Eagle Nest, NM

We were on the road Thursday morning a little after 9:30 after a leisurely start.  Goodbye Gunnison, we'll return some day.  Today's destination: Alamosa, CO which was only about 129 miles of travel for the day.  One must ease back in to the travel mode you know LOL.  After getting setting up, we headed out to lunch to Chili's and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.  

Friday morning found us back on the road again after another leisurely start.  Today's destination: Eagle Nest, NM about 109 miles.  As we headed south towards the New Mexico state line, we drove through this large high desert valley that had elk warning signs posted every few miles.  Too warm for the elk now but what a view one must get driving through this valley in the fall and spring.

We only had one mountain pass to cross this day at Bobcat Pass just outside of Red River, NM.  Must say that the first two miles were rather steep and slow going but otherwise, the run in to Eagle Nest was easy.  I had called our friends, Rick and Y, to let them know when we were in Red River so that they could keep an eye out for us.  Thankfully, Rick told us that the highway would make a T and to turn right as our Genie (the Garmin Nuvi) told us to turn left - go figure LOL.  We could see Golden Eagle RV Park so like homing pigeons we went. As we pulled up, Rick and Y were waiting for us and Bruce, the park's owner, helped us get parked.  After greetings and hugs, it was time to get set up.  Once all that was done, I went over to the office to get paid and stopped at the Farmer's Market (held during the summer on Fridays) that was outside the office and picked up some beautiful tomatoes.  

Along with Rick and Y's friends, Lee and Connie, the six of us went out to dinner in Angel Fire to a Mexican restaurant called Hatches.  Better Mexican food than we've had in months and the company was even better.  Later in the evening, we (Rick, Y, John and I) met up at Lee and Connie's for some Pegs and Jokers - the guys won.

Saturday was spent doing laundry after a morning walk downtown and back.  We were invited up to Rick and Y's for dinner, conversation, and some Shanghai (card game). Another lovely evening.

Pro Cycling - Day 2

With the start of Stage 3 of the US Pro Cycling Challenge being held here in Gunnison, we were up and at them early to check out the organized chaos of a bike race.  The first thing we saw when we walked up was the start line.  Off to the left at the back of the picture is a podium where announcements are made, riders sign in and such.

We then headed for Hwy 50 where the team buses and support vehicles were being parked.  This allowed us good looks at the bikes each team was riding.  Here is Team Jelly Belly.

BMC team bus of Tour de France winner Cadel Evans and teammate George Hincapie.  People (cycling groupies LOL) stood outside their "team" buses in hopes of getting autographs, pictures, etc.

Radio Shack's team bus - Stage 2 winner Levi Leipheimer  We got this picture when the bus first parked.  Trust me, this bus had a lot of people around it  when we left to go to the start line.

Each team has a support vehicle that follows the team leader that provides them drinks, a mechanic, and replacement wheels and bikes.  In addition, there are neutral support vehicles (Mavic) that stays with the riders in case a tire or even a bike is needed and the team support vehicle is no where near to assist.

We decided to head for the start line and claim our spot waiting for the race to begin.  But first, the riders all have to make a trip to the podium to sign in.  This gave us an opportunity to watch all the riders ride their bikes past us and up to the podium where the "famous" ones were announced.  We noticed how relaxed they all appeared and how well they handled their bikes as they had to weave in and around people, cars, etc.  A few of the riders we recognized from our days of following cycling.

Freddie Rodriguez - he had retired from cycling and was working with mentoring some young Columbian riders and decided to come out of retirement and ride this race.  Obviously, he never lost his fitness.

 George Hincapie

 Cadel Evans - 2011 Tour de France winner

Levi Leipheimer - Stage 2 winner of US Pro Cycling Challenge  I saw Levi riding up and didn't realize that John hadn't noticed him so John only got a picture of his back when I finally said "there's Levi".  

A few of the riders would stop and sign autographs.  A young woman standing next to us had three of them stop to sign her book (I wonder why LOL).  

Soon it was 10 a.m. and it was time for these guys to get to work.  They had two monster climbs (12,000+ elevation each) and 130 miles before getting to Aspen.  Here they are as they start off.

