that was awesome!

I returned yesterday from the 2011 version of CRMBT. As usual, it was outstanding riding, scenery, and most of all, people. I rode every one of the 493 miles advertised, and then some. I did a short ride up Hoosier Pass on Friday morning.

After camping near the Colorado River in Grand Junction, I rode the Colorado National Monument on Saturday morning before checking in with the tour.

Then, on Sunday the tour kicked off. We rode some rollers (and headwind) to Hotchkiss.

 We climbed a little to Hermit's Summit in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River.

We climbed a lot on an unpaved climb up Cottonwood Pass.

We climbed some more up Independence Pass.

We had a nice rest day in Glenwood Springs.

Then on Friday, you guessed it, we climbed some more. This time it was a beautiful ride up McClure Pass on our way back to Hotchkiss.

Then on our last day together, we climbed the Grand Mesa. All morning for some of us.

I have a lot more details to share, and tons of pictures. But I wanted to express my gratitude to those who made this so enjoyable and memorable. Peter and Hillary, Kevin and Ann, and all the volunteers make this a fun, challenging, ride that I want to keep coming back to. Theo makes Sherpa Village a great place to meet your neighbors and enjoy the coming and going as much as possible. Scott, the bike mechanic, was always there to help with problems big or small. The Rocky Mountain Sports Massage team helped us recover and prepare to do it all again. And I've never met so many great people to ride with, eat with, or just hang with. I hope everyone made it home safe and sound. And I hope everyone will check in with me over the next couple weeks as I recount my trip to Colorado and the best tour around, CRMBT.