Tour de Hans: Hitting New Highs

Leaving Arizona and entering Utah it really looked like the Wild West. Monument Valley had been on my radar ever since I watched Back to the Future III again in Southeast Asia. I had to check this place out and it did not disappoint. As a result, The Searchers (’56), Hondo (’53) and Stagecoach (’39) are all on my must watch movie list when I get back home.

I don’t know about you but I sure do enjoy getting high. And so going into Colorado I was quite excited as it is a place where one can do just that quite easily. As such, we got high like every day! No we weren’t passing joints around but we were passing Passes. We cycled through about 10 Passes ranging from 3,200m to 3,700m. We also cycled up the highest paved road in North America: Mt. Evans at just over 4,300m. This marked our highest altitude on the trip so it is all downhill from here! I wish.

Going through Colorado certainly has tested us both physically and mentally. Though I would say going up and down hills is a lot more mental than it is physical. If you know you have a killer hill ahead, you can just put your head down, stick it in a low gear and go slow and steady. But if you threw a hill at me in a place like Thailand where I don’t expect them I would probably rant and get annoyed. Having prepared ourselves mentally really helped with the climbs.

There are lots of pictures in this post as this last stretch of road has provided endless amounts of spectacular scenery. If you are like Trevor who can’t be bothered to take in the scenery than I guess most of the following pictures will bore you. Seriously, Trevor annoys me when he asks why I am stopping when we are surrounded by mountains galore and the sun is out. Open your eyes and take a wild guess.

We have a fair number of National Parks still ahead and I am super stoked. Trevor isn’t. And yes, I just used the word stoked.

Scavengers looking for free handouts. Unfortunately for them, their persistence didn’t really pay off.

We met Greg who hails from Wales in Northern Arizona in between Tuba City and Keyanta. He is the first around the world cyclist we have met in a long while. Nice chatting with him and I am envious of his climb of Everest a couple of years back. Another dream of mine. Anyway, we talked about the hardships of cycling solo. It is definitely much easier when you have someone to talk to and vent at as opposed to talking with yourself all day long. Being on the road by yourself for endless amounts of days is a difficult task. Respect.

Entering the Monument Valley area we had an intense sandstorm ahead of us. Obviously you can’t really see the severity of the sand flying across the road but believe me it was on and sand definitely got into my mouth and eyes. Trevor was in fear and questioned how will we ever get through this? I stopped right then and there, slapped him a couple of times in the face and told him to buck up. And then said: a man’s gotta do, what a man’s gotta do…………… Okay, it didn’t quite go down like that. I just wanted to quote that line even though it was never said word for word in any John Wayne Western films. I know this because I did some research online.

Around Monument Valley we lucked out and found some cover in this tunnel. At first I thought it was a great spot but as I tried to fall asleep I began gasping for air. Not sure why but I had trouble breathing in the tunnel. I am guessing there was a lack of oxygen. Trevor slept fine though.

Monument Valley. Definitely an awesome sight to see. You can just picture Cowboys and Indians battling it out here.

Enter Utah and more Monument Valley.

I couldn’t stop looking back at the vistas while cycling up Route 163. And if I am not mistaken, this is the spot where Forrest Gump stops running. We can relate to him in that we just want to cycle. No real cause, just want to cycle.

Almost ran over this snake in blistering hot Utah. It was in attack mode when I approached it so I quickly lifted my legs up and swerved around it. Then hopped off my bike and went back to check it out. I don’t think it is poisonous or anything, just a harmless snake chilling on the hot tarmac working on its tan. Happens from time to time.

Some unique looking rocks that look to me like a nut sack. Be proud Bluff, Utah!

Enter the Rocky Mountains proper.

The scenic stretch of road from Silverton to Ouray is referred to as the Million Dollar Highway. And it did look like a million bucks that is for sure with nonstop stellar scenery all the way through.

Trevor in Ouray, a town that dubs itself the Switzerland of America. It was a nice town indeed with mountains galore all around. I love mountain towns.

And here is another one: Aspen! I have always wanted to check this place out, though more so in the winter, as I have always thought it as a rival to Whistler Blackcomb. I would love to hit the slopes here one day although the price of a lift ticket is well over my budget.

The thunderstorms will not quit on us in the U.S. It was a daily occurrence in Colorado. Rain, rain go away! We got hit hard going up Independence Pass and it forced us to layer up as it was pretty cold.

Independence Pass! The highest paved Pass in Colorado at 3,687m.

Stealth camping has been pretty good in Colorado. This spot pictured was one of our best overlooking the Twin Lakes with Mt. Elbert (highest peak in the North American Rockies) in the other direction.

A lot of the hills we have gone up or down don’t always have a guardrail. So one must be very careful cruising up or down hills. We cycled by many sharp cliff drops where if you fell off, you’d probably be a goner. It kind of reminded me of the World’s Most Dangerous Road in Bolivia. Personally I think if you can handle the roads here in Colorado with no guardrails, you could easily handle the road in Bolivia. It really wasn’t that dangerous in my view when we cycled down it last year on the backpacking trip. Driving back up it though, that was scary.

