Before leaving Gunnison we stopped at the other bike shop in town to get a third opinion on my back wheel.
Lesson #52: Every doctor gives you a different prescription for the same problem.
Very glad Tyler told us to go see Dave at Rock N' Roll Bike Shop. The bike shop we went to last night basically put a clamp on my faulty rear tire release to hold everything in place. (The quick release is the piece that holds the wheel in place in the wheel well. It had stripped). Dave took off the clamp from yesterday and put and entire new quick release on to hold the rear wheel in place. Seems like a better long term solution. Thank you Dave.
We had about 30 miles of relatively flat biking to get to the base of Monarch Pass.
We rode to Sargeants with the Continental Divide and 14,000 peaks looming ahead of us. Today we would be climbing our biggest climb of the trip and riding on one of the highest altitude roads in America.
We got to Sargeants for a late lunch and started to see a gang of serious mountain bike riders.
Lesson #53: People are crazy and make a routine of doing things the human body isn't meant to do.
We were passing the Great Divide Race going the other way. Every year there is a race from Canada to Mexico where bikers ride (unsupported, carrying everything they need with them) ride the Continental Divide over 30 times! (To put this in perspective our route has us crossing it once, today, and we feel like that is pushing the limit of possibility.)
After a quick lunch we set out to climb Monarch Pass. It was a steady 6% to 7% grade. Time to get that Cleavland city climb on. Four breaks and three hours later we were on top of the Continental Divide!
Lesson #54: The true beauty of mountains is that they have an backside.
We were both really cold at the top and put on long sleeves and pants for the first time on the trip before racing down the other side of the pass.
Lesson: If you see rain. Get cover. Don't get greedy.
We saw dark rain clouds looming as we zipped down the mountain. There was an old abandoned hotel that we stopped at and wondered if we should wait our the weather under the cover of the building.
As per usual, even though the rain was directly in front of us we couldn't let go of the possibility that we could maybe make it the next 6 miles to the next town with the rain holding off.
And as per usual, we were wrong. It started to rain lightly, then get progressively heavier and heavier until finally the hail came and we pulled over and ran into the woods to find the cover of the pine trees
After waiting out the hail and rain we had a quick round of batting practice with a nice stick and the hundreds of pine cones that surrounded us.
The last 25 miles was downhill into Salida. With ourselves and bags soaked we ponied up and stayed in a hostel for the night.
Tomorrow we are heading to Westcliff and staying at the summer camp Mari is volunteering at. Can't wait to be campers. Jack's excited for archery. I'm trying to get my arts and craft game on.
Lesson #55: More life comes from living in less space.
Lesson #55 is Major League.
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