Instead of my telling this story, I am letting my friend Look 361 who was with me in this ride to narrate it. I have uploaded the pictures from this trip to the Gallery and the ride details can be found here.

Day 1: Florence to Westcliffe

Hi! Sanjay affectionately refers to me as ‘my 361′ and I am a bicycle. I was with him on his recent ride along the Sangre de Cristo mountains, and he asked me to describe it. So, this is my side of the story!

When Sanjay started cleaning me up and tending to my somewhat ageing parts, oiling them, polishing them and caressing them, I knew he was going to take me out for a fantastic ride. For, he had not taken me out recently after he started getting that apparently severe pain on his shoulder after riding me. We later found out that it was because my seat was a little too forward for his structure. So a few weeks ago, he took me to ExcelSports and Wade adjusted my seat and stem. This was going to be our first ride after several weeks. I was excited.
On Saturday, June 30th, we drove up to Florence, CO with Sanjay’s acquaintance Josh. I rode on top of the car with Josh’s ride, a Peugeot that is a granddaddy to all of us. We chatted for the entire trip. He turned out to be a very interesting soul and had a number of stories to tell.

The ride started around 8:45AM from Florence. There were eight people in the group: Ken, Brendan, Rick, Greg, Dave, Josh, Shelly andSanjay . Brendan, Ken, Shelly and Rick had reached the camp-site on the previous night and had setup the camp. The plan was to have a sag support with Shelly driving the truck with lots of water and food. From what I overheard fromSanjay and others, she did a fantastic job.

Soon after the ride started, Dave and Greg were on their way. They were amazing riders. For the all the claims to being ‘great’ riders, none of the others saw them until the end of the day’s ride!!!

The first leg of the ride, to Wetmore, was a mild climb that rolled a little bit. By the way Sanjay was riding me on the middle ring, it was clear that he was nervous about the tougher sections and had wanted to save himself. Until Wetmore, Brendan, Sanjay and Josh rode together. They took a break at Wetmore for others to catch up.

The first two miles from Wetmore was a hard climb. I heard Sanjay telling Brendan that it was averaging over 6%. I felt good, especially after the nice overhaul, I was happy to be climbing. But it was already getting quite hot and they decided to stop after the first hill.

After a few minutes rest, they started again. The climb was mild for a while before it became very difficult. The grade was over 9% and by now it was very hot. The granite canyon walls reflected so much heat that it felt like a 100 degrees. I was concerned that by the end of the day, my chain and rear derailleur would be very dry. During this segment, Brendan was about 100 feet ahead ofSanjay. I could feel that both were getting tired and were riding 30/24 or 30/25. As they crawled up towards a turn, Sanjay hollered ‘Brendan!’ As if on cue, Brendan promptly unclipped and stopped! As Sanjay pulled up, they both started talking how hot and hard it was. Moreover, apparently what happened was that Sanjay saw a truck parked near the bend and thought it was Shelly. But as we turned the corner, the truck left and that broke his heart, for he was hoping it to be the sag wagon! Anyway, they took a break and waited for Joshua to catch up. A few minutes later, Josh came pushing thePeugeot!
From that point for the next one or two miles, it was a series of switchbacks and hard sections. Brendan and Sanjay rode together and I think they inspired each other to hang on. As for me, I enjoyed the rhythmic, albeit slow, pedaling of my master:)

Soon we were at McKenzie Junction or the intersection of CO-96 and CO-165. Now we saw the sag wagon for real! We took a break and waited for Josh, Rick and Ken to catch up. A few minutes later, Josh rode in. After that Rick. But there was no sign of Ken. Rick said Ken was struggling on the climb and at one point Rick decided to keep going. After a short discussion, it was decided that Shelly go back with the truck to check on him. That turned out to be a wise move. Because Ken was struggling and decided to hitch a ride on the truck, he didn’t ride afterwards.

Shortly after the intersection, CO-96 climbs steeply for about a mile. That section appeared intimidating. Perhaps it was the break and all the water/gels that were consumed by the human beings, we had a lot more work to do during that section. B and S kept a steady, nice, pace and they seemed to be happy about it. According to my stem-mounted GPS, the climb topped at 9100 feet. B &S took a break there, pretending to take pictures. Soon Josh joined them. Uncle Peugeot told me that Josh had to walk some ways, because Uncle P is a 10-speed.

Judging from the excited conversation between B&S, the scenery from this point was spectacular. They kept saying ‘what a fantastic ride’ or ‘great ride’ or ‘this is beautiful’ etc. etc. It seems the vocabularies of these two human beings are not that great, because I kept hearing the same expressions again and again. They are supposed to be well educated. Well, what can one say about the ‘education’ these days!

Pretty soon, the descent to Westcliffe started. Brendan took off like a Saturn V, except that he was going down. Sanjay let me cruise at a reasonable speed. In about 30 minutes we were at Westcliffe and waited for Josh to join us. There was a little confusion over which way to go, but soon they figured it out and Josh and Sanjay left for the De Weese reservoir.

Near the end of the pavement to the camping area, Ken and Shelly came by the truck. They asked Sanjay to get in the truck, which he declined for some stupid reason, claiming that he wanted to ride all the way to the camp! It was hot, dry and there wasn’t a shade in sight, yet he decided to ride. I know that he is a kind of a nut case, but this was beyond belief. Anyway, he and I ended up waiting for others to return under that blazing sun for about 30 minutes! Perhaps the hot sun got to him, because he put me through a tough test, by riding over a dirt road. Fortunately, I didn’t get a flat or cause any trouble. He seemed to be pleased with it!

