Ride the Rockies 2017 Day 1: Wolf Creek Pass (C.W. McCall Got It All Wrong)

I am writing this morning from Durango, Colorado. It's Day Three of Ride the Rockies 2017. Last we checked in Jonny Rocker and I were in Salida getting ready to ride to the start in Alamosa, an idea that sounded good on paper but, in reality, was painful.

After a short climb over Poncha Pass out of Salida we dropped into the San Luis Valley to settle in for the cruise down the valley into Alamosa. That's when we encountered The Wind. Even coming down the pass was work as we headed straight into gusty winds blowing up the valley. On the flat, straight 50-mile stretch on Hwy 17 to Alamosa we struggled to maintain 15 mph, often dropping below 10 mph during a big gust.

At our lunch stop in Hooper, Colorado. Sandwiches at a gas station!

Team Beef does not chicken out when faced with adversity!

We made the best of a bad situation, stopping at a little roadside general store and café in Willow Spring for a piece of homemade cherry pie and bough buns, meat and cheese at the gas station in Hooper. By the time we arrived in Alamosa for the start of the next day -- a 92-mile ride across the valley and over Wolf Creek Pass -- we were wiped out and wondering if we had made a big mistake.

Rejuvenating at San Luis Valley Brewing Co.

Relaxing back at camp.

Woody rolled in from the bar just in time for sunset!

After a few beers and some good food (I had the steak quesadilla -- yum!) at San Luis Valley Brewing Co. things were looking up. A number of fellow riders came up to us and asked about Team Beef. Turns out all of the buses (and many cars) transporting riders to the start passed us along our route. Team Beef got a lot of free publicity (making it worth our while in my book!). 

Jonny Rocker leads the way out of Alamosa.

Woody heads up the pass, Hawaiian shirt flapping in the wind.

 On the official first day of riding (Sunday) we headed northwest toward Monte Vista on Hwy 50 across the San Luis Valley. The wind cooperated for the first 40-miles but turned against us at Del Norte and intensified at South Fork as we headed up Wolf Creek Pass.

Beginning a tough climb like Wolf Creek Pass at mile 50 is tough on the legs. Climbing into a headwind is a mental challenge. There were times I thought about chucking the beef bike in the south fork of the Rio Grande River and giving up. The devil on my shoulder can be very convincing!

Team Beef/Bar2Bar at the Summit of Wolf Creek Pass (way up on the Great Divide).

But Team Beef/Bar2Bar does not quit (Death Before SAG!). As we headed up the pass I queued up C.W. McCall's famous ditty about Wolf Creek Pass on my iPhone (Bluetoothed to my Ivation bike speaker). As I listened to the song I began to question whether McCall had ever driven this stretch of road before he wrote it.

Watch this video then come back for the rest of the story!

McCall says he and Earl were "hauling chickens on a flat bed outta Wiggins" and had "spent all night on the uphill side of 37 miles of hell called Wolf Creek Pass (which is way up on the Great Divide)." First of all, Wiggins, Colorado, is northeast of Denver, 300 mile away. I'm also not sure why it took them all night to drive 37 miles, but I'll let that slide because he got the "37 miles of hell" part right!

But here is where it gets sketchy. As McCall describes careening down the western side of the pass towards Pagoda Springs with no brakes, he mentions counting phone poles as they whizzed by. Problem is there are no phone poles on this stretch of road. He then describes hitting a tunnel that "took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp." Problem is there is no tunnel on the western side of the pass!

But the biggest issue I have with McCall's narrative is that he and Earl were unable to stop the truck before ending up crashing into the feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs. The reality is you cannot coast from the summit to downtown Pagosa. Even though we often say "it's all downhill from here" when we sit atop the big climb of the day, the fact is it rarely is. I counted at least for hills we had to climb after the descent that would have easily stopped their truck.

So, yes, this is what I think about when climbing and descending mountain passes. Anything to take my mind off the pain! Ride the Rockies is an endurance event. There is a lot of pain to endure. As Jonny Rocker and I suit up for Day Three there is much moaning and groaning. But today is a short 38-mile loop back to Durango so no packing up our gear today and we should have plenty of time to recover for tomorrow's epic ride over three passes!

Ride on!

Daren

Today, we ride. Why? Because we can!

Today is Day Zero of Ride the Rockies 2017. This is the day 2,000 riders show up in Alamosa, Colorado, to register and get ready for tomorrow's 92-mile ride from Alamosa to Pagosa Springs. Most people will arrive by car or bus and spend the day getting their gear ready to go. But for Team Beef/Bar2Bar, this will be our first day of riding. You see, we are starting out in Salida, Colorado, where the ride ends next Saturday, and riding 80 miles to the start in Alamosa. Why? Because we can!

Jonny Rocker loads up the bikes for the big ride.

Before heading to Saluda we stopped at YAWP Cyclery for a quick tune up of the BEEFMAN bike that included the addition of a new rear rack! :)

Searching for the perfect trunk bag for the rack proved more challenging than expected. After stopping at 10 bike shops in Denver and Buena Vista, I found the perfect bag at Absolute Bikes in Saluda!

When the RTR route was announced back in February we immediately noticed that the ride ended in Salida, a frequent overnight stop on Ride the Rockies and home of five of our nine team members. It is also home to the Victoria Bar, a popular hangout for locals and tourists visiting this iconic mountain town at the headwaters of the Arkansas River. Soon after somebody floated the idea of starting in Salida and making the ride an 8-day, 520 mile loop. The idea of starting and ending the ride at the Vic was just too tempting to pass up!

