'Our race to the World Cup Final'
Kick off in: 54 hours
Miles to go: 164
We left Fruita at 8am to get down to Hanksville for some lunch, it ended up taking us only two and a half hours to cover the 37 miles to lunch which was good going. We found an awesome place to eat and turned out we had met the waitress the day before so she was very kind to us. We ended up spending six hours there as the heat was brutal! When we left it was the hottest time of the day and we turned into a brutal headwind. We had 'only' 50 miles but I thought it was 35 so leaving at 1630 was a bad idea. The next five hours were some of the tougher we have had.
Sale arrived an hour before us and found some Mormans to talk to which was pretty weird from what he said. They were out hiking a group of 18 blokes which I assumed was three or four fathers sons cousins type arrangement but turned out it was just the one family; grandfather, sons and many grandsons.
The ride to the campsite may have been tough but the scenery was awesome. After 20 miles we dropped into a canyon which was great as it means it's all down hill to Powell Lake. But when there is a wind blowing up this canyon progress was unbelievably slow, added to the fatigued legs it didn't make for good speed. We got to the lake which could now be compared to a puddle relative to its former size. We could see the camp ground on the other side but the ten mile trip around the former shore was soul destroying to say the least.
We had met a 50 something year old lady in the 'super'market in a local town who told us that when she was a teenager, she would would jump into Lake Powell from the Colorado River bridge, as we crossed said bridge the drop to the river was 200 foot. Not something that you would want to jump off! This brought to light the extent of the drought that western USA is in but the locals just blame the Californians. By our campsite were some huge concrete slipways that now sat about three quarters of a mile from the lake edge which was another earie feeling from a setting that could have been in horror film.
Coming up the final hill that felt as if it were an eternity on the body we could see the moon rising, (you may have seen photos on Facebook) it was huge the photos do no justice to it! When we were cooking dinner at 2300 that night [it had all got a bit late that day], the moon was so bright there was no need to torches or any light. However, camping at 3500 feet also was a crucial error as the night temperature did not dip below 75F, Jamie woke up in a puddle of his sweat. Rancid.
Sam Sutcliffe
The sleep that night had not in anyway helped my legs to recover in the slightest, I left Hite in the same state that I arrived, absolutely shattered and finding it very difficult to turn the pedals.
The thought of a motel, a shower and a bed at the other end was the biggest motivation ever as well as The 'Soccer' World Cup Final the next day being something we all obviously wanted to watch!
Sam Sutcliffe
We left with a very nice 21 miles to Monticello at about five pm after a torrential thunderstorm had passed over. We arrived and grabbed some grub in a decent steakhouse then poped over to the 'city' park. Then the problems began.
Sale set up his tent on the grass and hooper and I slept under tables. At about one hell was unleashed in the form of sprinklers spraying freezing water all over us. We used Charles' tent as a shield against the disaster zone and I was unamused leaving at about six the next morning with a combined eight hours between us.
Sam Sutcliffe
After a leisurely start to the morning, we hit the road when it was just beginning to get hot. We got our legs going with a 8 mile flat before we started to climb Cero summit on what felt like the equivalent of the A1! Trying to stay as close to the side as possible to avoid the 'juganourghts' I managed to slip off the side of the road and plop over, out into Middle of the road. Before I had even checked if I was ok, I was up and hauling my bike onto side of the road to get out the way of the oversized loads that were rumbling up the hill. I was fine, my pride took the biggest dent and we continued on up death road.
Down we went to our second breakfast of fruits of the Forrest pie which gave us the energy to get up the next hill. This hill passed without anyone (normally me) falling off and we cruised the next 30 miles down wind to Gunnison.
Our first priority in Gunnison was chocolate milk, a strange priority but one we had been told was the best thing we could ever have for recovery by an ex pro cyclist so his word was now gospel!
After smashing our body weight in tacos we began looking for somewhere to camp. This search took Sam and I all over town leaving Jamie to think about Maths and his retakes. Our search was very unsuccessful, we were turned away by the church, couldn't camp in the park until we met Justin who said that we could camp in his back garden and use his shower. We were slightly skeptical at first but after meeting him properly he was a top bloke. His friend came round and we chatted the evening away feeling very relaxed.
18th July: Gunnerson to Salida: 65 miles
We woke up around 6 to find that it was bloody freezing in our tents. We upped sticks and moved as fast as we physically could, which being morning isn't that fast - heading to the diner justin had recommended the night before.
