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| View towards Crested Butte |
Miles ridden
today: 27.7
Elevation
gain: 1,424 feet
Time in
saddle: 2 hours, 12 mins
Total miles
ridden: 256.43
Total
elevation gain: 18,037 feet
Total time in
saddle: 22 hours, 14 mins
For
many years, Ride the Rockies incorporated a rest day on the middle day of the
ride: a day with no riding. No
more! Now, they call is a “recovery day”
– and plan a shorter, easier ride, just to keep us on our toes (or in our toe
clips).
Today’s
ride was 27 miles of gentle upslope from Gunnison (altitude 7,703 feet) up to
the ski town of Crested Butte (altitude 8,800 feet) – some high alpine cycling.
As
Gunnison doesn’t have accommodation for all the riders, Steph and I were
actually staying in Crested Butte overnight.
We drove down to Gunnison and met up with James, who was camping there,
for the ride back up the hill.
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| Packin' 'em in the car! |
At
breakfast at the hotel, we met other riders, some of whom had been waiting for
the RTR bus to Gunnison for over an hour – more evidence of the slight lack of
organization around here. Realizing the
bus was unlikely to come, we ended up piling eight of us in Steph’s
car – a cozy way to start the day.
The
ride itself was beautiful, as evidenced in these pictures. James and I took it slowly, in the spirit of
‘recovery’ and rolled into Crested Butte in time to meet Steph for lunch.
After
racking up nearly 180 miles in the last two days, it was nice to have a gentle
morning ride. An afternoon of rest and relaxation sets me up nicely for the
longest day tomorrow.
I
had mistakenly identified Monday as the longest day at 98 miles – not so –
tomorrow will be 102 over Cottonwood Pass and the highest point of the ride at
12,126 feet. It will be an early start….
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| The West Elk mountains |
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| Gunnison River |
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| Gunnison River |
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| A typical RTR aid station |
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