Once they leave the start, they ride in a neutral zone for about three miles before the real racing begins.  The motorcycle in front of them paces them for the three miles.  Once the riders left the gate, it was pretty much all over for us so we headed home.  

The turn out for the start in Gunnison was awesome as there were people everywhere.  In watching the race on our phones, there were so many people on the two mountain passes that it looked like we were seeing the mountain passes during the Tour de France.  Amazing . . . as these people had to spend the night on the pass as they closed both passes last night at 6 p.m.  The interest/participation of the public has been phenomenal.  The organizers should be very happy.

So here we were tied to the phones watching the race this afternoon when during the last three miles of the race, the video gets dropped on both phones.  Nooooooo!  Dang, we missed the exciting finish - George Hincapie won Stage 3 and a young rider, Teejay Van Garderen, gets to wear the yellow jersey as overall race leader tomorrow.  

Once the race viewing was done, John set about de-nesting us on the outside as we leave Gunnison tomorrow.  It has been fun and we have really enjoyed our time here but we are ready to move it on down the road.

Day of pro cycling

Today the Pro Cycling Challenge was coming through Gunnison (Day 2) on the way to the finish in Mt. Crested Butte.  After lunch, we headed downtown to check out the action.  There was a small vendor area with a Jumbotron set up for viewing the race.  We picked ourselves up some swag (freebies):

The canvas bag can be used for shopping but the ThunderStix will probably be recycled. The ThunderStix are used for noise making when the riders come through.  Our hands were to busy taking pictures so they didn't get used.

As the riders got closer to town, the fire truck raised the largest American Flag we have ever seen.  The breeze was blowing nicely so that the flag was waving for all to see.  A big round of cheers and applause rose from the crowd as the flag was raised.

We were very pleasantly pleased to see the large turnout for the race downtown.  These photos were taken at the intersection of Main Street and Tomichi/Hwy 50.

Long before the riders came by, we saw the team buses heading up to Mt. Crested Butte. The best financed teams had their own Class A Motor Homes with their team name and logo on it.  The lesser financed teams had rented Class A/Class C Motor Homes.

As the riders approached city limits, a Pro Cycling Challenge vehicle pulled up to advise that the leaders were two minutes away while the rest of the peloton was three minutes behind the leaders.  We were asked to say swoosh as that was how long it was going to take the riders to ride past.  Boy, was he correct!

Here come the two who where leading the race at the time.  They took the lead shortly after leaving Salida this morning.  At this point, they had been on the road over 3 1/2 hours.

Here comes the peloton.

Much to my surprise, I actually got a picture of two riders that we recognize:   Americans Levi Leipheimer (today's stage winner) and George Hincapie (both are labeled in the picture).  

Here is a picture of yesterday's Prologue winner (Yellow Jersey - Patrick  Gretsch) as he swooshed by.

There goes the peloton around a tight turn.  Swoosh and they were gone!

All that was left to come where the support vehicles.  They, too, got cheered by the crowd.

All that anticipation and waiting - almost two hours - and they were gone with a swoosh.  What fun it was to see the action go by.  I told John that the peloton reminded me of a bunch of bees swarming out of a beehive.  He agreed that is what it looked like.

After getting some cold drinks, we walked back over to where the Jumbotron was set up to watch the action.  The picture wasn't so good as we were too close to it.  So we agreed that we could go home and watch the action comfortably thanks to an app I downloaded that allowed us to watch the race on our phones. Technology is amazing!  Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte also had large crowds turn out to watch the action. Congratulations to Levi Leipheimer for winning the stage - it was an exciting finish.

Tomorrow the race starts from Gunnison and is called the Queen's Stage as the riders will be riding over two 12,000+ mountain tops on their way to Aspen.  These mountains are higher in elevation than any the riders go over during any of the European races and some riders are nervous we've heard.

We will be there tomorrow morning at the start line . . . we can hardly wait.

Gunnison Car Show

John went for a 30 mile bike ride this morning (his hammer day) while I messed around here. I did have a nice conversation with my sister this morning.  Always nice to get caught up.