Today was a big day as we crossed the continental divide and our highest summit of the trip, Monarch pass at 11300 feet so we felt we needed an extra big feed! After what felt like days we left the diner feeling carb loaded and weighed down. I was so weighed down that I managed to get a puncture rolling out of town. This was a first puncture of the whole trip which after 1500 miles is a credit to our tyres so off the back wheel came and out came the tools. After fafing with the length of the valve I managed sort everything out and we hit the road again.
It was a nice 25 miles before our first rest stop and another piece of pie before we took on what had become the infamous Monarch pass in our own minds. We started gradually and took it easy before Sam and I left Jamie and got into a great rhythm with Sam on the inside having to deal with not wobbling and falling off the cliff and me on the outside dealing with RV's rumbling past. Lucky the traffic was more foregiving than on previous hills and we arrived at the top an hour and a half later and VERY out of breath!
After some photos by the highest point of our trip, the highest any of us have ever been we hit the decent into Salida. The 18 miles down the hill took about 30 minutes before we swung off the road and up to our warm showers contact for the night. This hill was the worst of the day because of the 20% grade on top of some very tired legs. However, as soon as we walked through the doors of Harry's house he had some beers out. We quickly forget about our legs and enjoyed Harry's hospitality and a very comfy bed for the night.
19th July: Salida to pueblo: 101 miles
Sam Sutcliffe
12th July: Hite to Blanding: 74 miles
To the World Cup Final
Kick off in: 37 hours
Miles to go: 77
Having had a dreadful nights sleep down by Lake Powell where the temperature never got below 75F we got up at 0530, ate then left.
To the World Cup Final
Kick off in: 37 hours
Miles to go: 77
Having had a dreadful nights sleep down by Lake Powell where the temperature never got below 75F we got up at 0530, ate then left.
The sleep that night had not in anyway helped my legs to recover in the slightest, I left Hite in the same state that I arrived, absolutely shattered and finding it very difficult to turn the pedals.
The thought of a motel, a shower and a bed at the other end was the biggest motivation ever as well as The 'Soccer' World Cup Final the next day being something we all obviously wanted to watch!
This day was brutal. It started with a 46 mile climb to near the Natural Bridges National Monument. Now to climb for 46 miles was a severely depressing idea in any situation, but it was at such a grade that you could not just treat it as a relatively flat section and pump a good gear. Moreover, it was just not steep enough to be in a real climbing gear. So the constant change in gear was frustrating, coupled with the fact that the temperature was going up and up made it a really tough day at the office. Personally I completely underestimated the day, I carried as much water as I could but did not ration it as I should have like we had dome in Nevada. After several hours of winding up this never ending hill we reached the turning to the Natural Bridges, ate some lunch [usual peanut butter and salami sandwiches] and made the decision to not go up the additional five mile and see the bridges as it was an additional 5 mile climb in the heat of the day! We still had 31 miles to go and over 1500 feet more uphill. With ten miles to go I eventually ran out if water, slight panic descended as I was still heading up hill. I began to get wobbly and dehydrated I tried to get a car to stop, thankfully, a random family from Nebraska stopped and gave me two ice cold bottles of water which was a welcome change from the bath water that I had had to become used to.
Making it to the motel was a relief with air con and a pool. Another awesome day in the desert, but utterly brutal. And what's more our race to the World Cup final was complete, we had made it actually with rather a lot of time to spare...
Sam Sutcliffe
13th July: Blanding to Monticello: 21 miles
We got up very late had a swim in the motel pool. Then we stole all the breakfast from the buffet as we could physically get our hands on.
We got up very late had a swim in the motel pool. Then we stole all the breakfast from the buffet as we could physically get our hands on.
Then the buildup began for the Final, you all watched it I will assume, good game, the better team won etc etc...
We left with a very nice 21 miles to Monticello at about five pm after a torrential thunderstorm had passed over. We arrived and grabbed some grub in a decent steakhouse then poped over to the 'city' park. Then the problems began.
The park was green lush grass had a picnic benched area with loads of tables concrete floor as well as a large warehouse roof type cover going on.
Sale set up his tent on the grass and hooper and I slept under tables. At about one hell was unleashed in the form of sprinklers spraying freezing water all over us. We used Charles' tent as a shield against the disaster zone and I was unamused leaving at about six the next morning with a combined eight hours between us.
Sam Sutcliffe
14th July, Monticello to Dolores: 60 miles
The big excitement for this day was crossing into Colorado, and after a fair amount of time plodding through Utah (which was extremely beautiful don't get me wrong) this was a welcome change! We woke up after our sprinkler interrupted night in the park feeling worse for wear.
