Note: I'll be doing Bicycle Tour of Colorado next week.

Rumor is a male cyclist in his 40's died of a heart attack on the Cottonwood climb. Very tragic as I think he was on a tandem with his 10 year old daughter.

1st day of riding-Crested Butte to Buena Vista. My ride time was 4hr 54 mins I think. 76 miles with 4200 ft of climbing. It doesn't sound like much but it was all one climb for a LONG way up to Cottonwood Pass which tops out at 12,200 ft. That elevation is a new record for me on a bike.

The elevation didn't seem to bother me too much but I could definitely feel it above 10,000 ft. I'm trying to eat more this year to avoid losing energy during the ride. You have to force yourself to eat that much day after day.

To make it more challenging the last 14 miles is all uphill on a dirt road with gravel on it. That was TOUGH. It was mentally tough constantly looking for single tracks, eating the dust of cars and enduring the bumpiness. Plus there was a strong head wind the last several miles. I now recall why I quit mountain biking!

It got really cold last night-in fact there was frost on my tent when I packed it-and it was still there when I unpacked it. The new sleeping bag worked great but I wish I had brought my cycling tights to sleep in-I got a touch cool but not like last year.

Tomorrow we ride 76 miles to Edwards which is near Vail. More passes but hopefully all the roads are paved.

The descent off Cottonwood was really fast. I could have gone faster if I'd known the road but my top speed was 54 mph.

I took a number of pictures today with my camera-will post those when I return.

Just 824 more miles to go over the next 2 weeks!

Tomorrow is another 76 miles to Edwards via Leadville.

One pass, not nearly as bad as Cottonwood Pass, but expect wind. Beautiful ride coming off Tennessee pass to Minturn, keep your camera handy on this stretch of road, especially the bridge at Red Cliff.

Be sure to take lots of pictures. I look forward to your ride reports.

Thanks for the tip! I will have my camera quickly within reach! The locals are telling me the same thing about this next leg-plus Leadville is all uphill!

in '08 we did Cottonwood on RTR and it was hot, dusty and LOTS of mosquitos. One of my buddies got a flat and we got devoured when we stopped to fix it... As long as we were moving it was OK. We stopped and paid dearly to the mosquitoes.

I am jealous-- enjoy the ride! ANd it is impressive that you are doing both rides-- do they overlap any of the route?

train safe-

Both tours overnight in Granby and Steamboat but I don't think we're doing the same roads-if we are we're doing them in the opposite direction.

I've raced in Minturn on the Eagle River. I know that area well. I like the route this year. You should enjoy it. I've paddled the Ark from Granite through to down below Salida and I have to say it is probably my favorite river. We almost moved to Salida years ago.

Looking forward to it! Hope the wind behaves! I guess I'm still on EDT. Got in my sleeping bag around 8pm and up at 4am.