Tuesday, March 21, 2017

#RTR2015 Day 2 Grand Junction to Hotchkiss

June 15th, 2015

Wow!  Today was brutal.  Grand Mesa is my toughest climb to date.  The ride was 96 miles and 7631 feet of elevation gain.

I believe I was first out this morning at 5:50 AM.  The first part of the ride was actually on a bike path headed towards Palisade.  In the dawn early light, the vineyards looked lush and green.  Brad and Casey passed me on the west side of Palisade, but I didn't see them until they were a bit ahead of me.  After Palisade we did a stint on I-70 until the Powderhorn turn.  The semis were a bit dicey as they passed.  The ride up to Powderhorn began with a meandering road following the river.  I hooked on the wheel of a pace line, making good time until a rider two ahead of me went down and the rider in front of me went over the top.  Luckily I was able to avoid both of them.  They were both ok, but one was really shook up.  It wasn't the only challenge of the day.

It was hot.  As I neared powerhorn, my legs were screaming and I barely staying upright.  My lack of climb training was showing.  Lance Armstrong was riding that day with a friend and I had a few words with him near Powderhorn.

At Powderhorn, I wasn't far from the top, but I broke down and flagged a sag van.  But my legs aren't the story.  A young woman was riding in her 20th RTR (I think) and her father also had ridden with her each year.  This year, she was riding ahead of her dad and she had received a call on her cell that her dad had an accident on I70 and was in the hospital.  As mentioned, the short jaunt on I70 was dangerous as riders would swerve into the right lane to pass and didn't seem to realize that a semi couldn't react quickly.  She was reasonably distraught and we rode together to the top of Grand Mesa.  On the way she learned he was all right, but would be in the hospital overnight.  She was able to find a ride to Grand Junction when we reached the lunch stop.  As we reached the rest stop, Brad was riding in.  I didn't mention I had sagged to the top, at least at first.  The burger off the grill was great and it was an incredible and fast downhill to CedarEdge and Hotchkiss was a relief.  My massage never felt so good.

Hotchkiss is a great small town, welcoming the riders with an outdoor bbq at the fairgrounds just down the street from the school RTR headquarters.  Its one of those places I might never visit without RTR.  We headed down main street for dinner at a pretty nice restaurant (i have forgotten the name) after which we join the BQ party.  Sitting in the afternoon sun, enjoying a beer, listening to the band, hanging with cool peeps...they even had golf cart transportation for riders around town.

-Steve

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