With porridge in our bellies and only slightly less tired eyes we set off. It was 25 miles to Dove Creek where we had decided we would get our second breakfast. On the way there we left Utah and entered Colorado, which promised to be 'colourful' though we didn't really know how the red rock of Utah was going to be beaten! Now I'm not gonna lie, it should have just said green and grey as essentially in Colorado there are green trees that cover the grey Rockie mountains - once you escape the more boring prairie land!
Dove Creek was a fairly unassuming little town which centred around the road we were cycling on. A few mills here and there and a diner and gas station! The diner provided with one of our smaller american breakfasts, which of course we were shocked by.
Then came the 30 odd mile stint into Dolores! Sam and I stopped for a fizzy drink after 10 miles and I bought the aptly named energy drink the 'go fast'! It did what it said on the tin, my brain went into overdrive and I convinced Sam that it made sense to climb hills at twice the pace as we descended them. I didn't leave top gear for 20 miles and it is fair to say that I will be buying this drink again, which probably contained 2000 percent of your daily caffeine allowance!
We met Charles at the change of road and sped into Dolores deciding that it was time to start the pannier clad tour of Colorado! Once in Dolores we had a decent burger and met a couple of professional cyclists, Lauren Hall who happens to be riding in the la course by le Tour de France which is the female equivalent of the Tour de France! And then later in the bike shop we met Nicholas who had moved from professional road cycling to being a triathlete! On his day off he so
Kindly fixed up all of our bikes and we waited out a pretty decent hailstorm with golf ball sized hailstones! We were staying with warm showers again and Nicholas was invited to dinner and we headed up to the house, getting horrendously lost on the way! Dave and Belinda out hosts put us up that night and were extremely friendly hosts. They gave us a lovely dinner and a place to camp in their gym, which was actually really comfortable on the rubber mat floor. A day well done!
15th July: Dolores to Telluride: 65 miles
After a great breakfast with Dave and Belinda in Dolores, we hit the road later than expected. This late departure may have been in the knowledge that we had our first mountain pass in the Rockies on the cards and a day spent cycling up hill.
We went back past lizard head cyclery where we had spent most of yesterday afternoon before beggining the gradual climb to stoner. Given the recent legalization of pot in Colorado, we stopped briefly for snaps next to the sign post before heading on up to Rico.
On the way up, we met some cyclists who were also touring, but with a support car. This we thorght was cheating and it was a great boost for morale as we over took them with all our luggage etc.
We rolled into Rico wearily after 38 miles up hill and found somewhere to eat in peace. However, the village drunk had other ideas and we had a very limited conversation with him much to the bar lady's distress who apologized profusely. After an extended lunch, we tackled the last 12 miles to the top of lizard head pass. To be honest, getting to the top of this pass was a bit of an anti climax, I'm not sure if we are getting a lot fitter or if the gradient wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Probably a bit of both but the top it was! 10 500 feet, the 2nd highest summit of the trip.
However , what goes up must come down. We launched ourselfs down the decent trying to break our speed record of 52 mph but headwinds prevailed and slowed us down (probably for good reason) and we settled for 45 mph.
After a very quick down and much slower 500 foot climb, we arrived in telluride, a ski resort. A quick rekie of the tourist info told us that the only place to camp in town was the park. Off we went to the park to be horrified when confronted wit the sign 'CAMPING FEE 27$ '. We feel that paying for camping isn't right so we sneaked in corner of the campsite and popped our tents up quickly, had a bite to eat and got off to bed within 45 minutes of arriving before the rain started. The threat of rain does make us do some pretty nuts stuff. We did 10 miles in 21 minutes in Utah to avoid another rain shower. In the end the rain didn't come, neither did the campsite warden so ended up as another successful night of free camping!
16th July:Telluride to Montrose: 66 miles
After leaving the campsite before the warden had sniffed us out we grabbed a very expensive breakfast in telluride, being a ski resort and a tourist hot spot we had been warned but when the 'ticket' came it really did give us a fright!
Off we went after breakfast down the hill we had climbed the day before. 17 miles in half an hour or so without pedaling was whatI would call a good start to the day. However, we had to go up the next hill, 'the Dallas Divide', a 14 mile slog up to 9000 feet before another awesome decent. The climb was like any other we have been up, we separate when things begin to get steep with Sam telling me that he would see me at the top at 11 o clock with 14 miles to go and a good hour and three quarters left to climb. Needless to say Sam came over the summit shouting, 'look at your phone!!!!' And needless to say it was exactly 11 and he had nailed it!
