On top of who's your...

On top of Hossier Pass, elevation 11542 feet, and only 11 miles remaining to Breckenridege and the end of the Ride the Rockies 2008 tour. People are exalting, holding their bikes over their heads and he sign marking the summit. After 415 miles, they're entitled. The smiles around me also are because the next 9 miles is downhill, the next 2,000 feet of it.
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The Tour's Last Aid Station

We Want to Pump You Up

The line for the pumps was long on this last morning for all the repair people had packed up their wares (and free pumps to use) and hightailed it to Breckenridge.

Saint George meets the Dragon in Crested Butte

An interesting piece of fairy tale-inspired sculpture in Crested Butte. Hand crafted and impressive. Sort of like Lee's assault on the RtR course!

Downtown Crested Butte

Thursday morning, a rest day, and everyone is, um, dogging it. The ski area lies to the back of this view.

Good Morning from Crested Butte

Good morning. From Crested Butte, Colorado on a rest day for riderrockys. Everybody is pretty grateful to have the time off. Folks are having warm breakfast at local cafes and nursing any wounds acquired on the road.

The funny story from yesterday was that two miles outside Crested Butte several directionally-challenged Texans held out a big sign welcoming everyone to Texas. As sign of the increasing ownership in this area, and other Colorado resort communities, of Texans.

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Coming in to Crested Butte

June 17th and 65 Miles from Telluride to Montrose

June 17th, one of the pleasures of ride the rockies is the opportunity to visit towns that you would otherwise never see. Leaving Telluride, we rode into Sawpit, Placerville and up the Dallas Divide. The latter destination was a fairly grueling 14 mile climb from 7,300 feet all the way up to almost 9,000 feet. The good news was the last part of the ride was a 36 mile downhill into Montrose and the high plains of Western Colorado. The RtR Tour passed through Montrose in 2005 . listen

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Waltzing in Montrose

We're here at Montrose High School tonight and people are showered up and ready to eat a meal, and to climb in to bed, before tomorrow's ride which is 92 miles, into Crested Butte. More later, thanks for blogging us. listen

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If There is a Prettier Town...

If there is a prettier town than Telluride, I've found very few competitors. A gorgeous town but it looks like all the big money has taken over what once was a friendly, almost ramshackle destination and tried to compete with Vail and Aspen. But, it's still very pretty. We went up on the Gondola in search of a late dinner but were disappointed and returned down the gondola to the base where we ate at Fat Alley (highly recommended). The gondola, incidentially, doesn't stop at the top as most do. It traverses the whole mountain from front to top to back. A recommended ride in Telluride.

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Hi Blog-heads, we are...

Hi Blog-heads, we are behind schedule with our blog, because of cell phone difficulty in Telluride. Bought an expansion card to load photos in Cortez, but it can't be set up without your home computer (thank you, Palm and Treo). The process of resetting the Treo meant deleting many pictures. Wah. Nonetheless, the ride into Telluride was a treat. I'd always wanted to see Dolores and Rico after hearing Tom Gonzales' descriptions. The route from Cortez to Telluride was 77 miles, 64 of it was a climb of gradually increasing intensity.

Course Official Ted the Shark

Ted is a veteran rider who has been elevated to 'official' status on the tour. Always helpful, very bright, and one rider who gets down from an elevation quicker than anyone else. Lee and I had a late supper with Ted in Cortez and now have the low-down on bicycling, living, and hints for the tour. Try the mexican cauldron at Tequilas...excellent

Rick Exaults Top of Lizard Head

The top of Lizard Head. I sagged Bobby and Holly Romero's SUV to Mile 40 on this morning and was unceremoniously dumped to ride to the top. Very glad I did it.

See the Lizard?

There's a Lizard there somewhere. This was taken after Rico about halfway up the climb from Priest Gulch.

the Flying Vanonis at the Summit of Lizard Head Pass

A family scene. Megan (who rides with strapped in sandals), Mike (who tricked out his sprockets for the ride), and Chris (with a much-valued ice cream bar). Mike and Chris were the masterminds of timing events last week for the Teva Mountain Games.

Leaving Cortez on the...

Leaving Cortez on the way to Telluride, it's Monday morning June 16, many riders are up ahead on the road. This is particularly daunting day. We are going to be climbing to Lizard Head pass. We will on the road pretty much all of the day about an 80 miles worth. listen

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Well, this is Greg Rocky's...

Well, this is the end of the first day. We are in Cortez, Colorado having done a 2,500 foot climb out of Durango over 14 miles. I wasn't mastering my new bike very well and wound up making up this climb on the top ring. A few people went by muttering...one even called me a 'he-man,' but little did they know how much dropping to the second ring would have saved me. One fool rider didn't like the way I pulled out of rest stop and we exchanged a few pleasantries. Being flipped off at 8,500 feet is an identical experience to such dumb encounters at sea level!

Entrance to Mesa Verde

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Rest stop at Mancos on the way to Cortez

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Greetings from Durango,...

Greetings from Durango, Colorado in the start of the Ride The Rockies 2008 tour. We got in here today about 3:00, many thanks to Alice who came along and who is now home in Glenwood. Rendezvoused with Bobby and Holly and also with Esteen(?) and Carin and met Mike Vanoni(?) and Kris Vanoni(?).. listen

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Tomorrow's ride from...

Tomorrow's ride from Durango to Cortez climbs from 6,500 feet from the first 13 miles climbs to 8,500 feet and then slightly downhill into Cortez for a total distance of 49 miles. We will blog you along the way. Hope everybody is having a good evening. listen

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lee at his home Away from 0home

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part of the Mojitos

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Packing Gets Easier Every Year

It is Friday, June 13th....

It is Friday, June 13th. We are in Glenwood Springs Colorado, looking for the drive to Durango in the morning to be quick and scenic. Tomorrow March Registration Day for The Ride to Rockies Bicycle Tour. We(?) MLS will be venturing forth with me to Durango, home of the famous steam worked(?) beer company. listen

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Ride the Rockies 2008--New Team will Use Twitter and Post Phone Photos

The new blogger for 2008 is Rick Voorhees or Rocketman. He'll be able to call in 30 second posts (tweets) from his phone which will appear in the Twitter Updates at your right. The RSS feed below it contains phone posts from last year's ride.

He also plahs to send photos from his phone. They'll be leaving from Durango next Sunday.

Ride the Rockies 2008

Are you in for Ride the Rockies? This year's team from this site is Mojo Rising. Sad to say I can't join this euphoric group because of other travel, but I plan to initiate some bloggers from this group.

Here's the link to all things pertinent, including this year's route:

http://www.ridetherockies.com/route.asp