It rained early and the breakfast at the hotel was delayed so we found an excellent Bakery/eating place and delayed our original 8:00am start to 9:00am. Still having problems with pictures may have to wait until I get home. So the riders will do 42 or 36 miles tomorrow less any driving duties. The first and second high points are 7 and 14 miles respectively. Some are going to sag straight to the second peak. Most are opting to sag to the first pass and ride up to the second high point. The first climb out of Silverton is 7 miles long and significant. Because of that we are reducing to 1 sag vehicle with trailer. Tomorrow – 3 of our 10 riders have decided to ride the train down from Silverton to Durango. We found a nice rooftop bar for afternoon libation, had our happy hour on a shaded deck at the B&B, and had a wonderful dinner at the Handlebars Food and Saloon. It is a large bed and breakfast with all rooms unique. Wandered around town until we could check in to the Inn of the Rockies: Historic Alma. We had a great lunch at Grumpy’s Restaurant and Saloon. The elevation drop is not nearly as significant since the elevation of Silverton is 9305 feet. The ride down the other side was actually quite pleasant and we had to pedal in several places. All of our reasons for not climbing out of Ouray were validated on the drive up. So we had a good breakfast at the Ouray Victorian Inn, explored and hiked around Ouray, loaded up at 11:00am and headed for Red Mountain Pass. So instead 3 of us (John, Rick H, and me) decided to ride down the other side into Silverton. The elevation change was significant going from 7700 feet in Ouray to 11,000 feet at the top of Red Mountain Pass. The reasons included traffic, lack of a shoulder, construction on the highway, and thousand foot drop-offs in many sections of the road. More pictures to come soon!Īfter lots of discussion we chose to not do the ride up the “million dollar highway”. Some are staying an extra day to see friends and others are heading back home Tomorrow we have breakfast and then go on our way. It was a great way to end our week together. We had our happy hour in the office bar at the Strator and then went to dinner with Linda and Fred at Mutu’s. We checked in showered and went to the train station at 5:15 to welcome the train riders to Durango. We then road to near the center of Durango and when traffic got to heavy – loaded up and drove to the Strator Hotel. They had picnic tables scattered across a natural shaded amphitheater that was a wonderful place to enjoy our lunch. He said it would be the best hamburger we had ever tasted – and it was. We found a wonderful place to eat lunch recommended by a local biker called James Ranch. Traffic was heavy going the other direction during the early part of the ride and gradually increased as we got closer to Durango. There were a number of rough spots on descent that caused adrenaline rush as we went down the road. We remembered the road down as being very nice the last time we rode it – but it is the same road and has aged. The BikeOppers went to Durango to shop, and 3 of the riders Rick S, Susan, and Janelle, rode the train back to Durango. So this time some of us chose to sag to the top of the first pass and others to the top of the second pass. The first one is 2200 feet up and the second is 800 feet up. There are two major climbs out of Silverton to Durango. We hadn’t carefully looked at the elevation view and assumed that it was mostly downhill back to Durango. The last time we did this ride – we rode the train with our bikes from Durango to Silverton, had lunch in Silverton and then started back to Durango with no sag support (everyone had ridden the train or was doing the Zip line partway up the train ride).
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