Moving onwards

 

I wrote this a few days ago but haven't been anywhere near the Net...so here goes....

As suspected, the ride with the Texan boys (and gal, Mel, joined us too) was rather epic and fast paced, and very lung-punishing. We rode the 'Dry Fork Track / Colorado Trail', which in itself would've been a good 3 hour ride, but for good measure, we added on a further 2.5 hour single track exploration (on the 'Super Secret Track') – just to fully exhaust ourselves. 58 kms later, we felt sufficiently knackered and ready for a beer & swim. Big thanks to the Texan (Austin of course) crew for forcing us to 'up our game' and stop dilly dallying around like tourists on our bikes!! Haha

Said cheerio to Lightner Creek Campground (prob our fave so far) in Durango – and started our drive upwards – literally. Up to a 10,900 foot pass and then

dropped down along a spectacular piece of road in to Silverton, called the Million Dollar Highway. This place used to be a hotspot for gold and silver mining. Now a tourist attraction, the place does feel like you've

gone back in time to the Wild, Wild West – classic saloon bars and dusty streets, complemented by its own steam train too. They have a mock gun fight on the main street every night :-) Moved further northwards to Ouray. An ice climbing mecca in winter, this place is simply beautiful. Surrounded on 3 sides by towering snow capped peaks, and cut in half by a fast flowing and clear river. Ate dinner in the 'Western Hotel' – which was definitely on the slant. Brent tested it out, and I swear the food on my plate was sliding sideways. Built in the late 1800s, it used to be the place to have a beer and rest for the night back in the cowboy days. Stayed in Ouray for the night, a bit higher up than Durango, at 8000 ft altitude. Trying to acclimatise ourselves.

Drove up to Telluride today. Probably comparable to Aspen, this place just oozes style and money!! Quite a stunning town with a multitude of fancy restaurants and lodgings – you won't find a McD's or Subway here. Beautiful snow capped mountains, it is a winter ski resort, but they host mountain bikers and hikers in summer. Bonus of this place was that we could take our bikes up on the FREE gondola (yeehh) from 8,500 at town level up to 10,500 feet! We like! There is 30% less oxygen at this altitude, so biking uphill is definitely tougher. Did some neat single tracks, including a black diamond challenging downhiller one (despite advice from the Bike Park attendant), which was just about rideable by me. Brent flew down it, defying any comments from afore-mentioned attendant that hardtails should definitely not ride it. Ha.

Went to a Freestyle Motorcross event this evening in Norwood. Don't think this place is on the tourist route, judging by all the local country folk present there! Was fun, and saw some awesome stunts. We are now parked up next to the San Miguel River on the way back to Telluride, we can't afford accomodation at Telluride! Free camping for us, and even comes with a loo. Just have to share it with 5000 over-sized mozzies. Going back to Telluride tomorrow for some more FREE Gondola action! Yeh!