Tag: Eads

Bike Tour 2022 – Eads to Ordway

I am in Trump country. The city offices in Eads had the official President Trump photo in a prominent location. I didn’t see one of Brandon though.

While riding through the side streets of Eads last night I saw a towheaded little boy no more than two wandering alone in the middle of the street. It felt a bit like a Rod Serling moment.

I fell asleep way too early and slept like a fallen tree. I woke up at 2:48 a.m. I pulled my sleeping bag over my head and woke up again at 4:30. I tried again and got up at 5:35. I had been assured that the park’s sprinkler system had been deactivated but I broke camped exceptionally fast in case the maintenance man didn’t get the memo.

I rode the half mile to the roadside bathroom. The facilities were all metal. Sitting on the cold toilet woke me up muy pronto. Next I rode to a gas station convenience store to buy water and a sandwich for my ride. It’s about 60 miles to Ordway without any services.

Next up was breakfast at JJ’s where I was joined by Olav, an eastbound rider. Olav is from Norway. He’s doing 100 miles per day.

The breakfast was huge After eating every molecule, I headed west on The Mule. The road was very gently rolling as it passed through the plains, a railroad line on a berm to my right.

After 35 miles, two deer, 50 or so cattle, and some grain elevators, I arrived at Arlington. I ate my gas station sandwich. Eastbound rider Mike told me of how disgusting the Arlington comfort station was. Eww. Needless to say, I took a pass on using it.

The remaining 20 miles were a grind. The terrain however was gently downhill and, with the aid of a mild tailwind, I took full advantage. My speedometer read between 15 and 18 mph the whole way. The five miles after Sugar City were flat. Not one inch up or down.

I trucked into Ordway and found the only hotel in town where Corey, Mark, and I had squeezed into a room in 2019. I had plenty of camping options, but it had been four days since my last hot shower. Let’s just say that my BO confirmed that I didn’t have Covid.

I would have taken a slot alone in the hotel’s hostel section with its shared bathroom but two Belgian cycle tourists arrived immediately after I did. $30 more for a private room and no deadly infection won out.

After a fantastic shower, I went in search of edible plant medicine only to find the town’s weed store was closed. After a minute checking out the town saloon, I ended up at a pizza place where I had a Prison Break sausage sandwich, a wise choice.

I am several days early for the end of the solo portion of my ride in Canon City. I need to balance cost of shelter with scary heat arriving here in the next few days. My options include staying here another day, staying in a hotel in Pueblo, staying with at least one Warmshowers host on route, staying in a motel in either Florence or Canon City, and, I kid you not, staying in a dorm room in an abbey in Canon City.

Riding into Eads involved a fierce sprint of sorts through a highway work zone. It left my head spinning. My blast across the plains today did the same. Even at 4,500 feet or so I can feel the effects of altitude. Ordway is at 4,300 feet.

Miles today: 65. Tour miles: 1,102.5.

Educational sign at highway loo
My light breakfast. Held me in good stead for 35 miles.
Olav the speedy Norwegian
Arlington roadside comfort station
Two wild and crazy Belgians

Bike Tour 2022 – Sheridan Lake to Eads

Right after I posted last night we were put under a tornado warning. What fun. The sky was creepy. About 30 minutes later four eastbound bicyclists showed up. Theo, Emma, Kevin, and Chase left Oregon on May 1. They encountered impassable roads at their first mountain pass. Snow.

Despite the crazy weather and crashes they are all in good spirits.

I had some pancakes for breakfast then headed west on Highway 96. I’m in no hurry and the nearest town is Eads, about 30 miles west. With temperatures in the high 60s and a tailwind I was tempted to go long but the previous three days were hard so I decided to camp in the town park in Eads. Three free nights in a row.

About half way to Eads I stopped to chat with Gary and Michael, eastbound riders on an epic adventure. They started in San Francisco, rode to Los Angeles, then banged a left on US Route 66 through the Mojave desert, across Arizona, up to the Grand Canyon, through the Utah parks, over two 11,000-foot passes, then into the Front Range on 96. They’re riding to Yorktown then up to Maine. In Maine they’ll bang another left and re-cross the country. Nothin’ to it.

Last night they were caught in a hailstorm and considered themselves lucky not to be hit by baseball-sized hail that fell not far from their location.

We traded info and stories for a half hour then headed our separate ways.