Day 1: The camp and the evening

After we reached the camp, I was parked in an open area. Having done 42 miles and nearly 4500 feet of climbing, I was tired and fell asleep immediately (until a thunderstorm woke me up later). So I do not have a first hand knowledge of the events that happened in the next few hours. So, I will letSanjay narrate the story to you:

“Once we reached the camp, I tried to setup my tent. This being my first experience at pitching a tent, I was nervous and clumsy. Fortunately, Rick came over and gave me very good instructions. He was very efficient in explaining things and so, it wasn’t difficult at all. ”

“In the mean time, there was a little confusion going on regarding the whereabouts of Greg and Dave. Obviously, they had reached Westcliffe quite early and they were supposed to be waiting at a park. However, through some misunderstanding, they waited at the wrong place and the sag wagon that was supposed to pick us up missed them. Ken went back and forth between the camp site and the town several times to find them. It was only be 3:00PM (perhaps later) that they were found. The funny thing is, they were apparently sitting right near the ‘downtown.’”

“There was a thunderstorm brewing. Lightning came in brilliant flashes and close by. As the clouds moved in, thankfully the heat began to subside as well. For a short while, it rained. So, by 6:00PM or so, it was very pleasant.”

“We sat in Brendan’s camper and chatted. Around 7:00PM, went to the town and had pizza. I was so hungry that it felt like the greatest food I have ever tasted! We returned to the camp around 8:30 or so. Then Josh tried to teach us some kind of tight rope walking. It is a fun sport, and Dave seemed to be getting into it seriously.”

“We lit a camp fire. This was also a new experience for me. I was excited about keeping the fire going. It reminded me of those days when I visited my father’s place as a young boy. In the early morning, I remember my father’s family members making fire from dry leaves and sitting around and talking. I used to like it, I suppose. As the evening wore on, and as the quantity of alcohol in the veins of my companions increased, the conversation became less coherent:) Fortunately, no one came up with profound philosophical ideas:)”

“I went to bed around 9:30PM and a great night’s sleep. Now, I will handover the narration back to my friend Look 361.”

Day 2: Westcliffe-Florence

I spent a comfortable night under Brendan’s camper. We were all locked up together for protection. I was laid next to Uncle Peugeot and Brother Scattente. We talked late into the night about our experiences as riding buddies. Of course, the romantic lives of our partners were also fair game!
Sanjay woke up around 5:40AM. I saw him coming up to me to check if I was okay. Then he went for a walk and returned after about 20 minutes. He looked happy.
The return ride started around 8:40AM. Rick and Ken decided not to ride. Rick had one of his knees severely swollen (which was injured earlier in a climbing accident, I heard) and decided it was wise not to push it. I do not know what made Ken not to ride. Instead, they decided to drive the truck and the car.
As soon as the ride started, Sanjay and Brendan got together and started pace lining. It was a downhill and I thoroughly enjoyed going at 24-25mph. The scenery was also spectacular. After a while, Brendan decided to slow down to let Shelly catch up.Sanjay and I continued at the same pace. But it was not going to last, and it didn’t:) Dave, Greg and Brendan soon caught us and then for several miles we worked together. It was a great ride.

CO-69 which connects Westcliffe to US-50 is mostly downhill. The great thing about this route is that although there are several steep sections, they aren’t followed by tight corners. As a result, it is fairly safe to ride fast. So, even thoughSanjay is afraid of downhills, in this ride, he let me loose quite bit. Needless to say, I enjoyed it thoroughly! At times, we were easily cruising at 35mph! We completed the 26 miles from Westcliffe to US-50 in slightly over an hour!

At the intersection of US-50 and CO-69, we waited for Josh and Uncle Peugeot to appear. They were unusually late and it was clear that everybody was getting concerned. So, Ken, once again, went back to check. As it turned out, Uncle Peugeot had a flat tyre and so Josh was riding very slowly.

After taking a nice break, we continued down on US-50 towards Canon City. Although this was a downhill, everybody was being careful because there was practically no shoulder and there was a lot a traffic. UnclePeugeot had one more flat on the way.

A few miles before Canon City, near Royal Gorge, there was one significant hill. I noticed that everyone was slowing down. There was also a pretty bad head wind. As usual, Dave and Greg defied gravity and flew up. Brendan tried to imitate them, but he was tied down by Dr. Einstein. As toSanjay, he seemed to have got into a state of nothingness and kept moving at an agonizingly slow pace.

At the top, Brendan and Sanjay stopped for Shelly and Josh to catch up. From then on, we rode together, mostly trying to pace-line to escape the significant headwind. Once the hills were done, it was another gorgeous downhill to Canon City.

We took a break at Canon City before continuing to Florence. That leg of the ride was pretty event less, except that the last few miles felt longer than usual.

On the whole, this was a wonderful trip. I enjoyed the climbs and the descents. I am pretty sure Sanjay enjoyed the camping experience as well. He told me later how fortunate he was to have friends like this to introduce him to these wonderful experiences.

So, that’s the story of my first overnight camping/biking trip. I am glad Sanjay took me to this trip!