Meeker - Rangely, CO - The cat named Chevy won't stop this tour, and neither can COVID

June 28, 2020

Meeker - Rangely, CO

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1,561 elevation gain

I was awake by 4:30 to get on the road to beat the high winds. With 58 miles to ride today, any miles ridden wind free are a gift.

I was surprised to see Jacinto get up as soon as I did. Does that tell you how bad the winds would be? He had to get dressed to go next door for coffee. He did that right away. I asked how was convenience store coffee. Jacinto replied that he knew it wouldn't be good, so he had mostly hot chocolate with a little coffee.

I was out the door at 5:56. Jacinto was dressed and almost ready to go. We last rode this day heading to Rangely to meet Wayne. He was coming up the hard way over Douglas Pass. We rode the easy way Rifle - Meeker - Rangely - the same we are doing this trip. Today is typically a good ride - slightly downhill along the Yampa River. It is green the entire distance with frequent wildlife sightings. There's still a few interesting rock formations.

It's easy to put the power to the pedals while riding downhill. I was riding scared today - scared of the wind. I wanted to enjoy the scenery, but it seems the more I look around, the slower my legs go. Many years ago on an organized trip, the leader told one of the other participants not to ride with me and talk because I ride slower when I talk and I'm already slow enough . . . that was my last organized trip . . .

Colorado has been in a drought. I was a little surprised at the greenery. Maybe our riding through Arizona and Utah has something to do with my appreciation of green and water.

It's very early Sunday morning. There was no one out here but me and the critters. I saw a large heron type of bird, except instead of being gray, it was more cinnamon colored. It was quite odd, standing in the middle of the road and hardly moving as I passed by. Possibly I could have tried for a photo? I figured it was hopeless to try. Edit - Cathy suggested it might be a sandhill crane. From a google photo, I agree. The cinnamon color and long legs are spot on.

I saw deer in several spots, and a fox crossing the road. I saw two birds of prey, sitting on top of their respective, but adjacent, telephone poles. I was proud of myself for noticing them. My best viewing was two bald eagles fishing in the river at roughly mile 13. It was in a narrow spot next to a tall rock wall with just the wall, road, and river. That was special.

My next priority was finding a pee spot. Usually I like guard rails to lean my bike against and hide behind. There were no guard rails so far today. Darn. It specifically went through my mind about what happened this spring at home. I leaned my bike against a street post out in the country and getting a flat later from a sticker. Today, I carefully chose a delineator post that had few plants around it. I swear, not a mile down the road, I had a flat tire. Damn, damn, double damn! Why did I get a flat tire today? It was 8:30 - with no wind yet. I was afraid by the time I got back on the road that the wind would kick up.

I called Jacinto to see how close he was. Mile 13. I'm at mile 21. I got on with fixing the flat. I found a small sticker. Hmm. That's all I found. I put in a new tube and pumped the tire up. Jacinto is quite disdaining of my pump because it doesn't have a gauge. I pumped it up to finger pinching hard. I was pleased with myself that I got the wheel and brakes back together correctly without the brakes rubbing. I remembered my ill fated flat tire with the P-38 and made sure that the wheel was firmly in both drop outs. The back story on the P-38 is that I had shimmy issues later that day on a descent. There was speculation that I hadn't reinstalled the wheel properly and therefor induced the shimmy.

I called Jacinto back to let him know I was on the road. He was two miles behind me at that point. Jacinto later said he didn't think he would have caught up with me except for the flat. When he did catch me, we checked the tire. It had 40 psi. Jacinto topped it off to 80 psi. I rolled much more quickly down the road after that!

The day was gray when I left the motel because it wasn't morning yet. Here it was, two hours later, and the sky was still gray because of rain clouds. No, it couldn't be! There was no rain in the forecast. Indeed, we had a few drops fall on us off and on all morning. Once there was enough that I considered if I needed to cover the electronics. Perhaps the unexpected clouds were in our favor and staved off the wind? The miles kept ticking away without wind. I know that seems to be all I talk about today, but wind is almost all I thought about!

We had a significant distance of brand new pavement. 20 miles? The road surface overall seemed nice to me. If they wanted to resurface roads, I could point out quite a few that were in more need of paving than Highway 64! I expected this road to be busy, but traffic was extremely light all day. Because it's Sunday?

