Hail Hurts & Relaxing in Conifer, CO

Black Bear Roadkill, Dillon Reservoir, Hoosier Pass, The Moran's; Steve (lived with in college), Karen (wife), Sara (daughter), Jimmy (son), Morgan (St Bernard #1), and Cherry (St Bernard #2), It was supposed to be restful...:)

Monday evening I ended up in Walden, CO which is in the middle of North Park basically a high plateau surrounded on three sides by between 12-14,000ft peaks you really get a feel for the terrain when riding in (slowly) on a bicycle. North Park at one time was jammed with buffalo now all gone but still abundant wildlife particularly; elk, deer, black bear, and birds it's very good grazing so no reason for the critters to go elsewhere (plus they probably don't like to climb either). I camped out in the city park! Tuesday morning while riding out of North Park I got recruited to stick around and work for a few days "bringing the hay in", they've a dramatic shortage of labor in North Park (people are moving out the school went from 350 last year to 175 this year, no jobs)....I declined. They're exploring for oil in North Park, of course some like it some don't. I had no idea that when you buy land you're only buying surface rights unless you've specifically contracted for the mineral rights below. Seemed that majority of land owners in North Park only have surface rights and our accepting payments from the oil companies for "access rights". Consensus from the few I spoke with was that they aren't really excited about the upcoming drilling and such but can't say no to the money. Leaving North Park heading up over Willow Creek Pass (CD#8 9,621ft) you begin to see large tracts of Pine trees that are brown and dead as result of abnormally high beetle infestations, if you buy into global warming you would say that the lack of really cold winters lately is allowing the beetle population to sky rocket. The dead trees continue to get worse as you head east. I've been seeing diverse and disgusting road kill in various states of decay the entire trip but towards the top of Willow Creek pass I was blown away by a teenage black bear lying on the side of the road....I'll post a pick just to give you a feel sorry if some find it disgusting. Tuesday night I camped at Green Mountain Reservoir just south of Kremling, CO (good swimming). Wednesday began with great weather and very picturesque scenery as I was beginning to ride into Middle Park and "ski town country"; Silverthorne, Dillon, Keystone, Breckenridge along the way. Excellent bike path from Silverthorne to Breckenridge. After Breckenridge I climbed the highest point of the trip, Hoosier Pass at 11,542ft (CD#9) all hell broke loose as I approached the top. Riding up really wasn't that bad the grade was pretty gentle probably around 4% and by that point I was pretty acclimatized to the altitude. Approaching the top I had my eye on a very black sky with clouds moving really quickly. Within 10 minutes the temperature went from 73'F to 42'F marble size hail mixed with rain began to pound me on the descent. After a few minutes I could no longer feel my fingers which coupled with wet rims and brakes made slowing down really hard. Aside from my legs which wasn't an issue my ears were exposed. Ears are very sensitive to marble sized hail. While trying to cover up my ears with my rain jacket collar I had my first crash of the trip....not all that serious but I did smash my hip and arm against the pavement. Anyway following 25 miles or so of this misery I was in Fairplay (this is the heart of South Park so naturally everyone is nicknamed; Kenny, Kyle or Cartmen). where I was to be picked up and shuttled to Conifer for a day of rest at the Moran's. I walked into the only bar in Fairplay dripping wet and really cold wearing my funny bike apparel changed in the bathroom and sat next to a guy wearing spurs at the bar waiting for Steve to get off of work and pick me up. It was raining and cold so the spur guy had given up for the day and was planning on getting the cows together tomorrow. Steve shows up around 5PM and I decide along the drive to his house in Conifer that I would have been really upset had I opted to ride the 50 miles or so.....extremely hilly. Tomorrow morning I'll get dropped off where I got picked up so not missing anything. I certainly needed the rest and am really really glad that Steve and family are in the area. I'm spending today working on the bike doing laundry and such. Yesterday was three weeks into the trip, I've made it 1820 miles with roughly 2200 more to go. I'll be crossing the CD one more time tomorrow followed by 5000ft descent into Pueblo CO and another 5000ft very gradual descent to the Mississippi river somewhere in Missouri, I think.