Steve's TransAm Adventure

Today I spent another rest day in Frisco.  Before recounting my day, I want to tell you about the rather unique hotel I am staying in.  I am told The Block Hotel & Commons is modeled after a European Hostel.  I recognized bathroom fixtures of the same type as ones I saw at my daughter’s apartment in Zurich Switzerland.  It is built out of stacked shipping containers, although you only see evidence of that in some rooms and spaces.  The hostel model consists of small rooms with bunk beds and shared bathroom, or with an in-room bathroom, and numerous large common spaces and a common kitchen. The main common area in the lobby An upstairs common area Some of the guests that are here for extended stays store groceries and cook in the common kitchen.  The hotel is adjacent to the Blue River and there are recreation paths on both sides.   I walked back to Enza’s for breakfast along the path and sat out by the river as I ate my breakfast.   The path w...

I spent the first half of the day resting and recovering.  Brian and I went to a Enza’s Deli & Market for breakfast.  The food was good (and plentiful) and we had an excellent conversation.  I then did some shopping for food and essentials to prepare for the next leg to Hot Sulphur Springs, and I did some bike maintenance.  In the afternoon Curtis and Ellen picked me up and I went to their house to do some laundry and we spent some time catching up before walking to dinner in Frisco.  They live in a small town where the downtown area is within walking distance from their condo.  If I were to assign a theme to my TransAm experience from Newton KS to here, it would be “HOW THE NEED FOR WATER HAS SHAPED THE WEST”.  Riding past vast seas of grain in Kansas, it is easy to miss the competing forces that make that possible.  It wasn’t until I learned about the fate of Sugar City CO that I began to understand.  The farmers were dependent on a sin...

39.4 miles, 2098 ft ascent, 9% max grade, 3:06 saddle time, current elevation 9075 ft. Today I crossed over the dreaded Hoosier Pass.  At 11542 ft, it is the highest point on theTransAm route.  My day started with my old friends, Curtis and Ellen from the Annapolis Bicycle Club coming to join me for breakfast.  Afterward Ellen drove back over the Pass to Frisco and Curtis accompanied me on my endeavor.  Coming right out of FairPlay there was a climb of 171 ft in 0.6 mile.  What a way to start!  I like to start out easy, but there was none of that today.  We quickly climbed up above 10,000 ft, which is a new personal record for me.  I found myself breathing heavily in response to the exertion and the altitude.  We proceeded to climb 1,589 ft in 11 miles.  Of that, 1,037 was in the last 3.6 miles.  The cumulative effect of riding 11 days in a row and the altitude made the summit of Hoosier Pass very challenging for me…but I did it! ...

Bison in the wide open range 46.3 miles, 2876 ft ascent, 7.5% max grade, 4:51 riding time, elevation 9953 ft. This morning we had breakfast with our gracious hosts at the Wild Spirit Mountain Lodge, Beth and Wilbur. To anyone currently on the TramsAm, or considering it in the future, I highly recommend staying at this Lodge. Beth and Wilbur Before continuing our journey, Bill and I took a quick tour through the town of Guffey.  It is a unique, and a bit eccentric town, but really fascinating. Used car lot Antique store City Hall The temps started out in the 60’s with clear skies and the wind was out of the west at 15 - 20 mph.  We are still headed NW, so we rode into the wind all day.  We climbed about 1,000 ft up onto a high valley. Valley and Rocky Mtns in the distance Where I saw Bison for the second time this trip. Bison on the wide open range The scenery in what I think would be considered the front range of the Rockies is beautiful. Wide open country with the Rockie...

32.6 miles, 4240 ft ascent, 10% max grade, 4:12 riding time, elevation 8863. Today we had breakfast in the Village Inn diner in Cañon City and hit the road at about 0830.  The first few miles were relatively flat, but then we headed northwest into the foothills.  The next 25 miles were up, up, up.  I don’t have many photos for today because I spent most of the time staring at the white line about 10 ft in front of me.  Did I mention that we had a wind from the west of  15 - 20 mph?   Not what you want to see when riding a bike Grades of 5 - 10% are bad enough on a loaded touring bike (weighing 88 lbs with food and extra water), but the headwind made me downshift into my “granny” gears.  I mentioned in a previous post the challenge of riding in a straight line at about 4 mph.  At times the hills to my left would block the wind, but then the road would curve westward between low hills and the wind would get channeled between them directly at me. ...

52.4 miles, 2451 ft ascent, max grade 15%, riding time 4:27, elevation 5332 ft. Today we had breakfast at the hotel and then deviated from the TransAm route so that we could ride on a bike path along the Arkansas river for 9 miles. Hardscaping and falls along path The landscape changed dramatically as we rode though the river valley and up onto the high plains.  Rock buttes lined the sides of the river valley. View from down in Arkansas river valley It was nice riding without cars or traffic.   After climbing up to above the reservoir we re-joined Rt 96 and headed west toward the Rockies. View from above reservoir We reached the top of a hill and got our first view of the Rockies.  Today I rose above an elevation of 5280 ft, so I was a mile high.  My maximum elevation for the day was 6115 ft. We had to ride across the high plains before reaching the foothills.  As we were riding, a thunderstorm was developing south of us and heading right for us.  Thunderst...