Also checked out Vail, the second largest ski resort in North America after Whistler Blackcomb (represent). Their village was pretty nice too although it looked quite expensive. No surprise as this is also where the stars come out to ski. Like I said, I love mountain towns. Fresh air, cold crisp water to drink, usually a river or two flowing through and delicious food smells emanating the air from the many restaurants around. Unfortunately our budget doesn’t allow us to indulge in those restaurants but they sure smelled good!

They certainly have some excellent bike paths in and around Aspen and Vail. Hats off to them for building an infrastructure that accommodates cyclists, walkers, runners, and rollerbladers. I salute you! Going up to Vail Pass there was this Triple Bypass race going on with hundreds and hundreds of cyclists. Usually it is the non-racers like us who should be cheering and encouraging the racers but it was the racers doing just that to us. Many we passed gave us the thumbs up and I could see some of them stare in awe. One even said they have nothing on us. That made me laugh. Again, quite humbling the support given to us just going up this Pass.

We met Chris at the Frisco Walmart by chance and he kindly invited us to stay with him and his wife Emma for the night. Again, I am astounded by the kindness of strangers on this trip. It was a great evening and we chatted a lot about travel. They sent us off the next morning with a delicious breakfast which provided us the energy we needed to make another Pass and also gave me a cycling jersey! A big thanks to both of them for their warm hospitality and taking in a couple of smelly cyclists for the night.

Loveland Pass, the second highest paved Pass in Colorado at 3,655m.

The Triple Bypass race was on for 2 straight days so the next day we were cycling with many racers again but this time going up Loveland Pass and some of Mt. Evans. The support given was incredible. Even though we weren’t registered for the event people would go and grab us food for us to snack on. At this one rest stop this man gave me a sweet black windbreaker! So no more riding around looking like a bum in my yellow ripped jacket. The windbreaker is really great as it does a much better job protecting me from the rain. Also late in the day a support crew I spoke with earlier drove up beside us and asked if we wanted the leftover pizza, milks and trail mix. That was a no brainer. Of course! The nice young girl even gave me a t-shirt. Trevor has never ran a marathon or participated in an event like this so he hasn’t experienced the support and encouragement given in events like these. I love it and always enjoy the support along the way. So it was really great cycling this stretch of road when this race was on.

Riding above the clouds going up Mt. Evans. Unfortunately the weather going up and down was pretty bad with poor visibility and thundershowers. To make matters worse there were no guardrails and the drops were quite steep. They closed the road to vehicles but cyclists like us could weave around the gate and get in, of course at our own risk. Going up the Park Ranger drove up beside us and asked if we were going to the top and also said the road is closed. I think she did this just to ensure we were cognizant and weren’t affected by the high altitude. Anyway, having the mountain all to ourselves became a blessing because we had the whole road to manoeuvre.

Nice to bag one of the many ‘fourteeners’ in Colorado. Tackling Mt. Evans was not my idea believe it or not. Nope, it was Trevor’s idea. As I may have said before, the only 2 things he wanted to do on this trip was hit the antipodal spots and go up Mt. Evans. I guess his trip is now complete.

We scrambled up another 40m or so to the summit of Mt. Evans. Had to watch my footing as behind those rocks is a major drop. It was really unfortunate with the poor visibility on the mountain. As Trevor put it, we came all that way to see what we couldn’t see. Had it been clear skies we could have seen places like the Denver metro, Pike’s Peak and South Park! Not the television show, the real town!

Plenty of marmots running around all over the place on the mountain. Shame I wanted to see some mountain goats but I guess they were in hiding because of the crappy weather.

I had brief windows to snap photos on Mt. Evans, this being one of them. Otherwise, you would be seeing pictures of fog thick as pea soup. Above the treeline kind of reminded me of the Scottish Highlands or somewhere in Ireland.

Bullwinkle the moose who rarely stuck its head up as it was too busy having its dinner.

Because Trevor was high, he got the munchies and needed to fuel up on some grub before climbing even higher to 3,713m, the highest point on Trail Ridge Road which is the highest continuous stretch of paved road in the United States! Okay, that was pretty bad and I know what you are thinking: “Kevin, we get it, you guys got high, not recreationally or medicinally but literally high. You have proved that point by constantly noting the height in meters even though we can see it in feet. And we know Colorado recently legalized marijuana, something I wish the powers that be would legalize in my jurisdiction. Why someone can’t freely smoke an ounce and bounce at the same time is beyond me. But yeah, we see you are just playing around with the word ‘high’. The joke is getting old and you need to come up with some new material.” Ouch, a bit harsh on the criticism, but I appreciate your honesty and agree with your comments. I will say though in closing, while we both currently do look like stoners, especially Trevor, we don’t partake in the activity but do support the cause. But it isn’t something we are going to cycle full circle for. Remember, we just want to cycle.

Rocky Mountain National Park. We lucked out and had great weather all day. That rarely happens. Usually clouds roll through and thunderstorms ruin the rest of the day. But not when we went through this park. Sweet deal. Given the sunny weather, the only downside was the park was packed with vehicles. And there were plenty of steep drop-offs with no guardrails. It was tough for me to not constantly look at the mountains around me while cycling. Otherwise, I would have likely gone straight off a cliff.