Day 9: Across the Great Divide
Most people seemed excited that today we were finally going to cross the Continental Divide via the infamous Wolf Creek Pass. As I was bringing my gear bag down from the hotel room, though, I noticed something curious: People were bringing their gear bags back indoors rather than taking them out to the truck. It turned out that they were digging out extra clothes because it had started to sprinkle a bit. "Wolf Creek Pass in the rain," said one person with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.
I went outside and, sure enough, the weather looked threatening in what we all assumed was the direction of the pass.
I added a waterproof
jacket, arm and leg warmers, winter gloves, a balaclava, and booties to my usual
wardrobe. Before the end of the day, I'd use everything but the balaclava.
A few clouds and lightning flashes aren't enough to deter
this man.
The route directions for today were simple: Turn left on Route 160 and keep going until we reached the next motel. We started with a quick descent to downtown Pagosa Springs and then gradually started climbing toward the pass. It did look threatening. I even saw a couple of lightning flashes. In the end, though, it was all show. We didn't see more than a few light sprinkles -- not even enough to get the ground wet. The weather actually was perfect in one respect -- the temperature stayed quite low, which was a good thing when we got to where the steep climbing started.
Now I must confess: I goofed and failed to change the batteries in the camera before this most scenic of all days. So, I don't have any pictures of Wolf Creek Pass. No pictures of the ascent through granite and forest, no pictures of Lon and the riders shivering at the rest stop at the top, where we passed the Continental Divide, and especially no pictures of what must have been the most spectacularly beautiful ten-mile downhill that I've ever experienced. You just had to be there. Of course, I suppose that the other guys might have gotten some pictures, too. What impressed me most were the brilliant colors of the foliage on the eastern side of the pass. I know from watching The Weather Channel, which should be the official Pac Tour cable channel, that this part of Colorado is at a peak for fall colors right now. It was really something.
At the bottom of the pass, I stopped at a gas station / minimart and got more batteries.
This man sold me batteries and is now famous from here to
Australia.
Yes! I've reached the bottom of the pass! And I have batteries!
This is also exactly 1,000 miles from San Diego.
Ordinarily, doing a pass like Wolf Creek would be as much as you could ask for in a day, but this day just kept on being great. It was almost entirely downhill to our lunch stop, at mile 51, where Susan and the gang were serving up hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, and soup. By the time, we reached lunch, the sun had come out, and everyone stripped off their warm clothes and put them in the bags that the tour provides for that purpose. I think we filled two or three bags.
Susan prepares to take our warm clothes to the thrift store.
Jamieson with his friend Craig, who joined us for the day
and is attempting to ride every pass over 10,000 feet in Colorado. He has 17
to go (out of 48). Judging by how fast he flew past me, it won't take him long.
Most cyclists have a love/hate relationship with the wind.
Today it was mostly love.
Then, we had a flat 40 miles to Alamosa, riding through the San Luis valley. The first 20 miles featured a strong tailwind, so Anurang and I were able to effortlessly cruise along at 22 mph. At one point, we stopped pedaling to see how far we'd go, but we got bored and started again before the bikes got below 15 mph.
 Bill and Coleen Bowens at our last rest stop. |
 Pac Tour veteran Ed Admire and his trusty Coke. |
Anurang sucks it in for Terri Gooch, the crew person in charge
at the last rest stop.
Eventually, either we changed direction or the wind did, and we had a bit of a crosswind, especially for the last 18 miles, but we were still able to keep up 17 mph, and several people went a lot faster than that. We passed a yard full of ponies, but otherwise nothing too spectacular. Lots of mountains on either side of the valley. After 92 miles, we reached Alamosa, making this our first day of less than 100 miles since the tour began.
Unfortunately, this was also Anurang's last day on the trip. His plan has been to return to the Bay Area at this point so that he can get ready for the Furnace Creek 508.