Old 01-03-09, 07:37 PM
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FoldsinHalf
Not-quite-geezer RVer
 
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Various, USA
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Bikes: 2013 Ibis Mojo HDR 650B; 2008 Dahon Jetstream XP; 2003 KHS F20 Westwood

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This long, curvy, moderate downhill was most welcome after topping out around 6600 feet (never mind that l'd be going back up this in about an hour!):


One excuse after another for a rest stop presented itself:


Independence Rock with the Grand Mesa beyond:


This spectacular bit of road is carved into a huge sheer cliff:




I hit the posted speed limit (and my max of the day) of 35 mph somewhere along this rare dry stretch:


At the 25 mile mark, I reached the visitor center near the Fruita end around 1:30 and had a snack. The woman behind the counter seemed quite surprised that I had ridden over from Grand Junction through the snow, but sold me a Gatorade anyway and wished me a safe trip back:


I decided I better skip the final descent to Fruita, as I would probably not make it back before dark if I had to turn around and make that side's 4 mile, 1000 foot climb right back up, so I took in a little more scenery and started the moderate 700 foot grind back to the high point in the middle:


The trip back was considerably more challenging than the trip over had been. The 7 miles of steady "moderate" climbing took its toll on my legs which were now approaching 3000 feet of climbing for the day. But the real bummer was that the thin layer of nice grippy packed snow I had enjoyed in the morning had evaporated by the afternoon, leaving lots of random bare ice slicks and slushy spots to contend with on the long gentle downhill cruise along the rim. That limited me to more like 5-10 mph rather than the effortless 15-25 I had been looking forward to during the climb, but it was still highly entertaining, if a bit slow.

With the sun getting low and the temps dropping back into the 20s, I re-donned all my layers at the aptly-named Cold Shivers Point before starting the steep 4 mile plunge I had climbed in the morning:


Sweet looking road, no?


Overall, I thought the bike performed great on its first outing in "road" trim since I got it in September. Fast, stable, solid, all that good stuff. I got back to the motorhome with the odometer showing 50.42 miles and 4:29 of riding, for an average of 11.2 mph. The ice and snow clearly hurt that average by a couple mph, but it made for a beautiful and challenging ride that seemed more like mountain biking than road riding for much of it, so I couldn't complain too much!

Happy New Year, and good riding to all.

Last edited by FoldsinHalf; 01-03-09 at 11:45 PM.
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