I left Ohio on the Tuesday before the ride and was in Denver the next day. As usual, I drove into the Rockies, just west of Denver, to the Chief Hosa campground which is at 7,800 Ft. I spent a couple of nights there, to begin getting acclimated for the ride.

On Thursday, I attempted riding from the campground to the top of Mount Evans, which is the highest paved road in the US, at over 14,000 Ft. Before getting to the entrance of the road to Mount Evans, I had to climb over Squaw Pass. I had forgotten how long the climb lasted since I had only driven it before. It lasted for 14 miles. By the time I started up Mount Evans, I was feeling the effects of the elevation. I only made it up 3 miles of the 14 mile "Road to the Stars", to the nature center which is at 11,500 Ft. I decided that I was getting too tired and turned back.

The next day, before heading on down to the Southwest section of Colorado, I drove up to the top of Mount Evans and had some gorgeous views on a clear day!

The 12th edition of the BTC visited the Southwest corner of Colorado this year. It was the largest crowd for the BTC, with 700 riders signing up for the tour on the day of check-in. We ended up being a total of 2100 riders, which made it larger than the famous "Ride the Rockies" tour. It also ended up being the toughest tour of the three I have done. We climbed a total of almost 46,000 ft. for the week!

In training for this year's tour, due to my work schedule, I was only able to ride on the weekends, which consisted of riding centuries. I was kind of a weekend warier, and it's hard on the body. Two weeks before the leaving for Colorado, I rode the proposed route for this year's CFC. On my return route, one of my cycling shoes broke down and I injured the arch of my left foot. After limping around for a week, I had a cortisone shot and somewhat recovered before heading out to Colorado. Let's just say my training was nonexistent just prior to the trip.

It started in Pagosa Springs, which is close to the New Mexico border. We rode out of Pagosa on Sunday, June 25th and headed up and over Wolf Creek Pass, through South Fork, and after 63 miles, finished in the town of Creede. The first and only big climb, up Wolf Creek Pass, involved climbing 24 miles from an elevation of 7,100 to 10,850 ft. The descent was awesome, and I reached speeds of at least 54 MPH. The descent was 11 miles long and goes a lot faster than the climb, but well worth the work. There was a sign welcoming us to Creede which proclaimed a population of 586 nice folks and 17 soreheads. I only ran across nice folks, myself.

The 2nd day we traveled to Gunnison, which was the only century of the week. It involved two passes in the first 39 miles, Spring Creek and then Slumgullion Pass. The descent from Slumgullion included 3 miles of 9° grade, and it was curvy and rough. I was just about down to Lake City and had just slowed from 50 to 20 MPH for an upcoming curve, when my front tire blew! After inspection, I found that a spoke had made it through my flimsy rim liner. I tried to put my spare tube on w/o the liner just to get on down to town and blew it pumping it up. I ended up sagging DOWN a couple of miles to town. I was bound and determined to finish the century. Nobody had a tube my size and after some checking, I found a guy that had just opened a bike shop up in this small town, Lake City. He happened to own a Bike Friday which has the same wheel size. He took his tube out of his front wheel and after applying rim tape, put his tube in my wheel.

I finally got my bike back on the road and left town at 4:30 with 55 miles to go. The 55 miles included 2 good climbs, a thunder storm, 12 people trying to talk me into sagging (including one of the 8 highway patrolmen on motorcycles, which run with the tour), an awesome 8-mile descent, and a final 10-mile ride into Gunnison, I finished at 8:50 p.m. Let's just say that I was a man on a mission to finish it and could not be talked into sagging. Once in Camp, I found they had laid the bags out in a field and everybody just set up their tents where their bags were. So, I had to find my bags amongst all the tents. By the time I got my tent set up and took a shower, I had a cliff bar for dinner and went to bed.

I had a nice breakfast before heading out of town, which made everything OK again. I visited a couple of bike shops in town, looking for a spare tube, before heading off to Montrose. We passed through the Blue Mesa reservoir, the Blue Mesa, and some of the Black Canyon.

The next day we were on a busy highway while climbing up to Ridgeway before turning and heading up to the Dallas Divide Summit at 9,000 ft. We then did an 11-mile descent to lunch at Placerville. We climbed up again past Sawpit to finally arrive in Telluride where we spent a layover day. This was my first visit to this town, which reminded me a lot of Ouray, as it is nestled in the middle of some tremendous mountains and beautiful waterfalls. This town is more of a resort/party town. Dogs roamed free and would just walk into any establishment. It was kind of a carefree place, and they had free gondola rides up to a mountain village where they had a live band, after a dinner buffet, on our day off.

On Friday, we departed to climb Lizard Head Pass, a first for the BTC, with the summit at 10,250 ft which included some beautiful views. We then had a gradual 50-mile descent to 7,000 ft. with a stop in Stoner for lunch. Shortly after turning southeast to head to Mancos, a storm popped up which included enough hail to require a stop for shelter. Once arriving in Mancos, the route took us through a main street where they had a block party set up, complete with a band. It's kind of a custom with the BTC, they leave the best town for last, and they gave us the royal treatment.

The next day was the final leg back to Pagosa Springs. There were several places serving breakfast in Mancos before departing. The route included many climbs, but none over 8,400 ft. The route was 91-miles long and went through Durango and Bayfield, where we had lunch.

We were on a busy highway heading back into Pagosa Springs. There are only so many roads in Colorado that can be used for touring, and many times, it is a state highway. This was the case heading back into Pagosa Springs. There was a fatality this day, which was the first one in the three tours I've done, and it was on this busy highway. A rider passed another rider, who was fixing a flat. He asked her if she needed anything, and she told him she needed a pump. I don't know if he was wearing a mirror or not, but without looking and attempting a U turn, he turned right into the path of a Silverado traveling the same direction and was killed instantly. It was a very sad situation for everyone involved, including the tour. I would have to guess he was not wearing a mirror, because if you wear one and I do myself, you instinctively use it. Do you use a mirror?

I passed the accident scene a couple of hours after this and another accident had happened. One of the tour's motorcycle highway patrolmen collided with a patrolman's cruiser and, by the time I arrived, they where still working on him. Luckily, he had only a broken leg. The tour's motorcycle highway patrolmen are very much appreciated by the riders and play a very big part in keeping us safe. One difference in the state laws of Colorado is that if an approaching motor vehicle is within 200 ft. of cyclists, the cyclists must go single file. I would like to see Ohio adopt this law.

It was a sad ending of an awesome and gorgeous tour, and I'm already thinking about going out next year for the 2007 Bicycle Tour of Colorado. Care to join me? I'm always looking for more adventure cyclists to join me. Go to www.bicycletourcolorado.com for more information. If you would like to view my pictures for this year's tour or the ones from 2004 or 2005, please send me an e-mail to bikersteve (AT) adelphia.net, and I'll send you an invite.

Pedal On . . .