Road Closure on Route 50

Today we had another low mileage day, setting us up for a big climb in two days. Our destination today was a scenic campground overlooking Blue Mesa Reservoir, the largest body of water in Colorado.

There was a section of Route 50 we had to cross with a massive ongoing construction project. They are blasting rock out of the way from the mountainside along a four mile stretch in order to widen 50 and make a wider shoulder. As a result the road is closed completely overnight, and open during the day for one-way traffic.

We checked out the website for the construction project to get a feel for what the riding conditions would be like, and the website explicitly discourages cyclists from riding through the construction area at any time.

After reading that, we started looking for alternate routes. There was one that involved a winding mountain road with a lot of extra miles (about a day) and a lot of extra climbing. We were considering it until I read one person’s review of the alternate route, who said that her car was unable to traverse the alternate route, but that a “mountain vehicle”. If a car couldn’t drive a road, I didn’t think my chances on my road bike were very good.

We also remembered the second day of our ride, when we were on what should have been a rarely traveled country road, except the nearby highway had a problem that caused a backup for miles. Suddenly our small country lane without any shoulders was filled with cars with very angry drivers driving much too fast. We assumed the alternate route through the mountain pass would be like that. But worse because of the reduced visibility due to the winding turns.

That was a wordy explanation to justify why we decided to have Mike drive us through the construction area. He had to make two trips to be able to fit all of our bicycles. I was worried I would regret being driven, but after seeing the construction area I’m very glad with the decision we made. It would have been very unsafe to ride in. They had signs warning motorcycles of the unsafe conditions. Bicycles? Forget about it.

Highlights

• great scenery while riding. After climbing for awhile, the vegetation began to change and it started to remind me of the Lake District in England in the Fall.
• great scenery from the campsite. We’re overlooking a big reservoir surrounded by mountains.

Lowlights

• Route 50 construction was a nuisance
• headwind while climbing

Julie’s food

• Breakfast: oatmeal, one pop tart, coffee
• First Snack: Clif bar
• Lunch: hummus and crackers, peanut butter banana sandwich, Gatorade
• Second Snack: Barbecue potato chips
• Dinner: breakfast snausage baps

Stats

• Total distance: 26.77 miles
• Elevation gain: 2,693 feet
• Weather: windy and overcast, high of 73 degrees Fahrenheit