Kiki Bikes Across America

Archive for July 15th, 2009

Wednesay, July 15th – Lake Fork Campground to Pa Co Chu Puk Campground (8 miles outside of Ridgway)

We got a relatively late start again – no real surprise though. We got up at 6:15 or so and packed up, but then ran into some cyclists just before getting out of the park, so we stopped to chat. They were doing a Colorado tour for a couple weeks.

We started the slow climb up Route 50 and stopped to get good water, since we were told by a fisherman at the campground that the water would make us sick – I don’t think it would have, but who knows. I already had drank an entire 24 oz. of it that morning – I felt a little funny, but not sick. So we got fresh water just a couple miles up the road. The ride was very slow going – the first 20 miles were all uphill for the most part, but got a nice downhill just before Cimmaron. Just before arriving to Cimmaron we stopped at a general store to refill on water, but were convinced to try the pie – so we did. I had coconut cream pie with ice cream and Chase had blackberry pie with ice cream. It was delicious:) An hour later we were back on the bikes (after I had refilled my water there – which was a bad idea). the water was pretty gross – from the pipes. Really yellow and smelled bad, so I didn’t drink it. Luckily there was a place just down the road where I bought a gallon of water for $2.00 and it was tasty! No worries about bad water there…

Coconut Cream Pie! Yummy!

Another long climb after Cimmaron and we finally finished that a while later and then it was all downhill to Montrose. We stopped at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison to see if we could hitch-hike in, but the two people we asked didn’t seem interested, so we just continued on to Montrose. We got there about 1:30 and had lunch (Subway for me, Pizza for Chase). Then ran some errands – but first had to stop at the Russell Stover Outlet since we’d seen a billboard about free samples. Needless to say our 5 minute quick run in turned into more like an hour that we were there. It was amazing – lots of chocolate, cheap prices, and even Blue Bell ice cream that Chase knows from back home.

The Russell Stover Outlet in Montrose, CO

Finally on to Walmart where we stocked up on goodies and dinner stuff for the next few days and then we went behind Walmart to repack all our bags to fit the food in. And at 5:30pm we finally got back on the road to continue towards Telluride, knowing at this point there was no chance we’d make it. We made it to a campground about 8 miles outside of Ridgway and called it a day.

Campsite at Pa Co Chu Puk Campground

GPS Stats:
59.9 miles
05:28 moving time
10.9 avg speed
39.6 max speed

Computer Stats:
61.45 miles
05:25:16 moving time
11.3 avg speed
41.0 max speed

On a side note, while in Montrose, I was stopped by a couple kids…

Kids: Isn’t your bike heavy?
Me: Yes, it’s about 100-105 lbs right now.
Kids: Wow (big eyed), why are you carrying all of that?
Me: I’m riding across country.
Kids: Why would you want to come to Montrose? (with the voice implying that Montrose shouldn’t be on my route – aka, nothing there worth seeing/doing)
Me: Because it’s along my route.
Kids: What state did you start in?
Me: Yorktown, Virginia.
Kids: Wow (big eyed again). And where are you going?
Me: San Francisco, California.
Kids: Wow. You’re kind of crazy. Have a good trip.