Jacinto had passed me on our one hill of the day. I could see his lights in the distance for some time. I tried to judge how far I could see them. He was at the top of a rise, next to a yellow sign. I looked at my odometer and then checked it again when I arrived at the sign. .80 miles. That's good visibility. We are both running two lights this trip. We each have an older Dinotte Quad light and a new Cygolite 350. They are set to different flash patterns, which I think is quite eye catching.

I stopped for a couple of photos and another bathroom break. I never saw Jacinto again. I arrived at Kenney Reservoir and was looking forward to a downhill run into town. It was not to be. The wind kicked up at the Reservoir. I expected that it would die down once I got off the top, but it didn't. I still counted myself lucky. Eight miles of a slight wind is a far better ride than I had hoped for this day.

Our lodging was on the far side of town. I looked carefully left and right as I rode through. First I was looking for Jacinto and second I wanted to see what was open and closed. There seemed to be more closed businesses than last time we were here.

It was 10:30 when I pulled up to the motel. What are my chances of getting in the room. I saw several cars worth of people exiting. That's so true - it is still morning. Some people sleep in on Sundays and get a leisurely start to their day. Those of us who don't want to spend 60 miles fighting the wind were out before the sun!

Perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket. I got to town without significant wind and I also got in the room. A double queen wasn't available at this instant, but a king was for the same price. Sold! Jacinto was over at the grocery. There's no deli. Jacinto said it's half grocery and half ACE hardware. He came back with a big chocolate milk to go with his pistachios. That's an interesting combination.

I called Spoon to tell him happy birthday, only to find out I'm a month early! How did my phone make that mistake? We had a nice talk anyway. Spoon had a good ride today also. He counseled me to continue with the late starts and to enjoy the tour. I agreed I was all in on those late starts - except on windy and/or hot days.

Speaking of wind - tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. I don't suppose we could be lucky for two days in a row? The phone says wind is 25 mph outside right now. It would be a good day to be riding Douglas Pass - tailwind.

Jacinto's been back to the store and bought me a quart of V-8. It was $3.99 for the quart, or about the same price as two bottles. I told Jacinto he has to help drink it!

Insulated bottle update - today was overcast and cool. The bottles weren't put to the test. I had filled them with ice and then added liquid. I had plenty of ice left when I got to town. I still question their ability on a hot day. I will let you know.

We were planning on Mexican food for dinner. A motorcycle rider pulled in just as we were leaving and said if we were walking to the Mexican restaurant, it's not open. He drove down to the Chinese, but it didn't have much seating, so he brought his food back. We walked down there. Jacinto joked that it was much further than I liked to walk after riding. He is very correct. There were plenty of seats inside. The food was excellent. I'm puzzled by restaurants and their COVID preparations. We had paper menus, but they were stuck together with food. They've obviously been used before. Tiny salt and pepper packets were mixed in with the sugar packets - I think there's a lot more germs to be had sifting through the packets than on a regular salt and pepper shaker. Plastic forks and spoons were in a cup on the table - again, way more germs. No masks, no partitions. The motel had partitions, but the employees didn't have masks. While I was outside before check in, I saw 4-6 people exiting with suitcases. It appeared to be two groups. They all had masks on. Instead of a mask, this leg of the trip, I have a Buff. That is FAR easier to breath through than the mask. I think a big piece is the mask is very close fitting and the more I breath, the less air I feel like I"m getting. Too much carbon dioxide? Yesterday in Meeker at the Mexican restaurant, the employees had masks, but I didn't see anyone in the parking lot wearing them.

I'm sticking with my previous observation - that we are in such low COVID areas, people feel it's unnecessary to take precautions. It seems the larger the town, the more likely to see masks, etc.

I'm out the door and Jacinto is almost ready. Amazing!

Here comes the sun. I haven't been out this early since the big climbing day from Clifton.

What is this growing?Rod from Montrose says hops for making beer. There weren't many plants . . .

This was our big hill for the day. 300 feet of climbing. Notice my new water bottles. I have insulated bottles with the hope of always having cold water.

The orange bouys keep boats from going over the edge of the dam. It would be quite a ride!

Is this an underground bunker? A root cellar? It's next to the cemetery.

There was a time when I would have considered this.

Today's ride: 58 miles (93 km)
Total: 1,203 miles (1,936 km)

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