Miles Completed Today: 79
Total Miles Completed: 1551
Miles To Go: 2149
Gunnison has a reputation as one of the coldest places in the country and frequently captures honors for the lowest temperature in the nation. At 7,700 feet in a valley surrounded by mountains, it hits freezing in mid-November and stays there until around April, according to one of the locals we spoke to before dinner last night. It was supposed to drop to forty degrees last night, and we woke up to a cool sixty-four degrees in the van this morning.
Another 11:00 AM start today as the guys head for Monarch Pass, which will be the highest summit of the journey at 11,300 feet. They packed cold weather cycling gear in case it gets cold, but by the time they reach the summit around 4:00 o'clock, it should be a balmy seventy degrees. However, if they catch another rain shower, it can get quite cool. We're shooting for Salida, CO today, about sixty miles away and twenty past the summit.
Update: Salida, and then some to Coaldale today, about four miles west of Cotopaxi, CO. It was C-O-L-D on the summit at the Continental Divide with remnants of snow and some earlier hail that had fallen. The guys put on their cold weather gear at the top (just after Sean was reprimanded for trying to eat more of his own giant sandwich in the little shop at the summit), and they rolled down to Salida, where the cold weather gear promptly came back off. We stayed in Coaldale beside the Arkansas River.
And, yes, Sean did eat that whole sandwich in one day!
2 comments:
Hi guys! 11,300 ft that is the highest point on the trip that you have conquered - way to go. After the Rockies it's flat land and maximum cruising speed.
Sean, now that's a sandwich! Did you finish the whole thing? Love the beard - NOT!
Looking forward to talking to you when you have service.
Love & Miss you - Be Safe & Have Fun!
Sean I am so glad you are eating :)
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