Another decent on what was a pretty busy road meant that slip streaming the traffic to the annoyance of the Colorado drivers but again it was bloody good fun if a bit hairy when we were zipping along on the wet roads with very limited visibility.
During our coffee break, we met a bloke who had done 17 cross country tours as well as two trips in Europe, one in Australia and Canada to Mexico twice! It was ridiculous, we thought we were nuts doing 4000 miles but this bloke had done over 70000 miles. He wished us good luck and warned us about the lack of hard shoulder between Ridgway and Montrose.
He was right, the Ridgway to Montrose stretch was bloody terrifying with lorries rumbling past us, apparently without noticing us. Or just being too bloody lazy to move the strearing wheel quarter of an inch!
Somehow we made it to Montrose, and crashed in sonic, one of Americas many fast food places we hadn't tried. It was all drive through, even when we walked in to the restaurant we had to order via a microphone. It took me A LONG time to crack it and my god it wasn't worth the effort. So for pudding, we went across the road to much better known territories, to McDonalds!
After a long afternoon in maccies, we headed to our warm showers hosts for the evening. John and Emily let us camp on their porch, get some much needed washing done to our clothes and our bodies. It was a great evening listening to stories of their two year long trip from New Zealand to Nepal whilst enjoying johns recommended local ales.
17th July: Montrose to Gunnison: 65 miles
After a great breakfast with Dave and Belinda in Dolores, we hit the road later than expected. This late departure may have been in the knowledge that we had our first mountain pass in the Rockies on the cards and a day spent cycling up hill.
We went back past lizard head cyclery where we had spent most of yesterday afternoon before beggining the gradual climb to stoner. Given the recent legalization of pot in Colorado, we stopped briefly for snaps next to the sign post before heading on up to Rico.
On the way up, we met some cyclists who were also touring, but with a support car. This we thorght was cheating and it was a great boost for morale as we over took them with all our luggage etc.
We rolled into Rico wearily after 38 miles up hill and found somewhere to eat in peace. However, the village drunk had other ideas and we had a very limited conversation with him much to the bar lady's distress who apologized profusely. After an extended lunch, we tackled the last 12 miles to the top of lizard head pass. To be honest, getting to the top of this pass was a bit of an anti climax, I'm not sure if we are getting a lot fitter or if the gradient wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Probably a bit of both but the top it was! 10 500 feet, the 2nd highest summit of the trip.
However , what goes up must come down. We launched ourselfs down the decent trying to break our speed record of 52 mph but headwinds prevailed and slowed us down (probably for good reason) and we settled for 45 mph.
After a very quick down and much slower 500 foot climb, we arrived in telluride, a ski resort. A quick rekie of the tourist info told us that the only place to camp in town was the park. Off we went to the park to be horrified when confronted wit the sign 'CAMPING FEE 27$ '. We feel that paying for camping isn't right so we sneaked in corner of the campsite and popped our tents up quickly, had a bite to eat and got off to bed within 45 minutes of arriving before the rain started. The threat of rain does make us do some pretty nuts stuff. We did 10 miles in 21 minutes in Utah to avoid another rain shower. In the end the rain didn't come, neither did the campsite warden so ended up as another successful night of free camping!
16th July:Telluride to Montrose: 66 miles
After leaving the campsite before the warden had sniffed us out we grabbed a very expensive breakfast in telluride, being a ski resort and a tourist hot spot we had been warned but when the 'ticket' came it really did give us a fright!
Off we went after breakfast down the hill we had climbed the day before. 17 miles in half an hour or so without pedaling was whatI would call a good start to the day. However, we had to go up the next hill, 'the Dallas Divide', a 14 mile slog up to 9000 feet before another awesome decent. The climb was like any other we have been up, we separate when things begin to get steep with Sam telling me that he would see me at the top at 11 o clock with 14 miles to go and a good hour and three quarters left to climb. Needless to say Sam came over the summit shouting, 'look at your phone!!!!' And needless to say it was exactly 11 and he had nailed it!
Another decent on what was a pretty busy road meant that slip streaming the traffic to the annoyance of the Colorado drivers but again it was bloody good fun if a bit hairy when we were zipping along on the wet roads with very limited visibility.
During our coffee break, we met a bloke who had done 17 cross country tours as well as two trips in Europe, one in Australia and Canada to Mexico twice! It was ridiculous, we thought we were nuts doing 4000 miles but this bloke had done over 70000 miles. He wished us good luck and warned us about the lack of hard shoulder between Ridgway and Montrose.
