This is it. Our last day. With Susan and Dan staying in Winter Park, about 20 miles down the road towards Georgetown, it was decided we should all take our time getting to Georgetown, whatever way worked best, and not try to ride together on our last day. This worked fine for me as, to be honest, I wanted to nurse a still aching (a little, anyway) knee and enjoy our last ride. What better person to do this with, than Oleh? It was great riding together. We set out around 8:00 AM and made our way towards our first stop, Winter Park. As we neared the town, I hopped on ahead to scout out some new riding glasses. For reasons I still can't figure out, I managed to lose mine literally minutes before leaving Granby. These are pretty essential items - we have a big descent today, and I'd hate to have a spec of dust or bug fly into my eyes while spinning down the mountain on my bike at 50mph! With a nice new pair of glasses, I rejoined Oleh at our first rest stop in Winter Park where we hung out for awhile before starting the real climb up the mammoth Berthoud Pass. Susan and Dan, and Peter (riding independently) were long gone by now.
Up we went, a 12 mile (19 km) relentless ascent up Berthoud Pass, 11,307 feet in elevation. Thankfully, I was used to the elevation by this time, however, I took it easy going up, which gave me a chance to meet Rich, a fellow Ride the Rockies cyclist who was slowly making his way there the hard way... using only <his hands> to pull himself up the mountain. A paraplegic, Rich is one of the most inspiring guys I've ever met. The trike he used must have weighed a ton, and this mountain was a brute. But he was determined to get to the top no matter what. I learned later that Rich, an experienced mountaineer, had climbed just about every major mountain in Colorado and the pacific Northwest (including some of ours in Canada) before his climbing accident six years ago. Nothing was going to stop him.
After a very enjoyable chat, I rode on ahead, taking photos as I went. At last, I rounded the corner and found myself at the top, our last summit of the ride. High above the snow line, it was pretty chilly up there. I bought a warm Fajhita and waited until, a few minutes later, Oleh arrived. We had lunch and exchanged photos. After a while several new friends of Oleh's arrived up the mountain as well, our last reunion before heading down to Georgetown and the Ride the Rockies finish line.
The descent was truly awesome - nearly fourteen miles (22 km) frewheeling down the mountainside. About two thirds of the way down, I had to stop for a moment. The cold and near constant vibration of the handlebars as the bike whipped down the mountin caused my hands to numb up. With that awful crass on Tennessee Pass still in my mind, the last thing I wanted was to have hands that were so compromised they might lose control of the bike. A few minutes later, my hands felt much better, and about the same time Oleh came whizzing by. I caught up with him and continued our ride into Georgetown.
I kept looking up at the sky as clouds,which had hung closely on the mountain all day, were growing more threatening. Still rain held off as we cycled along dry roads leading up to the lake on the south side of Georgetown. Then, about a mile outside of town, I felt a few rain drops. Thank God we didn't have rain going down that mountainside! Then, literally minutes before reaching the finish line, the storm hit. It was raining so hard that the moment Oleh and I were off our bikes, we were running for cover. Needless to say, our reunion was pretty brief. Susan, who had been waiting for us for close to three hours, was shivering with cold. I was feeling pretty badly around then that I had taken so long to get off mountain. But, we had made it, safe and uninjured. What a tour this has been!
It took us about an hour until we finally started to head our separate ways. During that time our best laid plans changed about as quickly as that Colorado thunderstorm. Eventually, however, Oleh went with Peter and Eric back to Denver, after which Peter and Erica would drive across the mid west back to Las Vegas. Susan, Dan and I headed toward Frisco, where Susan had a ski cabin.
Before we left Georgetown, I had one last unforgettable memory... of watching Rich, the paraplegic I had met on the mountain earlier that day, arrive at the finish line. Among the very last of the riders to arrive, Rich had to endure that heavy rainstorm befor the home stretch. Car horns up and own the street began honking, and crowds began clapping as Rich pedaled his way over the line. Running up behind him, I reached out and grasped his icy hands with returned a firm handshake. Rich's lips were blue with cold. He was clearly exhausted, but he had accomplished what to many would have been an impossible feat. I'll never forget the look in his eyes, as Rich was surrounded by his friends, family, and admirers.
And so, Ride the Rockies 2011 ended, all to quickly, in this pretty little mountain town. As we headed out of town, the sun began to break out. I said one last goodbye to Oleh, Peter and Eric, then climbed into Dan's van, stuffed to the ceiling with bags and bikes and headed for Frisco, and the Epilogue of our journey. I have so many wonderful memories of this journey, it is hard to capture all of them in this journal. However, I hope you can see why I have come to love Colorado since I first started doing Ride the Rockies here in 2005. It was so great that Peter and Oleh could join us this year. It was a ride we'll remember for a very long time.
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