Day 11: Riverside to Walden. Back to Colorado.

July 13, 2018

Kelly persuaded Lynn, the lodge proprietor, to serve breakfast at 7 instead of the usual 8 AM. Lynn served a great breakfast even though it conflicted with the 5:30 AM fitness class that she teaches.

I got on the road at almost exactly 8 AM. Kelly was a couple minutes behind me. Tom and Ken left a few minutes earlier. Jacinto was just waking up.

Kelly took this picture of me at the lodge in Riverside.

0.4 miles of gravel with 3 cattle guards to get back to the highway. Then turn right and follow the highway all day.

Kelly caught up to me while I went into a ranch entrance to take a picture of a life size horse sculpture. Afterwards we rode together for a short distance but she left me behind on the first big hill.

Impressive bronze sculpture just outside Riverside, Wyoming. Kelly watching from the roadside.

Today's route is almost entirely in big open valleys. High desert in some areas, irrigated pastures in other areas. Going south is upstream with the usual rolling hills. The wind was calm at first, then a gentle south headwind. Mercifully calm for a big open valley.

One of only 3 immense ranches I saw today.

There are mountains to the east and west but the mountains to the west are the most impressive. Green juniper and pine-dotted mountain slopes are visible all around. I definitely get the feeling that I'm climbing into the Rocky mountains.

Today's route passes through 3 giant corporate ranches. Bear Creek ranch is the first. It has several roads and gates spread out over 20 miles.

There are no services between Riverside and Walden. It's not wilderness but the population is very sparse.

Another part of Bear Creek ranch. All their buildings are white with a red roof.

Some areas had a line of flowering thistles growing along the edge of the pavement. I could almost touch them while pedaling. I enjoyed watching bees on the big flowers.

I stopped to take a picture of Jacinto when I saw him in the rear view mirror. Note the thistles growing near the pavement.

I enjoyed watching bees on the roadside thistles.

Traffic was light. WY 230 has a paved shoulder but for 20 miles it had terrible cracks. I pedaled in the main lane when nobody was coming. The shoulder ended when I crossed into Colorado. Then I pedaled in the main lane all the time. I run a flasher all the time and am quite visible. It seemed perfectly safe to share the road with the light traffic.

Wyoming 230 has a shoulder. Colorado 125 has no shoulder.

Flies weren't a problem today. Maybe there were fewer flies. Or maybe I just don't attract flies today because cool temperatures, headwind, and gentle grades allowed me to avoid getting sweaty. The temperature varied from a morning low of 43F (6C) in Riverside to an afternoon high of 85F (29C) in Walden.

The road blends into the landscape when grass grows to the edge of the pavement.

CO 125 crosses the North Platte river near its headwaters at about 8000 feet elevation. It was my only view of the river.

Downstream in Nebraska I followed the North Platte river for 2 stormy days in October 2015. There the river flows through the High Plains region at 3300 feet (1000 m) elevation, still closer to the headwaters than to the Gulf of Mexico.

Today it was mostly sunny in the morning with building clouds in the afternoon. That kept the high temperature to a reasonable 85F. Pretty nice for July. I'm reaping the reward of high elevation.

Shadows and light in a super-high valley known as North Park.

Today I saw one loaded eastbound cyclist and one loaded westbound cyclist. I also saw several unloaded cyclists in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't until later that I realized they are vehicle-supported TransAmerica cyclists.

Colorado 125 is close to the granite in one area. View looking north.

The high point of the day was when crossing the flank of the granite mountains. Then a gentle descent to Walden. Now I'm in an 8000+ foot high valley called North Park.

Walden is 8100 feet (2455 m) elevation. Pretty darn high but Colorado has many higher towns. Most places are forested at this elevation but here the climate is so dry that it's high desert at 8000 feet.

Walden is a small town, population 582. It doesn't seem to be thriving. The town is shrinking-the population was 734 in 2000. But hundreds if not thousands of TransAmerica cyclists pass through in July. It's a short season but the cyclists spend a lot of money. Nearly every motel room in town was occupied by TransAmerica cyclists.

I arrived at 3:33 and got my reserved room at Chedsey Motel. It is old and kind of shabby. $72 with a fridge and microwave but no breakfast and no A/C. Nothing in town has A/C because it's 8100 feet elevation.

A rain shower passed by from about 4:30 until 5 PM. The temperature suddenly dropped to 75F but it warmed up afterwards.

We had dinner at the historic restaurant downtown. Kelly ate there a couple years ago and said it was excellent. But now new owners are just re-establishing the restaurant. It's was not great but the historic building is very interesting.

Today was a regular day. Reasonable distance and reasonable amount of climbing.

Distance: 50.8 mi. (81.3 km)
Ascent/Descent: +2526/-1642 ft. (+765/498)
Average Speed: 8.7 mph (13.9 km/h)

Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 460 miles (740 km)

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