He was right, the Ridgway to Montrose stretch was bloody terrifying with lorries rumbling past us, apparently without noticing us. Or just being too bloody lazy to move the strearing wheel quarter of an inch!
Somehow we made it to Montrose, and crashed in sonic, one of Americas many fast food places we hadn't tried. It was all drive through, even when we walked in to the restaurant we had to order via a microphone. It took me A LONG time to crack it and my god it wasn't worth the effort. So for pudding, we went across the road to much better known territories, to McDonalds!
After a long afternoon in maccies, we headed to our warm showers hosts for the evening. John and Emily let us camp on their porch, get some much needed washing done to our clothes and our bodies. It was a great evening listening to stories of their two year long trip from New Zealand to Nepal whilst enjoying johns recommended local ales.
17th July: Montrose to Gunnison: 65 miles
After a leisurely start to the morning, we hit the road when it was just beginning to get hot. We got our legs going with a 8 mile flat before we started to climb Cero summit on what felt like the equivalent of the A1! Trying to stay as close to the side as possible to avoid the 'juganourghts' I managed to slip off the side of the road and plop over, out into Middle of the road. Before I had even checked if I was ok, I was up and hauling my bike onto side of the road to get out the way of the oversized loads that were rumbling up the hill. I was fine, my pride took the biggest dent and we continued on up death road.
Down we went to our second breakfast of fruits of the Forrest pie which gave us the energy to get up the next hill. This hill passed without anyone (normally me) falling off and we cruised the next 30 miles down wind to Gunnison.
Our first priority in Gunnison was chocolate milk, a strange priority but one we had been told was the best thing we could ever have for recovery by an ex pro cyclist so his word was now gospel!
After smashing our body weight in tacos we began looking for somewhere to camp. This search took Sam and I all over town leaving Jamie to think about Maths and his retakes. Our search was very unsuccessful, we were turned away by the church, couldn't camp in the park until we met Justin who said that we could camp in his back garden and use his shower. We were slightly skeptical at first but after meeting him properly he was a top bloke. His friend came round and we chatted the evening away feeling very relaxed.
18th July: Gunnerson to Salida: 65 miles
We woke up around 6 to find that it was bloody freezing in our tents. We upped sticks and moved as fast as we physically could, which being morning isn't that fast - heading to the diner justin had recommended the night before.
Today was a big day as we crossed the continental divide and our highest summit of the trip, Monarch pass at 11300 feet so we felt we needed an extra big feed! After what felt like days we left the diner feeling carb loaded and weighed down. I was so weighed down that I managed to get a puncture rolling out of town. This was a first puncture of the whole trip which after 1500 miles is a credit to our tyres so off the back wheel came and out came the tools. After fafing with the length of the valve I managed sort everything out and we hit the road again.
It was a nice 25 miles before our first rest stop and another piece of pie before we took on what had become the infamous Monarch pass in our own minds. We started gradually and took it easy before Sam and I left Jamie and got into a great rhythm with Sam on the inside having to deal with not wobbling and falling off the cliff and me on the outside dealing with RV's rumbling past. Lucky the traffic was more foregiving than on previous hills and we arrived at the top an hour and a half later and VERY out of breath!
After some photos by the highest point of our trip, the highest any of us have ever been we hit the decent into Salida. The 18 miles down the hill took about 30 minutes before we swung off the road and up to our warm showers contact for the night. This hill was the worst of the day because of the 20% grade on top of some very tired legs. However, as soon as we walked through the doors of Harry's house he had some beers out. We quickly forget about our legs and enjoyed Harry's hospitality and a very comfy bed for the night.
19th July: Salida to pueblo: 101 miles
Today we began in Salida and we had decided to do the 100 miles to Pueblo in a day to give ourselves more recovery time. It was about hundred miles all day. But all down hill with a tailwind. The first 48 miles were a breeze, zipping along by the Arkansas River a short climb and then a further ten miles downhill to Canyon City. It was all good, apart from the fact that every car that drove past us was trying to muscle us off the road into the canyon side and kill us...NOT fun and bloody terrifying!
Arriving in pueblo was amazing and it felt like we had achieved a serious mile stone and we are pretty much half way through in effort and time. In pueblo we are staying in David Barrow's company house, haddonstone. The House is awesome, so thank you very much to David. We are enjoying the pure luxury of having a bed to ourselves, a shower, plenty of food, and trash American television.
A sofa is a welcome change from a bike saddle!
We are now planning to update our blogs daily, so please keep checking for new entries. Also the Facebook page has all the photos on it so please also check those out.
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