Across the Continental Divide

Today we reached another milestone: the Continental Divide. We also reached the highest elevation we’ll be at for the whole trip, at 11,312 feet at Monarch Pass.

The photo for this blog entry shows my mom crossing the Continental Divide on her cross-country bike trip in 1984. For a trip that predominantly went West to East, my parents crossed the Continental Divide a surprising seven times. This photo was taken at their last crossing, so my mom is holding up seven fingers. We’re crossing just the once.

This morning we met a fellow bicycle tourist at our campground. He appeared to be in his 60s and was obviously a very experienced bicycle tourist. We chatted for quite awhile. He works in the winters in New Mexico restoring vintage bicycles, and appears to spend his summers just riding around the country on his bicycle.

He was headed up to Marshall Pass today, rather than Monarch Pass where we were headed. He told us he went up to Monarch Pass once 15 years ago and would never do it again. He said there were too many cars then and he can’t imagine it’s gotten any better since. He also said he avoids riding on roads if he can. The ride to Marshall Pass was gravel. Not a chance my tires could manage it.

As someone enthusiastic about bicycles and vintage bicycles, he was excited to see my bike! Especially the gear shifting levers. He knew the brand of them just by looking at them and told me to never replace them because they will last forever. And unlike the last old-timer we talked to at a campground, he didn’t laugh at my rim brakes.

A few weeks ago Jordan ran into a cyclist from Germany riding from DC to San Francisco by himself. He said the hardest part of his whole trip so far was riding through the mountains in Colorado. He said the roads were too busy and there wasn’t a shoulder and he hitchhiked multiple times just because of how unsafe it was.

That anecdote, combined with the man this morning saying he would never ride to Monarch Pass again had me very worried. But honestly, it was fine!

Heading eastbound, there were two lanes going up the mountain, so even though there was no shoulder and a lot of cars, the cars all just moved into the other lane when passing me. I noticed on the descent that if we were climbing heading westbound, it would have been much tougher. An intermittent passing lane and no shoulder at all.

The speed limit was 45 on the straight parts and 35 on the turns, and the cars actually abided by that. Many cars put in their four way flashers when they approached me, including a car from Utah of all places. I was flabbergasted.

So I felt safe while climbing and the gradient was very consistent and manageable. Certainly not the hardest climb we’ve done, and I felt awesome when I reached the top. I felt like I totally crushed the climb.

I then had a very long descent. I wanted to see how far I could ride without pedaling at all, and made it 11 miles. 10 miles was easy, but there were two parts on mile 11 that almost had me pedaling.

We’re camping again tonight. Right along the Arkansas River.

Highlights

• we crossed the Continental Divide!
• felt awesome while climbing and very accomplished at the top
• I expected to be rained on all afternoon and wasn’t at all

Lowlights

• it was very cold overnight last night and starting out this morning. The feels like temperature was 34.

Julie’s food

• Breakfast: oatmeal and coffee
• First Snack: Clif bar
• Lunch: Clif bar, peanut butter banana sandwich, hot apple cider
• Second Snack: hummus and crackers
• Dinner: Thai curry soup with coconut milk, sweet potatoes, and lentils; bread and butter

Stats

• Total distance: 52.78 miles
• Elevation gain: 3,302 feet
• Weather: overcast, cold in the morning, warming up to a high of 71 degrees Fahrenheit