Day 7: Maybell to Craig. High desert+Yampa river.

July 9, 2018

Today is a short easy day. I need a recovery day after yesterday. At age 57 I can handle the occasional long and hilly day but can't do it every day.

There was much morning conversation in the kitchen. I'm still not accustomed to spending time on group interaction, but today is a good day to do it. Kelly took this selfie just before we left. Jacinto isn't wearing a helmet because he will stay and drink coffee for at least another hour.

Wayne, Jacinto and Kelly at Victory Hotel in Maybell. Photo by Kelly.

Jacinto took this picture of me and Kelly and our bikes. My trusty Bacchetta Giro 20 is 11 years old. I used it with 4 panniers for camping tours and now with 2 panniers for motel tours. Kelly has an almost new Lightning P-38 with a much lighter load than mine. Unfortunately she is having a love/hate relationship with the bike.

Wayne and Kelly about to start. Photo by Jacinto who will stay and drink coffee.

Kelly and I left Victory Hotel together at 8:40. After only 1 block she waited while I stopped and took a picture. She didn't wait when I stopped a minute later to take another picture. She would quickly out-pace me anyway and she doesn't need help navigating. Once again we go east on US 40 all day.

Yesterday we pedaled from desert hills into Maybell without really seeing the river valley. Today the first few miles are upstream in the Yampa river valley with irrigated fields all around. I last saw irrigated fields 3 days ago.

A river in the desert is a special thing. I enjoy seeing the contrast between desert hills, river, and green fields.

The Yampa river flows west to the Green river which flows south to the Colorado river which flows southwest to the Sea of Cortez, part of the Pacific ocean. I'm not far from the headwaters of the Yampa river. I'm very far from the Pacific ocean.

Today I am in farm/ranch country thanks to the Yampa river. More populated than yesterday. I get the sense that I'm headed towards civilization instead of away from civilization.

The farm gets water from the Yampa river.

I stayed on US 40 all the way to Craig. It's Monday so I expected traffic to be much heavier than yesterday. But actually the traffic wasn't much heavier. US 40 continues to have a usable paved shoulder and there were only a few trucks on the road, mostly side loading gravel trucks.

The shoulder and low traffic make US 40 very bike friendly. Whenever a rumble strip appears it is narrow and close to the white line, leaving most of the shoulder usable for cycling.

MILE 69 signs must be popular with thieves.

Wind was light and variable. There was no shade and it was too buggy to stop for more than a few seconds. Consequently I made good time getting to Craig. The terrain is rolling but grades are gentle. I never climbed so slowly that flies swarmed around.

There is a short descent coming into Craig, where I encountered the first traffic light in 4 days. Population 9000 makes Craig the biggest town since Fruita, 4 days ago.

I arrived at Ocean Pearl Chinese buffet at 12:35. Kelly and Jacinto arrived a few minutes later. Kelly was already showered and came from her motel room. Jacinto started late, took a detour, and arrived about the same time as Kelly. I pedaled straight to the restaurant from Maybell.

After a long lunch I got to my motel at 2 PM. My $77 room at Elk Run Inn has a sheep theme. I guess they raise sheep around here. I took a 2.5 hour nap before dinner, the reward on an easy day.

I pedaled a mile to dinner at O.P. Bar and Grill on the other side of downtown. Now we are a group of 5 cyclists. Tom Swanson and Ken Paulsen pedaled 2 long days from Kremmling to Yampa to Craig and will join us for the next 5 days.

By accident we are staying in 3 different motels tonight. My motel is at the intersection with CO 13 where we go north tomorrow.

I had plenty of available time but never spent any time looking around town. It was too hot for me to want to wander much. 93F and rising at 1 PM, still 91F at sunset. I regret that I have no pictures of Craig.

So far during this tour the nights have been surprisingly warm with lows in the 60's. Tonight should get down to the 50's which is more normal for July in high desert. Craig is 6198 feet (1878 m) elevation.

Distance: 34.7 mi. (55.5 km)
Ascent/Descent: +1033/-705 ft. (+313/-214 m)
Average Speed: 9.4 mph (15 km/h)

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 304 miles (489 km)

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