After lunch, we hopped on our bikes and road downtown to check out the car show. As luck would have it, we were on the wrong side of Hwy 50 for the car show.  However, we did come across the park where they had tents set up with vendors selling a variety of items. Had no idea this was going on also this weekend.  We strolled through the area looking at a few of the booths.  This is where John is really happy that I am not a shopper LOL.  We did find a booth with some beautiful framed photography.  Gorgeous pictures of landscapes, wildlife and such.  Good thing we don't have any wall space to hang any pictures because we might have been tempted to buy.

With the car show going on across the street, they had a temporary cross walk set up so you could easily get across Hwy 50.  That was real nice.  We walked along looking at all the various cars.  It is surprising to see cars that we grew up tagged as "classics"; are you kidding me, from the 70's?  Are we really that old? Due to technical difficulties, the slide show of some of the car photos have been removed.

With the car show and the other vendor show going on, the little town of Gunnison was really bustling this afternoon.  We bought some water as it was rather warm out in the sun as we strolled looking at cars.  It still amazes us that the thermometer can read only 84 degrees and yet, it is down right hot out in the sun.  Must have something to do with the elevation.

Once we were done with the car show, we hopped back on our bikes and headed home.  A tall glass of ice tea was in order which was sipped outside enjoying the afternoon albeit doing so while sitting in the shade.

All is quiet here

Our running around has come to halt other than on a bicycle.  John is very much enjoying his bike and has it tweaked to where he said this morning that this bike is feeling like his old bike which is a very good thing.  John goes for long rides three days a week and I have come to realize that I have missed and do enjoy the couple of hours of "me" time.  Not that I do anything exciting but it is my time alone.  This morning I tackled cleaning out and reorganizing some cabinets/drawers.  I even found some items that had gone missing.  I know, how can one misplace items in such a small space.  Quite easily I must say LOL.

Bob and John did some adjustments on my bike yesterday as it would shift all on its own at times.  Also, we had to move my cleats on my biking shoes as my toes were going numb which is not a good feeling.  Tomorrow, we will see if the cleat adjustment helps.  If not, there are a couple of other items we can try to correct the problem.

As much as we like the Gunnison area, I think we both are getting ready to get back on the road.  Our need to get out an about has slowed and I'm feeling the need to get more organized before getting back on the road.  Next week we will have the distraction of the bike race coming through town along with getting prepared to leave.  I have no idea as to what is on tap for the remainder of this week.  I guess you will have to stay tuned.

Spotted - big buck

We were waiting at the last stop light in town (west side) to cross the street, when all of a sudden this big mule deer buck crossed the road - with the light I might add! He crossed looking both ways and slowly sauntered across the street to an open field.  He was huge! John said when he first saw him, at first glace he thought he was a small elk as he was that big.  As he was crossing the street, he was maybe 15 feet from me and I could hear the sounds of his hooves on the pavement.  He had a huge rack and was all in velvet.  Wouldn't you know it, I was so busy looking in awe that I forgot to grab the camera or at the very least my cell phone.  Darn, he was magnificent. So impressed were we about his size that he was brought up in conversation a couple of times during the day.  I sure would have liked to have gotten a picture of him to share.  Hunting season will be starting soon so I hope that whatever smarts he has that has allowed him to grow so big, he keeps.   

We had planned today's ride to go around the airport.  As luck would have it, the road that appeared on the map we were working off had been closed off.  So we had to back track and set out on a new course.  We wove our way around Western States College and through the streets of Gunnison until making it back home.  

After getting cleaned up and having lunch, we headed out to the grocery store.  Once that deed was done, we settled in for the rest of the day.  The wind sure has been picking up in the afternoon to the point that you can't really sit outside and enjoy the afternoon.  We'll gladly take the wind to be able to enjoy the temperatures we have enjoyed this summer when so many other parts of the country are sweltering.

We got a call from Melissa this evening and had a very nice chat.  Another wonderful day - life is good.