My route took me downhill out of Sheridan Lake then back up over 4,000 feet shortly after our roadside chat. The last mile into Eads was through a one-lane construction zone. I busted my butt to get through as fast as possible. The drivers behind me were mercifully patient.

In Eads I checked in with the Sheriff and made sure the sprinkler system was turned off in the park.

The next few days will be increasingly hot. I’ll need to be careful not to overdue it.

Miles today: 30.5. Tour miles: 1,036.5

Gary and Michael and their super heavy bikes.

No Name Tour: Day 21 – Flying to Ordway

Last night after setting up our tents in the city park in Eads, a nasty thunderstorm blew into town. The clerk at the Sheriff’s office advised us to break camp and go to the town motel. We decided to stay put but to ride out the storm at the town restaurant about a half mile away.

We left just in time. The storm was pretty ugly. After waiting for it to pass, we walked back expecting to find our tents and bikes blown all over town. But everything was just as we left it. Water penetration in the tents was minimal so we camped out.

After breakfast at the same place, we lit out for Ordway, 60 miles to the west on Highway 93. The ride gained only 100 feet with some gentle uphills, downhills, and curves to keep things entertaining.

We are in desert or something close to it. Lots of sand, sagebrush, cactus, yucca, and such. The road service went from big expansion joints to smooth pavement and back. Winds were light and mostly gave us a nice nudge.

The day begins on Highway 96

Anyone know what’s up with this sign?

The desert-like terrain nearly matches the road

Corey sets the record as Mark looks on

Corey went crazy taking pictures. His phone was loaded with dozens of fantastic shots of flowers and the landscape. His picture of this caboose broke the TransAm Trail record for most pix on a tour and he’s still only halfway. He should try out for Jeopardy.

We decided to take a room at the Hotel Ordway. We could have camped in the park across the street but the sprinklers and the 4 p.m. cloudburst put us off. Good thing because the winds carried a noxious smell from the town feedlot after the storm.

We have two beds and Corey volunteered to sleep on his camping mattress on the floor, thereby saving all of us some money.

Tomorrow is the last ride together for our trip. After Pueblo they go north and I go west.

We both go up. They will be riding toward Hoosier Pass. I’ll be heading toward Monarch Pass. Both are over 11,000 feet.

Eek.

Miles today: 62

Tour miles: 1,311.5

No Name Tour: Day 20 – A Day “Off” morning

Corey and Mark are accustomed to taking days off about once per week, but since they’d met met me they ridden nine days in a row. So today we took an off day. Sort of.

We ride about 29 miles from Sheridan Lake, Colorado to Eads, Colorado. The winds were light and just off to the side. Although still on Highway 96, we no longer had the endless gradual climb of the last several days. Instead the road was gently rolling. Wheat fields were gradually replaced by cattle ranges covered in sage brush. It’s green here only because of high levels of rainfall in recent days. The road also, incredibly, curved a few times.

Corey got us started by making pancakes. I made coffee. Mark melted butter. Somehow it all came out fab. The food was supplied by our hosts, the Sheridan Lake Bible Church.

Breakfast at the church

I followed Mark for most of the day as Corey lingered over his photography.

Mark, my shadow, and me

Grain goes on forever

Sagebrush on the prairie

We saw an antelope today. Mark said that he spooked it and it bounced away. I saw it after it had calmed down.

Our route took us eight miles south of the site of the Sand Creek Massacre where several hundred native Americans, including women, children, and the elderly, we slaughtered in a surprise attack by the Colorado Volunteer Cavalry. White settlers in their lust for land and gold signed and reneged on treaties then ambushed a native settlement. Reparations were granted to the affected people but, of course, were never paid. The remaining Indians were moved to Oklahoma.

This area of the country is also where white settlers slaughtered millions of bison for their hides, leaving carcasses to rot in the blazing sun.

As I rode through hundreds of thousands of acres of nearly empty prairie this week, I couldn’t help thinking how utterly insane it is that white settlers couldn’t co-exist with natives and with animal life like the buffalo and passenger pigeons. I felt the same way last summer riding across North Dakota and Montana. White people won this land though massacre and disease and duplicity. What an ugly legacy.

The weather was amazing today.

After arriving in Eads we briefly considered riding another 60 miles to Ordway. We checked out the town park here and decided to stay the night. The grass here is perfect, a sure sign of an irrigation system. The grounds keeper told us he’d make sure the sprinkler system would be turned off while we were camping.

Tomorrow we hope for tailwinds and cool temperatures.

Miles today: 30.5

Mikes total: 1,249.5