day 10 - over the mountain

i'm sitting in my hotel room listening to the wind blow 30+mph.  if i look out the window, i see a dust storm billowing.  not unlike the one i had to ride through heading across the san luis valley from ft. gardner to alamosa.

the day started out at sunrise, a little cool, clear, with the wind out of west.  which is where i was headed.  30 mi. to la veta pass and i shifted down multiple gears, eventually swallowing my pride and running on my 2nd largest back gear.  the front stayed on the big chain ring, keeping the smaller for the climb.  this was before the mountain.

finally made the actual mountain and i never changed gears, 2nd largest in back, largest in front.  wasn't doing 60-80 rpm, mind you, but i made it all the way up like that.  hard work, but felt great to do that.  

no great vista at the top for a reward, but there was a pleasant alpine valley on the other side with the road snaking down it.  sat in the grass for awhile and soaked it in.

then decided it was time to head down that snake.  and got really pissed off.  no down hill ride for reward of all that work going up.  the wind coming up the pass was so strong that i had to pedal to go anywhere.  and not even in top gear, i had to drop it a couple of rings.  there were moments that if i stopped pedaling, i'd stop.  couldn't even coast.  20 miles of that.  couldn't tell the difference when i reached the valley floor and ft. garland.

         mount blanca (14,000 elev) , looking towards great dunes np

i decided that since the great sand dunes np was closed, i wouldn't take the chance and head up north.  i headed due west toward alamosa.  since the wind was coming out of the south, i had a pretty good ride to start, cruising in top gear, realizing that all the previous hard work was not me afterall but it really was the wind.  but then the wind got harder and must have shifted slightly cause i had a viscious side wind that was forcing me to lean into it sideways and pedal hard.  and then i saw the sand storm coming.  

i had one blast pass just behind me and later another went across the road right ahead of me.  finally, after a lot of work i made it into alamosa unscathed.  and the wind is still blowing.  25-30 mph.

         rio grande at alamosa, co.

tomorrow it's supposed to continue out of the s, sw at 20 mph +/-.  i turn and head due south toward taos, santa fe and albuquerque.  i look forward to the challenge.  no, i really don't.  as any bike rider will be happy to tell you, biking against wind sucks.  mountains you can climb and get to the top of, wind...well, it just blows.