Steve's TransAm Adventure

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...

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...

49.5 miles, 1,294 ft ascent, max grade about 2 %, elevation 3,616 ft, 4:46 riding time.  We started out day with breakfast a the Best Western, which was pretty good for a hotel. We continued riding West on the same Rt 96 we picked up back in Great Bend (which was 166 miles ago). Today the wind was out of the South and SouthWest, but the gusts were not as strong as yesterday, so it was not as difficult a day.  I have noticed there are big grain silos spaced at about every 10 miles, and there is often a town at each silo.  However, many of them are small and there are no services.  Bill described the silos as sitting on small islands of trees in a vast sea of wheat.  On a clear day like today you can see the silos from about 11 miles away.  If you see a water tower near the silo, then it is a bigger town with services.  The distances are very misleading because the silos are so large.  You think you are getting close, and it is still miles away. I w...

55.8 miles, 1,214 feet ascent, Max grade about 3%, 5:37 riding time, elevation 2990 ft. Today Johannes, Bill and I got up, ate breakfast at the campsite, and set off for Scott City at about 0815.  Our luck finally ran out and the prevailing SW wind returned.  We were heading directly West, so we had a headwind of about 10 mph with gusts of 15 mph which increased to 15 mph with gusts over 20 mph as the day went on.  The skies were clear and the temperature gradually rose from about 60 to 96 F.   The headwind along with the heat made for a tough day.  Riding into an unrelenting  headwind with gusts is DIFFICULT.  Not only is it exhausting but each time a gust came along , the drag caused by the front panniers would create a twisting moment about the steering tube.  It made it very difficult to ride in a straight line.  In addition to that, Johannes pointed out that my rear rack is not rigid enough and the load on the back is wagging back and fo...

63.1 miles, 1,148 ft ascent, Max grade 4.6%, 5:12 riding time, Ness City elevation 2,261 ft Johannes and I started our day with a great breakfast at Perkins.  It is amazing how much I am eating on this trip (and I am probably losing weight!).  We then headed west with a tailwind of 4 - 8 mph, overcast skies and temp in the 60’s.  We werre on one road all day today.  The weather out here changes so much that the precipitation forecast is meaningless.  The forecast said 5% chance of rain, but we rode through rain on and off all day, but never very heavy.  We were able to find a convenience store with inside seating for lunch today, which was certainly better than eating out in the rain.  Many of the small towns we are riding through have no services, and if they did have something at one time, it has since gone out of business.  The geography changed significantly around mid-day today.  We rode along and over parallel ridges that looked like a ...