Steve's TransAm Adventure

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...

50.0 miles, 883 ft ascent, max grade 4.7%, 3:34 riding time, elevation 4311 ft. Today we departed from the Hotel Ordway at about 0715 and went to a truck stop for breakfast.  Fresh cooked eggs, hash browns and toast.  It was surprisingly good.  We then continued our journey west with overcast skies, temps in the low to mid 60’s and a tailwind :). We have been REALLY lucky to have tailwinds as much as we have.  Our average speed has been significantly higher the last couple days.  The landscape changed dramatically as we headed west.  Farm fields as far as the eye could see gave way to prairie and rolling low hills.  Trees once again formed ribbons along creeks, roads and around pastures.  The road curves more, so we can no longer see where the next town is at over 11 miles away!   We stopped in the Boone town park for lunch. We reached Pueblo in the early afternoon.  What a dramatic change going from Ordway, which was a depressed and pre...

61.6 miles, 989 ft ascent, max grade ~4%, 4:43 riding time, elevation 4311 ft. Today we ate breakfast at the Cobblestone Inn and hit the road at 0800.  The skies were overcast with temps in the 60’s and a tailwind of about 10 mph! :)  We made great time until about 1100, at which point it started to rain and the wind shifted to the NW, so our tailwind turned into a headwind :(. I was slow to put on my rain gear in the hopes it was just a sprinkle…well it wasn’t!  Lesson learned - put on rain gear before you are all wet.  I don’t have many photos today because the motivation to stop and take photos in the rain was low.  I focused on a spot about 20 ft down the road and just pedaled for the next 15 miles until we came to Sugar City CO.  There was only one place in town to eat, and the curb appeal wasn’t great.   We almost passed it by, but a man we stopped said it was good, so we went in.  It was charming inside and the people were very friendly. ...

57.6 miles, 1181 ft ascent, max grade 4%, 4:48 riding time, elevation 4219 ft.   Today I had a convenience store breakfast because there was no restaurant open.  I am surprised that many of these towns have very little to offer.  We have ridden by many businesses that have closed.  The years since COVID have been hard on this part of the country.  However, yesterday I forgot to tell the story of Tonya’s Toffee.  I was riding into Leoti KS when I saw  sign advertising toffee/coffee/treats.  The building was new and very nice looking, so I went to check it out.  There were cars, but the door was locked.  I cupped my hands to see through the glass and someone came to open the door and let us in.  The business wasn’t scheduled to open for a week and they were training new staff.  They offered to let us sample their coffee and toffee.  Once inside I felt like I had been transported to a coffee shop back home.  It was nicel...