Ridin'Ard

Miles today: 239

Soundtrack: Gotan, Shake It

Hours in the saddle: 6:37

Calories burned (allegedly): 564

Today we made a new friend who lives locally and was kind enough to be our tour guide for a 9 hour riding day!

The morning started out dicey due to a mechanical issue. We met up at 8am and were anxious to get going, knowing that it was going to be a long day. We got rolling by 9, but Julie couldn’t shift out of first. I could only get to neutral and first. After attempting to troubleshoot this along the roadside, we decided to turn back and consult the 650GS girls. (Seriously–there was a woman with a G650GS Haynes manual who is going to host a womens mechanics weekend to refurbish one and I want so badly to be able to make it!) After Julie interrupted her breakfast, she came to have a look but by the time we got there, it was gone. Hrm. Jaron came back shortly with the problem fixed. I’ve had 2 tip overs (the second being the night before while parking on gravel) and the minor crash on Chaco Canyon Road, all on the left side, and their accumulation bent my shift lever to where it was running in to my crank case but it was a quick fix to just bend it back. I need to travel with a spare shift lever bc I drop this bike a lot.

We got going again around 10. First scenic stop was the gondolas in Telluride. There were like 3! I never would have known how to find them without our new friend!

I’ve always heard about this area in the context of the ADV community and didn’t realize it was kind of a 2nd Hollywood in ski resort form, apparently a lot of celebrities have a second home here. It was a very cute town and we got coffee and walked around the farmer’s market before heading to lunch. The coffee place had this handy chart and Jaron tried a breve, which uses steamed half & half and was quite decadent.

We saw a golden eagle BELOW us from the gondola! Sorry, I did not get a picture.

Lunch was at a Thai restaurant in Ridgeway, CO. 😋

We continued on towards Ouray when the twisties really started. 10mph hairpins!

Next stop was this waterfall. The drought is really serious. 😳

The landscapes are seriously so beautiful here. Literally like a painting.

When we realized we weren’t going to make it back before the office closed at 6, Jaron & I discussed needing to call the camp to ask for more TP and how annoying it was to have to worry about TP inventory. “Teacher, can I go to the bathroom?” etc. I called and he had had apparently just gotten off the phone with Jaron. Hilarious. And it turns out several others in our group were having the same issue. Srsly, of all the things to be cheap about!

Jaron found this gem in a Silverton gas station.

Next we stopped to see these fossils! So cool and another thing I never would have known to look for without our new friend.

At our last stop we could not get Julie’s gas cap to close. Sometimes it is kind of hard to close and I didn’t want to force it. So Jaron pulled out the tools and got it off and found this extra part which was probably blocking the hinge. It looks like a hinge pin, but the hinge was still together. Since it wasn’t where it was supposed to be anyway, I put it in my tank bag and we continued on. Apparently it’s Julie’s random mechanical issue day.

We got back in time to catch the end of dinner and hear the speaker and hang out by the campfire. So many inspiring stories. It really validated my plan to keep doing this for as long as my body will let me. I left the evening feeling more whole than when I got here.