Today the tribe was up bright and early to ride their longest day (@ 62 miles) from Avon to Glennwood Springs. The first few miles of the ride was pretty uneventful: dry & arid, on Highway 6 until they jumped onto the bike trail and started through Glennwood Canyon. Jack and I had hoped to go back and ride the route the next day and get pictures: but we chose another ride. You can not believe how gorgeous this canyon is! It narrows as you get deeper into it: the cliffs get higher and higher. The rock formations look like a giant tetras game...the river runs along the floor of the canyon; the bike trail along the river; the highway along the bike trail. The highway was built in the 1970's and was dubbed the million dollar a mile highway. It cost a million dollars a mile to complete the road: the road had to have the least amount of environmental impact as possible. A better part of the road is elevated. If you get a chance to ride or drive this: do.
We got into the school that we were stationed at in Glennwood Springs and set up camp. The tribe was set up at a campground around the corner and across the street. The real estate in a greater part of Colorado is so expensive that camp grounds don't exist. The camp ground that the tribe was at was not the worst we have ever seen: there were hot showers and a laundry! I will give a dissertation on camp grounds one day in the future!
Dinner tonight consisted of : broccoli salad, BBQ chicken & baby back ribs, steamed new potatoes & green beans and fresh watermelon from the farmers market in Boulder. The dinner was well received and we didn't run out of ribs! I say that because:
The last time I did ribs was on the Cycle the Gorge Tour about 4 years ago. It had been a nasty day of riding: pouring down rain and fog. The tribe got into camp at the elementary school that we stayed at and had nothing to do but sit around and watch me cook. They were bored and hungry for a couple of hours. My day wasn't going so good either: I poured boiling water on my foot and had a pretty nasty burn. When dinner was ready: chicken & ribs, etc. etc.. the tribe was ravenous. I had planned for 4 ribs per person and didn't think there would be a problem. Yeah right. The first 5 or 6 men through the line took about 12 each. I panicked and had Jack, who was mechanic at the time, start rationing the ribs. By the time staff went through I was out of ribs......not a good place to be. I have not done ribs since. I was really taking a chance today: but it all worked out well and everyone was happy!
Tomorrow is a lay over day: hot springs, optional rides, river rafting. What a great ride!
No comments:
Post a Comment