Jonny and I hit our first brewpub -- Joyride Brewing -- for a quick beer before our journey.

At our hotel in Saluda -- the last bed until Durango (camping the next two nights).

Jonny Rocker and I drove from Denver yesterday and met up with the rest of the team at the Vic last night. After loading up on some liquid carbs we went out to dinner and began the feeding frenzy that is RTR, Burning around 4,000 calories a day on the bike requires constant refueling! We turned in relatively early and I woke this morning grateful that we made a good choice and avoided the typical first night syndrome (overindulging due to the excitement of seeing each other and anticipation of the week to come).

The Hankster (left) and Jonny Rocker (center) meet for the first time at the Vic in Salida.

Team Beef/Bar2Bar outside the Vic.

Jonny and I are packing up our gear and will meet up with the rest of group and head out around 7:00. We should arrive in Alamosa in the early afternoon, hopefully before the heat and wind pick up. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week.

Ride on!

Daren

Team Bar2Bar (or is it Beef?) Rides Again!

In one week Jonny Rocker and I will head to Salida, Colorado, for the start of Ride the Rockies 2017. Although the ride officially starts in Alamosa and ends in Salida, we are meeting up with our teammates in Salida on Friday and will ride 80 miles to Alamosa on Saturday. That way when we roll into Salida on the following Sunday, roughly 520 miles later, we will be back at the start!

In true Team Bar2Bar tradition, The Hankster had T-Shirts made with the official team bars in each of the overnight destinations and the official team motto, "drinkers with a cycling problem."

So, you may have noticed that various times I will talk about riding with Team Beef and Team Bar2Bar and maybe even Team DFL. So which is it? Well, it's complicated!

After a one-year hiatus, Team Bar2Bar returns to RTR for the Reunion Tour 2017!

On my first RTR in 2005 I registered as a team of two with my friend David from Kansas City who had recently moved to Colorado (I still lived in KC at the time). On the evening of Day Zero (the day everyone arrives and registers) we met two amazing women who called themselves Team DFL

"What does DFL stand for," I asked innocently. 

"Dead 'Something' Last," was their reply. 

I met Patty (left) and Kris (right) on my first RTR in 2005.

I got the point. DFL is the moniker given to the last rider on the route. Imagine 2,000 cyclists trekking around the Colorado Rockies and the significant logistical challenge of keeping track of them all. The organizers and volunteers can't pack up an aid station until the last rider comes through. Imagine being that rider. Kris took pride in it!

Team DFL President Kris with Team Bar2Bar legacies Lora and Robert "Woody" Woodworth.

Don't get me wrong, Kris is a strong rider. She is also one of the most social people I have ever met. She can (and will) talk to anybody who will listen. Kris and Patty would set up temporary tattoo parlors at every aid station, apply Team DFL tattoos, and make friends with the other riders. The end result is they were often among the final riders on the route -- occasionally dead something last. We became fast (slow) friends. I rode with them for several years after that as an official member of Team DFL. 

Kris applies a Team DFL on the Mayor of Chama, NM, on RTR 2006 (the only time Ride the Rockies has left the state of Colorado).

Sometime during that first RTR Kris and Patty introduced me to a group of riders that call themselves Team Bar2Bar. The name is derived from their habit of riding directly to a bar (the first on one the left, unless it's on the right) in the overnight destination town. We became fast (drinking) friends.

Team DFL and Bar2Bar reunion at the start of RTR 2006 in Cortez, CO.

Seriously, though, these guys had the plan. Ride straight into town and to a bar. While everyone else rides straight to the campsite (typically a school) and sweats in the midday sun they were sitting (usually a local brewpub or dive bar) eating and drinking -- refueling for the next day. I have been a member of Team Bar2Bar ever since, whether I registered as part of the team or not.

The official T-shirt is a Team Bar2Bar tradition.

So where does Team Beef come in? Just prior to my second RTR in 2006 I interviewed for a position at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Denver. I have always loved beef, grew up visiting my grandparents in Colorado, and was hooked on riding over 12,000 foot mountain passes after my first RTR. This was my chance to combine all three. They offered me the job and I took a week to think it over -- while riding on RTR 2006. I made my decision about halfway through the first day.

The first official Team Beef was just me and my friend Shawn.

After joining NCBA we came up with the idea for Team Beef when several of my colleagues signed up for a 10K run in Denver, sponsored by Arby's. At the end of the run Arby's employees were handing out coupons for a free meal. I eagerly took one anticipating an Arby's roast beef sandwich. The coupon was for a grilled chicken sandwich. "What the something?" I asked. "We figured runners would want something healthy," was their reply. Wrong answer.

I have been promoting beef on Ride the Rockies since 2007!

Thus the impetus for Team Beef -- now numbering thousands of beef-loving athletes around the country demonstrating that beef is powerful fuel for physical activity and an essential part of a healthy, active lifestyle. 

From left: The Hankster, Woody and I rode as Team Beef one day on RTR 2013.

Team Beef registered an official team for the first (and only) time in 2014 but, just like Team Bar2Bar, many people consider themselves part of Team Beef and sport Team Beef jerseys on the ride. This year is no different. Seven of us registered as Team Bar2Bar but on any given day 10 of us could be wearing Team Beef jerseys. Either way we will be enjoying plenty of beef and beer. That's just the way we roll.

Ride on...

Daren