Cottonwood Pass to Buena Vista

The "big" news in Colorado is their preparedness for the US Pro Cycling Challenge that will take place August 22 to the 28th.  Not since the late 1980's (Coors Classic) has Colorado hosted such a large bike race.  We are lucky that we will be here when Stage 1 (Salida to Mt. Crested Butte) comes through Gunnison on the 23rd and Stage 2 (Gunnison to Aspen) starts here on the 24th.  The top three cyclists from the Tour de France will be riding as well as many well-known American pro-cyclists of the likes of  Tom Danielson, Levi Leipheimer, and George Hincapie.  They claim this will be the biggest spectator viewing event in Colorado's history.

Stage 2 (Gunnison to Aspen) will take them over two 12,000+ foot mountains:  Cottonwood Pass and Independence Pass.  We recall Independence Pass when we drove over it in 1990.  At that time, we were dually impressed at the endurance and skill shown by the cyclists going up the pass from the Aspen side and then going down with all the hairpins turns. The cyclists for this race will go up the hairpin turn side and down in to Aspen.  Wow, that is going to be some epic riding.  Remember, these guys will be racing and not out for a leisurely ride.

As we are relatively close to Cottonwood Pass, we thought we would take the drive over the pass and down into Buena Vista as we have never been there.  Also, we had learned that the climb to Cottonwood Pass (14 miles to the summit) will be done on a dirt/gravel road.  Have you ever noticed the skinny tires that road bikes have?  Wow, that is going to be some challenge.  The drive from Gunnison up through the Taylor Canyon is very pretty and won't offer too much of a challenge to the pro-cyclists until they leave the pavement and have to go 14 miles on dirt/gravel.  Road work is being done on the road but it will still be very bumpy and lumpy in places and it winds up, up, up to the summit at the Continental Divide.

We found there was still some snow along the ridge line.

 

Taylor Reservoir (from hence we came) can be seen up against the back mountain range.

We estimate that it may take the cyclists an hour or so to make the summit but once they do, they will then be back on pavement and then the technical part of the ride will begin.  The road has lots of twists and turns and at one point, there are warnings about a 10 percent decent.  They will be going down faster on their bikes than we would dare go down in a vehicle.

Here we are at the summit.  What a beautiful view behind us.

We ventured down in to Buena Vista and with the help of  my Yelp app, we found a place to have lunch.  We ate at Eddyline Restaurant & Brewery.  Lunch was very good albeit a bit pricey.  We don't drink beer, so I can't say if their brews were any good or not.  Other than rafting and a couple of hot springs, I don't think there is too much to do in Buena Vista.  We did not care for the terrain (high desert valley) so it is unlikely that we would ever return there. 

Instead of going back the way we came (less miles), we decided to make a loop out of our trip and headed south to Poncha Springs and up and over Monarch Pass (so much easier not pulling the trailer behind us) and back to Gunnison.

If you are interested in learning more about Colorado's big bike race, click here: US Pro Cycling Challenge.  Versus will have daily coverage and NBC will give condensed coverage on Sunday, August 28. 

Dirt Devil

We all have pretty much seen dirt devils.  They are usually low to the ground spinning around like little tornadoes.  We had an experience with one that made us go what the heck was that!

We were sitting quietly reading mid-afternoon when all of the sudden a very strong wind came up with a very intense sound.  John and I kind of looked at one another when all of a sudden, we started seeing items of ours flying by, our table with BBQ got lifted up from the pegs holding it down and was flipped over against our steps, one of our loungers was headed towards the truck but stopped just short of banging into it (thank goodness) and another chair was moved opposite from where it had been left.  The wind picked up our ladder golf game frames and sent them in two different directions and broke them all apart.  We found one of John's flip flops near the truck some twenty feet away.  As quickly as it started, it was soon over.

After picking up our stuff and depositing the broken ladder golf frames in the garbage, we got talking with manager, Eric, and he said it was a big dirt devil.  He was out working on the lawn when he first heard it and then saw it.  He said neighbors mats got airborne, one of the neighbors had a number of airplane whirlygigs that got deposited in the trees at the far end of the park, and one of our neighbors lost an awning.   Eric said that last year they had a dirt devil come through that picked up one of the heavy picnic tables, took it up about 150 feet before releasing it and having it smash to pieces on the ground.  Thankfully, no property or people were damaged/hurt.

