Author: user

Today dawned bright and early. After a quick breakfast at our Motel in Durango – we headed out only a short while after we had planned. We knew the first 9 miles on Hwy 160 would be mostly uphill. It was a grind! At times there was a lot of traffic and a lot of trucks. After the first climb – there were several nice downhills and we knew there was going to be some road construction that we would have to sag around. So we rode to the start of the construction and did exactly that.
We had a delicious lunch in Mancos at the Absolute Bakery and Cafe. After a slight miscue getting out of town we headed on Hsy 184 for Dolores. We went up up and away – no downhills to my dismay. We met Carole and “Carole” (aka Linda) at our Happy Hour and then had a great dinner at the Naked Moose and are now resting up for the big day tomorrow. 65 miles from Dolores to Telluride with lunch in RIco and going over Lizard Head Pass.

I have a lot of other pictures I wanted to post from today – but am having trouble with my internet connection. If I get it fixed – I will mention going back and looking at today’s updated post on a future day.

Our intrepid “Bikeoppers” Biker/Shoppers did some social biking around Durango, had a nice lunch, and joined us in Dolores where they planned out the Happy Hour. They also picked out a boutique in Dolores for some shopping tomorrow.

August 23, 2015
Most of us gathered at Dick and JoAnn’s and caravanned to Durango with a stop in Salida for Lunch. Traffic going the other way was extremely heavy with people leaving from the Mumford and Son’s concert from the previous evening in Salida.

We had dinner at the Old Tymer in Durango with Fred and Linda. It was good to catch up with them plus they gave us all kinds of tips about the local area.

Tomorrow we start our ride from Durango to Delores for 47 miles. The first 10 miles are mostly uphill.

Bike loading on trailer day! 8/22/2015
We leave Boulder tomorrow Sunday the 23rd for Durango and start riding on Monday!
Stay tuned!

Today we rode from Albaredo to Ostuni. We had lunch along the Adriatic with a beautiful view of the sea. Ostuni is a walled city on a hill.

Today was all about cows, horses, and churches. We started at a cheese making place where we saw how cheese is made. We then rode our bikes to a nearby church. Then we rode through the countryside seeing lots of cows. We the rode to a horse farm and got a ride on a wagon pulled by a three horse team. We the rode to another church and had a picnic in a park nearby. We walked to get some gelato and visited the local duomo.
We then returned near where we are staying and toured a olive oil factory and a winery.

Today we saw some spectacular caves and then rode in the countryside around the town of Alberobello Italy.
We ended with a sumptuous Italian multicourse dinner where we all ate too much

On Day 4 of our ride – some of us needed to get back to Boulder, so they had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out. The rest of us, had a leisurely breakfast at the Daily Bread, and then headed to Leadville. We turned off of I70 at Minturn and went over Battle Mountain and Tennessee Pass on our way. We found a parking space near mile marker 2 on the Mineral Belt Trail (aka the Leadville Loop). It is a paved bike path that loops around Leadville and features views of old mining areas. It is only about 11 miles long but has some great scenery and elevation changes. There was some construction that made us take a 1/2 mile detour – but it was a great ride.

It was starting to sprinkle when we finished so our timing was excellent. We went to the Tennessee Pass Cafe for a late lunch. John found a sign for $3.00 showers that he made us take our picture behind.

After lunch we headed home after the completion of another successful ride. We are hoping to do another ride in October when some of the people who normally would have been with us will be able to participate.
Goodby til then.
kws
Mineral Belt Trail map at http://www.trailsnet.com/mineral_belt_loop_trail.html
More pictures are at www.flickr.com/photos/kws1111 in the 2012 Bike Ride set

This day went pretty much to plan-which is unusual!. After hearing about the special weekend Bike Express Bus, and exploring the RFTA (Roaring Fork Transit Authority) schedules, we figured out that our bus left at 9:55am from a bus stop about a block from our motel. We also learned that we would have to pay $2.00 for our bikes and $7.00 for each person. We also found out that there were 10 places for bikes inside the bus and 4 outside.

(Note – Robin took the picture and John is hiding behind Janet – but you can see his leg)
So all 8 of us were waiting when the bus pulled up at 10:03.

The driver helped us use the special bike holders inside the bus – and we were off to Aspen. We picked up 4 more bikes and riders at the next stop inside Glenwood Springs. So we were full inside the bus and had room for 2 more bikes outside. The other surprise for those of us over 65 is that we only had to pay for our bikes. We were free! We made several more stops on the way – enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we moved “upvalley” but eventually we got to Aspen. We easily found the nearest access to the Rio Grand Trail and started our way towards Woody Creek. The trail was busy with bikers, hikers, and walkers but absolutely beautiful. The pavement ran out after a little way – and changed to hard packed gravel – not the best for road bikes but ok. I saw parts of Aspen that I had never seen before. The landscape changed from lush vegetation to more of a prairie grass as we climbed away from being right next to the river. There were several waterfalls along the way. We got to Woody Creek just after noon, and got lucky and were seated at a table for 8 without much waiting. After lunch Patti and Janet rode back up to Highway 82 and found the bus stop to take the bus back to Glenwood. The rest of us followed the Rio Grand trail back to Glenwood Springs. Most of the trail is on the old railroad bed. The scenery is varied and beautiful. My odometer (which reads a little low) showed 45.23 miles when we were done.
Janet’s mom Shirley joined us for snacks before dinner and then we all walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Our first choice said there would be a 1.5 hour wait – so we went to an Asia Fusion place nearby and had some great food.
Plans for tomorrow will be decided at breakfast!
It will also be Janelle’s birthday.

More pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kws1111/ in the 2012 Bike Ride Set.

August 3rd is the first day of the 2012 ride nominally from Gypsum to Glenwood Springs. We met to caravan around 8:00am near Boulder and drove to Gypsum. we had a picnic lunch in a Gypsum park.

We then saddled up and rode to the entrance to Glenwood Canyon. Patti and Janet didn’t ride so took two cars on to the Motel in Glenwood. Janelle started riding in Gypsum, Rick drove their car to the entrance to the canyon and rode with us to No Name and then rode back to their car.
After showers we celebrated Patti’s Birthday at dinner at the Riviera.
Tomorrow we are planning to take a speciall “Bike Express Bus” from Glenwood to Aspen, then ride back to Glenwood after stopping at Woody Creek for lunch.
More pictures will be in a bike ride 2012 set on Flickr.