July 12 - Mount Evans Here We Come!!!!

4307m summit, 2000m elevation gain, YIKES!

Highest no-thru pass in North America!

The night before the climb we loaded up on fruit and ate most of it before going to bed. Thanks to Mike and Vicky who let us camp in their yard for the night and the next. WAS GREAT TO MEET YOU. THANKS FOR SUPPORTING US IN OUR ADVENTURE!

We were on the road by 6 am and reached the half way point, Echo Lake, about three hours later. In the picture you can see the top of Mt Evans peeking up from behind the trees.

The view is getting better and better every minute!

Way above the tree line now!. I was amazed how many flowers and the variety of colourful butterflies that live at this altitude. No photos of them unfortunately. I just had the summit in mind.

Last break before the last stretch to the summit. A herd of mountain goats seemed to like hanging around the parking lot.  

Wow we came up all this way!!!

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the summit we received a very warm welcome from the people who had passed us on the road. Some even clapped as we pulled into the parking lot. It felt so good!!!!! Two lovely ladies came up to us and offered to make us some peanut butter sandwiches with honey (how did they know that was our favorite snack!?) We gladly accepted and they made us the fattest, juiciest pb+h sandwiches we have ever had. Then they also gave us all kinds of chocolate treats to take with us. What generosity!!!!

We managed to stay at the summit for almost two hours but then we started noticing what James calls Altitude Happiness setting in. A bit light headed, coughing, and minor dizzyness. Time to pack up and head for lower elevations.

Taking a break in one of the switch backs to let the brakes cool off.

These rain storm clouds are for you Tabea and Alex!!!!

Delicious dinner at the Main Street Restaurant in Idaho Springs with lots of red wine for the tired legs. I am getting hungry again just looking at this picture.



July 11 - Loveland Pass and George Town

We had hoped to follow the I-70 all the way to Idaho Springs but because it passes through a long tunnel shortly before Idaho Springs we were forced to take the route over Loveland Pass. (no bikes in the tunnels! darn it!) Not that we wanted to go through the tunnel but we have been climbing pretty much a pass a day for the last who know how many days and we really did not expect this. Even the big truck is grumpy about having to climb the pass.

It turned out to be a gorgeous ride and we met numerous other cyclists who were riding the pass as part of an organized tour.

On the top we had some fun with the camera.

Down the other side......

.....and hello George Town. This is a historic town with very attractive architecture and a real touristy feel. Would have loved to stay longer but we had to get to Idaho Springs before the end of the day so we could attempt the ride up Mt. Evans tomorrow. Mt. Evans is the highest no-thru pass in North America. It will be a 2000m climb over the course of about 28 miles from Idaho Springs to the top!!! Wish us luck and strong lungs.

July 10 - Leadville (Hint: has the best Safeway for dumpster diving!)

There is not much to tell in this posting. Leadville was just an exceptionally cute town on our route. We stopped at a huge antique store for a while and wondered how a dirty glass bottle can be worth $800.

Before entering the Safeway to get more food we checked the dumpsters out back and found a heap of treasures. Tons of eggs, chips, cookies, a chocolate cake (not in pic), loads of delicious bread, butter and yogurt drinks.

What a feast we had later on in our tent right across the highway from the world's largest Molybdenum mine. You wont believe it by looking at the photo but we camped at 3200 m elevation. The southern latitudes allow trees to grow at much higher elevations than back in Canada. At least that is my explanation for all these +3000m forests here in Colorado.

July 8-9 - Basalt Farmers Market, Aspen and Independence Pass

Things just seem to get crazier every day. Here we are cycling along towards Aspen when we make a quick detour Basalt and drop right into a farmers market. The first person we greet turns out to be the mayor of the town who promptly invites us to come stay at her river front house. We unfortunately could not accept the offer since we had already made plans to continue on to Aspen this same day. However we asked her if we could display some photos from our trip for people to buy by donation. She said there is no problem with that.

As we sat there, a friendly woman approached us with a beautiful camera and asked if she could take our picture. She then showed lots of interest in our trip adventure and asked a lot of questions. It turned out that Laura was from the local news paper and had to get a good picture from the farmers market for next day's issue. She said our display was the most interesting thing she had seen that day so she kept snapping away.

Lo and behold, when we checked the paper next day, we found ourselves printed right on the second page. Soo cool. As we spent rest of the day in Aspen, several people recognized us and asked if we were the ones from the paper. What good fun this was.

Evening entertainment in Aspen. Many music student come here for summer classes and in the evenings they busk all over the town.

More music.....

