Kiki Bikes Across America

Thursday, July 16th – Pa Co Chu Puk Campground to Telluride, CO

Today was grueling – we got a really late start. Decided after last night and staying up so late and the fact that it was Chase’s birthday, that we should just take it easy and I wouldn’t wake him up but instead just let him sleep till he woke up. He slept till 8:30 or so and we finally got going.

Last night we wound up just going over to another campsite and hanging out with some kids home from college/just going off to college in the Fall. We had smores with them, ate chips and cherries and drank coca cola… they fed us pretty well considering we didn’t really have a real dinner (just a bagel a piece). So we hung out till 12:30 or so in the morning and then finally called it a night and went to bed.

Downhill for 13 miles now

The ride today was pretty grueling and tiresome – 36 miles of uphill and 13 miles of downhill. The uphill from Ridgway to the Dallas Divide was about 11 miles and pretty much uphill the entire way varying steepness…just long. Once at the top it was smooth sailing all the way to Placerville but first we had to get through a bit of construction that took maybe 20 minutes or so. We stopped in Placerville and grabbed a bite to eat – we intended it to be a short stop, but again, was about an hour or so. We just grabbed some macaroni salad and carrot cake and split a bag of cheetos. Yummy and light enough to continue biking without stomach aches or anything.

Chase with his first birthday beer

We finished the ride to Telluride in 2 hours or so (it was 16 miles) and that was pretty grueling uphill… but we were very happy to arrive to Telluride. So happy that Chase had to stop immediately to get his birthday beer and celebrate, so we stopped at a bar/restaurant. Then on to find a place to camp – we went to the city park which we had been told was free to camp, but as it turned out it was $20 a site and we were feeling cheap sinc Telluride is so expensive. It’s a ritsy town for tourists to spend lots of money in. Entrees here are around $30 to start, a beer is $5, fries are $4-5, and sodas are around $2-3 depending on where you eat. So we were feeling cheap and unsure about wanting to spend $20 for a campsite… so rode up the road a bit to see if we could spot anything on the side of the road to camp. I thought the cemetary would be awesome, but Chase wasn’t digging the idea so much. We went back into town and were standing on a street corner discussing what we wanted to do when a guy (Brent) came up to us and said he recognized exactly what we were talking about (where to camp). He said he was down at the campground and just in a car with a trailer for a motorcycle, so I jumped in and asked if we could camp with him since he wasn’t pitching a tent. What a great idea – next thing we knew we were camping with him as well as Kyle, another touring cyclist who showed up just minutes later.

Kyle, another touring cyclist - he's from Berkley, California

So a fun and successful evening of free camping was had  - we hung around and talked for a short bit and then Chase and I went off in search of dinner. We wound up at this one place (very few were still open at 9:30pm)… and I got an YX sandwich on pizza bread (steak, onions, green and red peppers = amazing). It wasn’t as pricey as the other places, but still $13 for a sandwich and fries + tip. Either way, it was well deserved after a long day of uphill biking.

Chase and Brent at the campground in Telluride

Back to the campsite to crash…

GPS Stats:
51.5 miles
05:41 moving time
9.1 avg speed
35.8 max speed

Computer Stats:
52.89 miles
05:37:04 moving time
9.4 avg speed
36.5 max speed