crmbt - durango to ouray

This is what lay in front of us on Friday morning. Up early to be on the road by 6:00 with a ton of climbing ahead of us. Leaving Durango at 6500' in the early dawn with fog rising off the Animas River, our first climb was to Purgatory ski area on Durango Mountain. A few rollers for the first 10 miles, and then gaining 2000' over the next 12 miles. Aid station one was located at mile 28 before we started the next 2000' climb up to Coal Bank Pass at 10,640 feet. You give more than 1,000' feet of that back on the descent before climbing Molas Divide, 10,902 feet and the 2nd aid station. An even longer descent takes you down to and through Silverton, before the final 2000' climb to Red Mountain Pass at 11,100 feet and the final aid station. All that remains is a 3300' drop down into Ouray, the "Switzerland of America". The route book provided by the Colorado Rocky Mountain Bike Tour cautioned us that "Red Mountain Pass to Ouray is very steep, narrow and technical." They may have added: not for the faint-of-heart.

The beginning of the ride was relaxing. We knew it would be a tough day, but were promised one of the most beautiful stretches of road in Colorado. Highway 550, and the last 13 miles from Red Mountain Pass to Ouray specifically, is known as the "Million Dollar Highway", and we would not be disappointed.

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The first part of the ride roughly parallels the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad line which has been in operation for more than 125 years. The route hosts the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, " the brain child of Tom Mayer and his older brother Jim. Jim worked as a brakeman on the D & R G W railroad which had run the steam powered locomotive between Durango and Silverton since the 1880's. Tom was a young bicycle enthusiast who grew up alongside the tracks to Silverton. Tom challenged Jim to a race to Silverton. As the train came by the house, the steam whistle screamed and Tom climbed on his trusty steel framed 10 speed and pedaled up over the rim of the old volcano and descended into the caldera to the mining town of Silverton. The train takes a shorter and easier route, but with limited speed, so it is truly a race between man and machine. When Tom became strong enough to win, the bragging rights were his, and the whole town knew it."

http://www.ironhorsebicycleclassic.com/index.html

At the first aid station Rick was feeling the effect of the altitude even worse than earlier in the week. Above 8,000' he felt dizzy and nauseous, not what you want on a bicycle. Not great for climbing and worse for descending. So, after trying to wait it out, see if it would pass, he was put on a SAG and driven to Ouray. Once they got below 8,000' he felt fine. Teri ended up feeling the effects too and caught a ride in as well. She had told us she was afraid of heights, and after looking over the side of the road on Red Mountain Pass I thought it probably just as well that she wasn't on her bike there.

This day was full of climbing, but it was worth every pedal stroke. The scenery was fantastic, and the descents were awesome. Fast, short drop off of Coal Bank Pass, faster, longer run from Molas Divide into Silverton, and after the last good climb of the day the highway tries to throw you into Ouray. I pumped on my brakes often, took the lane as much as I needed to stay on the road, and moved over to let traffic pass when the road widened and straightened, which didn't happen much. The scenery was jaw-dropping, but that's mostly from peripheral vision as I felt keeping my eyes on the road would be prudent. My only regret is that I had filled my memory card, and my spare was in my luggage at the school. I should have deleted a few pictures and stopped as I neared Ouray for pictures of the town from above. But, at the rate I was going, stopping would not have been a certainty even if that's what I wanted. I think you could literally ride from Red Mountain Pass into Ouray without pedalling. As I entered the city limits the sign showed a speed limit of 25mph, and I was going 30, and I hadn't pedalled in several minutes!

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Happy to be near the end of the day, and happy to have survived the last descent I found the turn for the school, which immediately went uphill, and was not paved! As I stood to power up the street, my back tire spun, and I got off and walked the last block. Couldn't have cared less. What an exhilarating day! There was enough room for all the tents on the school grounds, but just barely. Luckily, Rick had staked claim to some spots and spread our bags out so we had places to set up our tents. We grabbed lunch at a deli downtown, a couple blocks away, and went back to get showered and rested and organized for our final day.

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Later we went downtown again and found a place for dinner. It was called the Silver Buckle, and while nothing fancy, the food was good and the service friendly. Our waitress had a wonderful English accent and when asked told us where she had been born, and where she had been educated. She told us she took no offense if her accent was mistaken for Scottish or Australian, as long as you didn't think she was French. I told her we had not thought that, because she had not surrendered when she approached our table. She laughed and asked if we knew what they called the 4th of July where she was from. "Good Loser's Day".