Sunday morning I was up early. Excitement, anticipation and even a bit of nerves greeted me in my hotel room.
Thankfully the Aloha Moose Cafe opened for breakfast at 6 so I strolled over to be their first customer of the day. The Aloha Moose Cafe is operated by a recent transplant from Hawaii. To be correct the owner was returning to Colorado after a stint in Hawaii. It seemed many of the residents I met had a “here and there” residency of Lake City. Perhaps it’s the fact that the winter population is 350 and it is somewhat isolated (the closest dentist is 100 miles away) that makes people come and go. I’m not sure I could do a winter in Lake City, it comes end of September and might hang around until June.
One of my touring habits is I always carry a pint of real Vermont Maple Syrup when I tour. Being a good New England boy I can’t enjoy french toast, pancakes or waffles with the crap corporate America calls table syrup. This usually generates conversation, especially out west. Sometimes I’ll leave the syrup and I’ll always offer a taste. I’m always taken aback when someone tells me they’ve never tasted real maple syrup.
A delicious breakfast thanks for the good folks at the Aloha Moose Cafe and the Carmen Brook Farm!
With breakfast in the gut it was time to figure out my plan for the day. This is the day I’m to meet the group in Ridgway to camp in the state park. It’s not yet 7 and it’s still rather chilly out. What plan I had was to go over the mountain to Ouray / Silverton. I wanted to acclimate to the environment and get in some riding before I met up with the group. I was a little apprehensive about riding alone but I did realize I was in a popular tourist area so while I’d be riding alone I would probably never be too far from some sort of help, plus I had my In Reach tracker / SOS device which is fantastic for offering false confidence. I was also feeling a bit worn out from the blast west, hanging with Woody Friday and trying to drink beer with Irishmen the night before so I took my time getting going.
To get the dirt party started I decided to ride Cinnamon Pass over the Silverton. This was the pass I rode back in 2004. I figured it would be “easy” or at least as it was something I did once without killing myself I should be able to do it again. Off I went. It didn’t take long before I gained a strong appreciation for the practice, training and experience I gained in the last 13 years; what was pucker inducing way back then was pure fun now. My only challenge was getting comfortable with the heights and potential life ending drops off sheer cliffs. I had prepared for this and my little reminder which I said often all week was “ride within yourself.” It’s very easy to get what I call too much happy hand (throttle) in the dirt or when with a new group to get going faster than one’s comfort speed. This can lead to bad things which I like to avoid. Especially in a group ride. Not only is it embarrassing but good group etiquette says don’t crash and ruin everyone’s day.
I check a few campsites on my way out of town. As I got on the trail I saw a sign for a site “up there” so off I went. 4.5 miles of a muddy, rocky big bike hard route which had me panting like a horse and no sign of the group. The campground was deserted and I kicked myself for going there by myself.
As I came down the backside of the pass I saw a rider on a Husky coming up a few turns away. This got my full attention because when on the trail my biggest fear is a head on collision. So many people get lazy off pavement and ride not only left of center but often in the left track wicked fast and here was a rider coming up hill. I only saw him due to brief opportunity and I doubt he saw me. I also figured it would be fun to chat so I was ready to stop.
Around the turn he came and we both stopped. He looked at my bike; saw some stickers and said “Ribfest, who the fuck are you?”
There is only one correct reply: “Who the fuck are YOU”
He then introduced himself as Blair Young. I introduced myself and we realized we’d already met! Good fun!
Now at this point I have no idea who is on this tour. All I know if Jim is in charge and my friend Chad will be there too and I need to be in Ridgway at the state park sometime this evening. So I ask Blair what he’s doing in Colorado and he looks at me like I’m a dope and says “Riding with you!” This is getting better! He then explained he was going to Lake City to retrieve some gear from his truck. When they all met up in Lake City they decided to camp on the west side of the mountain which is why I couldn’t find them the night before. He told me where the rest of the group was and I set off not at all worried about finding them as my “arrival” wasn’t planned until that evening.
I did find the gang at a BLM site. We chatted briefly and made some introductions. Their plan was to ride some of the Colorado Back Rode Discovery Route to Ridgway, while my plan was lunch in Ouray, a quick stop at an outdoor supply store and a nice afternoon nap on some shady grass. We split up to execute or respective plans. I never asked when they thought they would be in Ridgway, next time I will.
I had a lovely afternoon featuring a very casual lunch and a close to two hour nap. I still had plenty of time so I took a dirt road over to Telluride and tried to find an old friend who was unfortunately out of town that day. I got over to the state park ,set up my camp and waited. While waiting I chatted with the campground hosts.
Most parks supplement the rangers with what are known as campground hosts. These are people who commit to spending the summer in a campground at no cost in exchange for light clean up work and to act as another set of eyes. Depending on the park they may also have a golf cart and a radio. If you’ve been to a BMW National Rally you can see what happens to people when they have a golf cart and radio and it happens in state parks too. On top of this while the Ridgway state park is nice and all that like many state parks it’s not really the spot the park the rig for an entire summer but it’s free and you get a golf cart and a radio.
Golf carts and radios are one of the easiest ways to catch a RIP. What is a RIP? A RIP is a Retired Important Person. They spent their career in white collar mid level management with a small team of up and coming (usually younger) talent that held their every word as gospel. Now that they’re retired nobody has to listen to them *unless they have a golf cart and a radio*
I met Mark the host and he was perfectly charming. I was first to a walk in site which by all accounts appeared to be one big group camping area with individual fire pits an gravel pads. I put my tent up on some earth under a tree and waited for the others. First to arrive was Chad, over from Salt Lake City. Then Captain Ben, Blair and a few more arrived and the party got started. What was strange was Rick had reserved two sites but they were not together. This was especially weird because the walk in area was wide open with tons of room but according to the host all those empty sites were reserved. They sure do have a lot of no shows in Ridgway.
Next thing I know is Mark has his radio out and he’s calling in the Rangers. We have too many people on our site, someone is cussing and gosh darn it, you can’t use a hammock here either plus all the tents have to be on the gravel. Go Mark!
Fortunately the Rangers were not RIPs (yet!). We all had a calm discussion and review of the rules. Between the late arrival, the separate sites and the overbearing “hosts” it didn’t feel like much of a meet up but we were together and ready for the next day.