SSWC09. down and dirty in Colorado, part the first

So much.

Things that were planned did not come to fruition, things that were not planned came off without a hitch. Someone from New Mexico told me I should get it together and blog from the road as he was awaiting updates. I can't begin to imagine the consequences of that. Uh, no. Thank you.

To kick this all off, I drove hard for Baker, CA where I slept in the race van. The next afternoon, after driving so much I stopped at the Fremont State Park for a quick leg stretcher.





It was Moab, UT the next night, for the hospitality of friends. The morning came early, and saw me on the road again. I had to get to Durango and drop off the race van as a shuttle vehicle. Along the way, I attempted to rouse the Telluride posse, and set up camp on Lizard Head Pass. It had been raining for several days at that point, so I pitched my tent in the rain shadow of a big old spruce. This ended up to be the site of a wood rat warren too. I made it to the Durango

home base of S___ and ___ the Enigma and hitch hiked back.











The only tricky spot was Dolores, where I spent an easy 1hr and 45min waiting. I showed up in Rico, walked a block off Main and met my old friend Walter "G__" G_______.
We washed up at the "Toxic Hot Spring", where G__ schooled me on the etiquette. Apparently you are supposed to wait at least 15min after showing up to allow anyone already there to finish their session. We waited, and then headed in. We'd been there a short while- just long enough for me to fully disrobe- when a crew of women came down the trail and asked how long we would be. I noticed they hadn't given us the nice 15min buffer, and made some crack to that effect, but they were welcome to join us. G___ was mortified by my boorishness and was extra polite. They asked then if we were from Rico. I gathered if we had been, it would have been "cool". I may or may not have made further remarks about staying all night and partying without clothes. I for certain received some more advice on etiquette after that.







The much planned Telluride-Durango ride did not come off. It was snowy on Sheep Mtn. when we awoke on Lizard Head Pass. I say "awoke", but with the GD wood rats foraging beneath my tent floor and communicating via squeaks and chewing holes in my saddlebag! and the massive thunderstorm 3feet above my tent, I did not sleep so much. The weather was threatening. In conjunction with said weather, I was blamed for it and informed that my"life is an exercise in futility. [I am] a miserable wretch, and everything [I] do is futile. This was the greatest summer for mountain biking in Telluride in the history of mountain biking until [I] came and ruined it with the rain" which was no accident, and Cavey P___ had "grievances" he wanted addressed. He, uh, did not show up for the 9am start. Yes, we waited, just in case.

At 9:01am we piled in the car and drove back to the "Toxic Hot Springs" for a soak,

and then Cortez to ride Phil's World which is fun, but tame. T___ expressed it well when he said purpose built trails feel easy and repetitive. It was a lot of swooping, but it feels like a dumbed down version of 18Road in Fruita, which already seems mild enough.


We pulled up at Trimble Hot Springs to pick up the race van, and S___ had been true to his word and filled a bus tub with a 30pack on ice. We stayed and soaked for a while. I drained the bus tub and placed it on the passenger side floor of the race van. It was filled with beers- both full and empty. On the way to my hostbody, I was pulled over for a non-operational headlight.
Yes.
I saw him flip on his lights and pull a u-turn and I (frantic only from the shoulder down cuz you know they watch you to see what you do...) threw whatever was at hand onto the tub. Maybe a magazine and a hat. I held my papers out the window with both hands, and filled as much of the window frame as I could with my self. He never even noticed.