Next day we set up our cards display next to the "Balloon Man". We decided to just hang out in Aspen for the day, sell some cards and then climb Independence Pass in the evening when it cools off. Shortly before we packed up, the Balloon Man came over and gave us a balloon butterfly for us to carry up to the pass. It almost made it but the decreased pressure at the higher elevation made it burst just a few miles from the top.

Aspen groves along the way to Independence Pass.

It was already dark when we finally reached the top. It was really cold but the stars were fantastic!!!!! After a quick photoshoot by the sign we rushed to get back down to lower elevations where we could sleep without getting altitude sickness.

July 7 - Glenwood Springs and the Gear Exchange!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On our way to Glenwood Springs we had a very interesting thing happen. We were riding along the I-70 and just past a town called Rifle James spotted a nice baseball cap in the grass beside the road. We see abandoned hats and stuff all the time but this time he decided to turn around to check it out. I was not interested in the hat because I had just found a nice one for myself the day before so I kept going. After a while a looked back and James was still not in sight. Hmm? What can be so interesting about a baseball cap? I stopped, made myself a peanut butter sandwich and waited. Eventually I saw him come around the corner with a mysterious look on his face. "Did you take the hat?". " No....but..." And then he reached into his pocket and showed me what he had found beside the hat. He told me that as he had examined the hat he noticed a one dollar bill, and then another and another. As he had followed the string of 1's, he found a five and .........last a $100 strewn beside the highway. The total came to $117. We could not believe it. That is enough money for a weeks worth of food for both of us!!! Thank you!!! Miracles do happen!!!!!

In Glenwood Springs, a kind gentleman invited us to join him and a few buddies on a boat ride up the river but both James and I were too tired to go, unfortunately. We opted for a chill afternoon in the park where we ended up meeting quite a handful of cool people. Below are Charles and Michele. They have done some cycle touring themselves and it was great chatting with them. Nice face Charles! Hope to see you in Hawaii sometime, Michele.

As I am still in search for a new Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire for my front wheel, we stopped by the local bike shop to inquire. They did not have the tire but when the staff saw our loaded bikes they all came out to admire them. Randy the owner even tried to weigh my bike on the scale they have in the shop but it was too heavy for the scale. In other words it must be somewhere around 100 lbs (bike and luggage).

Immediately we were inviteded to pick a beer from the cooler and go for more later if we so desire. This shop is an absolute riot!! Everybody is in such a great mood and super friendly.

Yeah Gear Exchange!!!!! CHEERS to the world of bicycles!!!

UNFORTUNATELY we did not get pictures of the next adventure but Randy encouraged us to try out two of the Pugsley bikes (by Surly). They have massive tires which make for a very smooth, grippy ride. O my goodness did we have fun cruising the streets of Glenwood Springs in these Pugsleys. Below is a pic I stole from another website. We heard so many people commenting on "the big tires". "Did you see these big tires?" We rode up a very steep gravel road which my bike would have quite some trouble with. Then went down several flights of stairs no problem. My next bike will be a Pugsley because you can even ride them on ski runs in the winter. James taught me how to do a little bunny hop (back wheel off the ground). I wish I had had my camera on me to photograph some of the tricks he did. I am quite impressed. He even hopped back up a long flight of stairs sideways. Crazy!

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pugsley+bike&view=detail&id=EAE6BA0FE14B4366B137B31C316EADAA9A0FCB30

Linden, one of the guys from the bike shop, invited us to come stay at his house for the night. He lives in a cute little cabin right next to the river with his wife Danyelle, two dogs and cat. We got to take a shower again after hmmm quite a number of days which was fantastic. The evening was concluded by some mandoline plucking. Thanks for the entertainment Linden.

Danyelle and Linden. THANKS FOR THE HOSPITALITY. It was so awesome meeting you.

Their cabin

July 6 - Meadery of the Rockies........Welcome to Colorado!!!!

Our route led us through Grand Junction and on to Palisade. Palisade is kind of like the Okanagan of Colorado in that it is famous for its wine and fruit. The Meadery of the Rockies was right beside the highway and we could not resist stopping in for a quick sip. I am sorry to all the winos out there but Mead beats wine by far! So delicious. They had mead infused with all kinds of good things such as raspberries, cherries and peaches. Mmmmmm. Gotta have a glass.

The staff was exceptionally friendly. Brian the wine/mead maker even invited us to come check out their botteling operation. 

Next stop was the Meadery's sister winery St. Kathryn Cellars. They have free fudge samples to try and a great selection of grape wines as well as various fruit wines. The best of them all was the lavender wine. Slightly sweet and so refreshing. CHEERS!!!