag captain today, offered to take pictures and soon we had a crowd! The picture on the right is Bob, Brian, Brian’s dad Paul (Sarge), Al, Claire, me, and Peter. I was the last to leave the summit. The altitude and sheer drop offs on the side of the road on the way up was a sure recipe for vertigo. Al would say, “That’s deep!” and then ride his bike off into the center of the right lane. Trucks would just have to deal with it. There were very few guard rails because snow removal strategy is simple – push the snow over the 2000 foot cliff. I did not trust my own ability to react descending until I was below 9,000 feet elevation, rested, and then rode in alone. I averaged greater than 30 mph for the last 22 miles of today’s ride and I never caught up to a single one of the other riders. They were smokin down that mountain!

The surprise of the day was the ride getting to the base of the pass. For thirty miles we rode up the gentle grade of the Gunnison River and then Dawson Creek valleys. Every view could have been a post card photo. Eventually the valley tightened into a canyon, but then adjacent walls canyon broke wide into a high mountain meadow. On all sides of that thirty mile ride were snowcapped mountains seen in the distance. Wow.

Looking Towards the Atlantic Ocean

I seem to be an easy target for teasing. Those that told me it would be snowing up on the divide today and that the ski lifts were working… well that wasn’t quite so. It was a cold but yet a gorgeous day for riding! Yes, the lifts were working, but not to lift skiers but sightseers. Yes there was snow, but it wasn’t snowing. Yes, we did start out this morning with frost and ice, but soon it was confined only to shaded areas off road. The fun thing this morning was that along with everybody else we got our first opportunity to wear our cold weather clothes. What I brought to wear worked perfectly and I was very comfortable all day. Conversely, we were all saddened when the luggage was loaded this morning but we were short two bikers from yesterday’s accident. We all hope they will rejoin us later. Bikes only take money to fix. Broken bones take time.

Bottom Line: The joy of making the summit was even greater when we got to share the moment with each other.