Kiki Bikes Across America

Archive for July 11th, 2009

Saturday, July 11th – Salida, CO to Pitkin, CO

I got up about 7:30 this morning, ate a little breakfast and rolled out after Mike returned from a quick dog walk. I stopped by Safeway to pick up a banana and a banana and strawberry smoothie. I got on the road by 9am and started the slow and long climb from Salida to Monarch Crest at 11,312 feet. The grade was 6% and fairly steady most of the way. I passed another two cyclists (Dwight and Brent) coming down Monarch Pass and we stopped and talked for a bit. They’re from CA and are riding to Yorktown, VA and plan to arrive by August 9th. They’re racing across the country pretty fast as they’ve got a sag vehicle and are on a time limit with their vacation.

I continued on up the mountains slowly, doing anywhere from 4-7 mph depending on the steepness and the wind. I stopped a few times to drink or snack on a peanut bar but didn’t really have much of a problem with the altitude. I thought it might be a bit tougher with lugging all the weight up the mountain and the oxygen becoming less, but it really wasn’t too bad. I was definitely happy to reach the top at 3 hours and 30 minutes later (riding time, that is). Just at the top, I was getting my stuff together and a guy gets out of a pickup truck and says “Are you Kiki?” – so I was caught off guard there and slightly puzzled. Turns out, it was Chase – he had come to look for me and see if he ran into me on the road, and so I went into the gift shop and got a hot dog and cheetos and then ate real quick and rode down the other side of the mountain to Sargents. At this point, the rain had started slightly and it was pretty cloudy, and since Chase had come all that way to look for me, I figured I’d just hitch a ride back with him and go with him and his parents to Tin Cup for a little music thing at Frenchy’s. So Chase stopped at Sargents to pick me up so I threw my bike in and bags and we headed back to Pitkin where his mom and dad were waiting.

After the climb up Monarch Pass

Off we went to Tin Cup – I drove the pickup over the bumpy and rocky road 21.5 miles to Tin Cup over Cumberland Pass. It took 1 hour and 4 minutes to get there. Once there, we listened to live music on the deck of Frenchy’s and had some food. Another long drive back to Pitkin over the pass (1 hr 10 minutes this time) and we got back and Chase had his birthday cake (his birthday is really July 16th next week, but his family was celebrating since they’re here with him now). So we had french vanilla cake with french vanilla icing – pretty yummy and we pigged out. Finally to sleep around 10:30 or 11pm…

GPS Stats (from Salida to Sargents):
33.8 miles
8.7 avg speed
45.9 max speed
03:53 moving time

Computer Stats:
34.57 miles
9.0 avg speed
47.0 max speed
03:49:46 moving time

I was driven 28.8 miles in the pickup truck from Sargents to Pitkin.

Today and the past couple of days I have met lots of really interesting people – it makes me want to stay here and keep talking to the locals and the others passing through.

If you talked to me, please drop me a line at kiki@transamericancyclist.com as you may have given me some contact info, but I may have lost it. But regardless, I’d love to hear from anyone who I have met along my journey – so please drop me a line.

Wednesday:

• Met Mike at the library – very cool person and we’ve hung out for three days now. He’s led me up my first 14er, Mt. Elbert, and I’m now hanging out with his dog Cal while he’s at a drag racing event in Denver.

Thursday:

• Met Andy and Veronica when climbing Mt. Elbert – hope you guys will drop me a line or find me on facebook. I have more pics of you guys if you want me to email them to you.
• Met Wilderness Bob on the trail as we were hiking down – he’s hiking the continental divide this year and has hiked many other long trails as well. Hope to hear from you if you find yourself near internet before you forget about bumping into me and Mike on the trail.

Friday:

• Met some really interesting folks (Michael and Jane) outside of the library today as I was leaving. They were curious about the cal cruiser and were checking it out. Their son is a professional climber and only 23 years old! I unfortunately already forgot his name.
• Met Steve down by the river who’s traveling around a bit now and doing some dirt-biking, kayaking, and mountain biking. He’s apparently quite a traveler and has for the past 15 years or so traveled for 3+ months every year. He’s doing Asia and South America and lots of other places – a lot of traveling by dirt bike. Sounds very fun and interesting.
• Met another couple tonight down by the skate park with their kids – Bill Smith and Jen Orr, I believe their names were. They told me they have a friend (Lael or Laer?) in San Francisco that I should look up – I hope I didn’t lose the paper they wrote it on, but if I did, I hope they’ll contact me (kiki@transamericancyclist.com).
• And lastly, I’ve been sitting at the Simmering Cup Coffee House and have had a nice time chatting with the owners, Doug and Delinda Crinklaw. They’re from Colorado originally, he’s from Grand Junction, and she from Durango area.

So as you can see, I’ve met a lot of really cool people thus far in the past couple of days since being on my own and here in Salida. I really like it and wish I could stay longer, but unfortunately need to crawl up the Monarch Pass and on to Pitkin so I can meet Chase before he wonders what happened to me! I was supposed to be there Thursday, then I told him Friday, and now it’s going to be Saturday before I get there.