GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO
I rolled away from the hotel and towards downtown. Horizon Drive was torn up as a milling and paving operation was going on. I rode this yesterday and knew of a great bike path that went a little out of the way. I jumped on it and wondered what the other cyclists thought of me flying past them all without trashing my bike.
Reminder to get rid of those hideous bib shorts
I arrived at the main location at Colorado Mesa University planning to attend Opening Ceremonies for Ride the Rockies. But riders were already rolling out so I joined them. We rolled out of town to Colorado National Monument. I started the climb only stopping for a (real) photo op or two.
I found myself riding beside Dave*, an anesthesiologist from Grand Junction. He was very friendly and a good rider. He spoke to me because I was wearing my Stelvio jersey. He had gone to Italy last summer. We also talked about prostate cancer. His older brother had PCa and chose brachytherapy as his treatment option. Things weren’t perfect with his choice. It seemed every treatment option for prostate cancer had some problems.
Dr. Dave was a medic for the tour. By volunteering, he got to ride for free but he also had to carry some extra weight. I asked him as an anesthesiologist how he would treat a ride that had crashed hard. He told me that he was prepared to put him to sleep. 🙂
On the descent, I pulled over for more pictures. What gorgeous views.
Down in the valley I rolled to the rest stop at Fruita. Here I ran into Don Sheppard, who was on my Trek Travel trip last summer in Italy. It was good to see him plus he introduced me to Nelson Vails, a silver medalist in the 1984 Olympics.
It was a flat roll back to Grand Junction. I caught Don and then paced him for a while. He eventually said he was going to take a break and we parted ways. It would be the only time all week I saw him on his bike.
Riding today was easy and beautiful. Not sure if I figured this out yet but I think RTR tries to choose the easier route when possible. We went clockwise and the Park Service had closed off vehicular traffic from 7:00 to 10:30 am.
As I descended to Fruita I thought that was a steeper grade than we had come up. But I am not sure. Often you don’t realize the steepness until you look back on your ride. And even then, I couldn’t tell.
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*Maybe Kast, maybe Potter
