April 2 (Day 16): Mancos to Durango, Colorado
After being snowed out of yesterday’s ride from Cortez to Durango, Colorado, I returned to Mancos to make a second attempt on the ride to Durango. Boy, what a difference a day makes. Yesterday was snow, headwinds, and temperatures around 30 degrees. Today was sunny, a little bit of a tailwind, and temperatures at least 10 degrees warmer. With the climbing (two ascents, one to 8000 feet and another to 8400 feet), I expected to need 2 hours, 30 minutes to even as much as 3 hours to cover the 30 miles to Durango. Well, with the improved conditions and a good twenty-four hours of test, I made my way from Mancos to Durango in an hour and 50 minutes.
We had some extra time yesterday afternoon to explore downtown Durango and to pick up a couple items from the local bicycle shops. We walked from our hotel to downtown (about a mile walk) and first stopped by Mountain Bike Specialists. It’s a store and a museum all at the same time. A lot of big names in the bicycling world have a jersey or two hanging on their walls. While I was there, I spoke to an employee who probably saved my life. I was planning to ride south out of Durango on highway 550. He strongly advised against that because it has little or no shoulder and a large amount of commuter traffic. Instead he recommended a couple of alternate county roads and highway 172.
What Mountain Bike Specialists didn’t have was spare parts for the fenders on my bicycle. They sent me to Durango Cyclery. The guys there were great! They made a donation to the tour in the form of the spare nuts and bolts I needed for my fenders. One of the bolts on my front fender fell off about 600 miles ago and has been rattling ever since. Now I can finally fix it!
Pat’s parents drove up from Albuquerque yesterday to spend some time with us in Durango. It’s been a nice visit and we’ve been able to share with them some of the experiences we’ve had on the road the past two weeks. Also, I think Pat has appreciated having someone else to talk to besides me!
April 3rd, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Hey Pete and Pat,
Sounds like you out-foxed April Fool’s Day by avoiding the ride in the snow with less than ideal energy reserves. Shows how smart it is to know when to think of alternative solutions. We are thinking of you!
Denise & Lawrence
April 3rd, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Hi Pete,
I went back to the map where you hi-lighted the tour route and I see that you are heading to Florida and then going north. The North American Conference of DESA will he held at the Univ of NC in Chapel Hill on May 18 - 21. If you are in that area at that time you should plan to stop in. I am sure that you would get a great reception from all the people living with diabetes who love all kinds of sports and exercise and will be attending the conference.
The Florida Gators just won their first National Basketball Championship beating UCLA.
Stay well and be safe.