Today we left Salida and headed west through the mountains to Saint Elmo, a small mining/ghost town with easy access to several mountain passes. We stopped in the local gift shop for a quick cup of coffee. Rick entertained himself by feeding peanuts to the gaggle of chipmunks that live on main street.
From there we rode up to the top of Hancock Pass. The trail started easy enough, but by the time we reached the pass the terrain had become rockier than we had anticipated. Rick, who had come from 30 feet elevation up to our current elevation of 12,125 feet, was starting to feel the effects of altitude sickness. Looking at the rollcharts, and knowing what we had come through, we decided to push forward to Tomichi Pass, which was only two miles further down the trail. These two miles proved to be more difficult than the five miles up the first pass. Rock slides across the trail were the main culprits for the difficulty, as was the effects of the altitude, which reached 12,800 at the too of Tomichi.
Looking down from the pass it appeared that what lay ahead of us was much easier that what was behind us, so we pressed onward. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving, and soon after starting our decent, I had my first off of the trip. And, even more unfortunately, it happened in one of the more inopportune spots. Long story short, I ended up falling a good six feet down a washout on the side of the trail onto a pile of jagged rocks. The one fortunate thing was that the bike didn't follow me down and land on me, which would have worsened the situation. The only damage was cosmetic, both to me and the bike.
Back on two wheels, and as we continued decending the mountain the terrain just kept getting worse. Loose rocks, water crossings and steep grades were wearing us all out, Rick especially. I made it to the bottom of the pass first, and started applying the 20 minute rule. A jeep came by, and the driver let me know that the others were still a good ways up the mountain. So the next jeep that came down I talked the driver into giving me a lift back up to the others and then give Rick a lift back down. Kyle, the driver of the jeep, turned out to be a really cool guy, who used to ride bikes in the area when he was younger, and was able to sympathize with our situation.
We eventually made our way down off the mountain to have a very late lunch in Sargent. At that point we were too far behind schedule to make the rest of the trail to Lake City, so we took the road 30 miles to the scenic town of Gunnison, CO.
Despite the trials and tribulations experienced throughout the day, we still experienced some of the most beautiful views imaginable, and it still beat a day at the office.
P.S. I'm not attaching photos due to difficulties in making the MMS/blog system work. I'll post the photos at a later date.
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