At the potluck this evening, it was again mentioned not to go off and leave your awning out.  Actually, come early afternoon, it is not unusual for the wind to pick up so we never leave our awning out as we don't trust the wind sensor on the awning.  After experiencing the effects of a dirt devil, we will be even more cautious. 

Tidbits

Over the weekend, we were surprised with a visit by a hot air balloon over the RV park.  When we heard the swoosh of the flame very close by, that really caught our attention.  By the time John grabbed the camera, the hot air balloon had drifted further away.  We were surprised at how low the balloon was.

As we watched, the hot air balloon kept getting lower and looked as if it was headed for the river.  Not a good place to land in our opinion.  Once it went lower over the houses, we have no idea where it put down.  It was a very short trip for the paying customers.

I had a lovely birthday on Sunday and appreciated the calls and text messages I received. Thank you so much.

Our three young bucks in the area are growing up and are getting nice antlers.  It is always a pleasure watching our group of five (3 bucks and 2 does) when they come visiting.

They sure make jumping over fences look easy don't they?

We have been riding and expanding the riding distance each time for me.  John has pretty much gotten back to his riding distance.  We have worked our rides around a stop at the white water park.  It is so peaceful and serene there.  Yesterday, we didn't see any kayakers, rafters, or fishermen so there wasn't any added entertainment.  I did have my first run-in with a snake at the river.  He saw me, I saw him and I started backing up saying "snake".  John laughed and said he knew I had spotted a snake before I even said anything just from my body language.  I do not like those slithery critters!

New additions

Friday was a big day for John as the UPS driver was bringing us our new bikes.  Of course, the delivery was one of the last ones for the day and arrived around 6 p.m.  Oh, the anticipation!  We have been bike less since they were stolen in Sacramento in October last year by some nefarious person(s).  Losing my bike was bad but for John, it was almost painful as he loved his road bike and rode it often great distances.  Once we arrived in Gunnison and saw what a bike friendly town it is, I knew the day had come when we would have to bit the bullet and get new bikes.     

John put together his bike Friday evening.  With the help of our neighbor, Bob, on Saturday they pretty much got it tweaked just right.  Bob has been a godsend.  Bob is from Holland, an avid cyclist who competed in Europe in his younger years.  Proof positive that Bob is an avid cyclist:  he has two bikes, one road bike and one cyclocross bike and all the tools and gizmos to keep bikes in riding perfection.  Bob and John went for a test ride on Saturday afternoon which turned into a much longer ride than expected.  As John hasn't ridden in 9 months, plus the elevation, and not wanting to slow Bob down too much, he was one tired puppy when he got home.  Oh, by the way, my bike got put together Saturday morning before their big ride and has since been tweaked too.  

The RV park is safe and undisturbed with people leaving their bikes unlocked all over the park.  Not us, no way, no how.  We aren't trusting that someone with bolt cutters isn't going to come by and try to take our bikes again.  Once burned, twice shy. For now, they are being brought in at night.  Is this for safety or so that John can lovingly look at his new bike LOL (hmm, I'm not sure).  

We offered to pay Bob for his fine assistance but he wouldn't take any money as he said he loves working on bikes.  We want to do something nice for Bob, so we are going to take him to dinner tomorrow night.  John has learned a lot from Bob on the tweaking of bikes that will come in handy down the road.

One of the hard things about getting back in the riding mode, is toughening up the tush.  Oy, the tenderness even with a cushy bike seat.  In a few days, the tenderness will go away, yippee.  We have found a nice route that takes us over to the White Water Park here in Gunnison that we have ridden every day.  Today, we went a bit further and went up what I have named Cardiac Hill.  Almost made it to the top before pushing it up the rest of the way.  Ah, a challenge.  I will be riding up that hill before long.  

Here is a picture of my very happy hubby with his cyclocross bike (like a road bike but he can also ride it on gravel and mountain bike if he wanted to):

Here is a picture of my new comfort bike.  Guess you can tell who the hard core one is in our family LOL.