Tues I left Susan & Don’s for Colorado Springs and Cheyenne mtn trails. Once in CS I needed to take care of the license tabs deal. I Googled office supply places and selected one w/ notary services. The GPS lead me thru residential neighborhoods to a street that was closed for construction. I juked and jibed around searching for a way out and the woman’s voice never lost the destination and kept recalculating a new course. I would have been deaf in my right ear if the woman was riding w/ me. Crazy. The office supply was a pak and ship store. I did obtain the printed doc but the guy who was the notary had to leave b4 it was printed. The other guy told me about a near by bank which I followed. $5 for stamp. Next was PO to mail the form and the check off. I dropped the envelop in the mailbox. Later I realized i forgot the check. OOPS.

I stopped @ CS REI poking around looking for whatever. A sales associate asked if I needed help while I was pouring over the CO Gazetteer. i asked about camping in the FS. He suggested Woodland Park. I could have stayed @ Cheyenne mtn SP for $22 but no, I sought out FS land that took 25 miles of driving climbing past Garden of the Gods and the road to snow cloaked Pikes Peak. Found a spot way up @ 9300′. Enjoyed clear cold skies.

Wed I drove back down hill to Cheyenne SP to ride their trails that Rich @ PUSH suggested. Paid my $7 entry fee.  The first trails I rode where wide enough for the maintenance atv and where smooth. OK, I can enjoy a  non tech challenging ride. Opps. I moved over to another trail and it got chunky. I rode 13.46 miles and climbed 1834′. Turned out to be a satisfying ride competed w/ $0.50 for 4 min hot showers. If you want to see flat terrain look east from almost anywhere east of I-25. Tony Boone made some of the trails.

Next I drove further south on I-25 to Pueblo, CO for Pueblo Reservoir trails. Research on line listed Vance’s and was featured by Lou Mazzante in Mountain Bike. Dive of a shop. Bought trail map. I learned that a campground in the park was closed. Late afternoon. research on the Gazzeter found FS land that was 20 something miles away. Duh. Passing up on a paid XG for lots of driving. Found spot @ a wildlife viewing area. Getting colder @ night.

Thurs I moved back to Pueblo Reservoir SP, paid $7 out of state entry fee, figured out the trail map and headed out. Exit trail was not labeled leaving my navigation to my skills. Missed again. The only other user I saw for the next 2 hours was a runner who corrected my navigation and I was found. The rest of the trails were well labeled. Trails are on a mesa about 50′ above the water level and sinuously wind thru the desert on hard shale that clinks like metal plates. Beautiful day again. 18.6 miles climbing 1364′. Prickly pear and cholla cactus.

Deal now was to drive west on I-50 to Salida and Mark and Brenda’s for late afternoon arrival. Rt 50 is a picturesque drive climbing along side the Arkansas River. Beautiful fall colors. Met M & B @ a local bar. great to see them again. The 3 of us were ski instructors @ Ski Acres @ Snoqualmie Pass back in the mid 80’s.

More to come off to engagement w/ them. Mark took me on a real mountain bike ride today dropping down and abandoned railroad grade that serviced a gold mine way up a gulch.

Brenda drove Mark and me way up into mtns @ 9300′ for our ride start which provided scoping views of mountain sides. Route took us down Railroad Gulch with faint tread down thru a canyon that would excite rock climbers.

The route left the gulch down to the main railraod line down Arkansas river canyon for return to Salida. Got a bit of R&R on return as Mark rode the railroad track:

Back in town. We went downtown to visit w/ a group of M & B’s friends. I shared the Muchoe tequilla to receptive drinkers. Back @ M & B’s house Brenda fixed dinner. Visited until bedtime then slept on side of street in their neighborhood. Salida is a neat old played out mining town that still has its head above water. Old houses in old part of town have held up and are still occupied. Downtown is cool w/ old 2 story brick buildings, Arkansas river flows just at end of main street in downtown is a whitewater paddlers delight that attracts those recreators. For mtn bikers there is Monarch Crest trail that I have ridden several times this time it is snow dusted preventing me from riding it this time.

Sunday’s weather forecast fizzled w/ reality of a great day for riding and I took advantage of it to drive short distance down mountain to Curt Gowdy State Park. I drove into the Aspen TH parking area that slowly filled w/ rigs w/ mountain bikes and riders. The trail system is now an IMBA Epic and it wears its credentials well. Well executed trail map and every intersection was signed and numbered, most hap entire trail map attached. I was never lost, sometimes confused when the maps were posted on the south side of the trail and I needed to go north, just meant that the lead in my pencil didn’t swing to the proper orientation. I rode for 3 1/2 hrs for 21.44 miles and 2962′ elevation gain. Geology is mostly radiused decomposed granite for excellent traction. I made some moves that I had never followed thru in the past. The rock’s rugosity begged apply pedal power. Sunny AM with clouds moving in as the day aged. I encountered the most number of riders anywhere on my travels but never felt crowded. Very well done bike “park”.

Several riders identified me tying me to my monument van. AT the end of the ride a guy nearby greeted me saying he has been reading my blog. I never got his name. To that Guy: I incorrectly wrote the maker of your helmet. Please send the  name to me. His helmet offered more lower head coverage. We chatted about places we have ridden comparing notes.

A hiker stop to talk to me about my van conversion as he has a bucket list to do something the same. We chatted  a good while. Lief is a teacher @ a local community college and teaches creative writing. he said he is working on a novel about a guy from middle class background that shucks it all and takes off to be what he wants to be. Gee, sound like me?

I paid for camping in the park. I flagged down a law enforcement officer and asked for his camp site recommendation that I accepted. Sunday night in off season meant empty park. Just b4 dinner rain spit on the roof. I put the cover over the bikes. Just b4 I got up rain fell w/ conviction.

Monday was a travel day heading east then down to Denver to visit w/ my cousin Susan and husband Don. This day exhibited the forecast from Sunday: Snow and strong winds warnings @ my backside that sped me along and saved $ on fuel. I stopped @ Sierra Trading Post that sells mostly over stock or out dated soft goods. I wandered around searching for a wool shirt among sensory overload of merchandise. I was overwhelmed and didn’t find what i was looking for. I made eye contact w/ a guy who looked like my kind of people. He navigated his way thru the clothing racks and called me by name. It was Jeremy from State College whom I met in Augusta @ the IMBA World Summit and partied @ his house 1 night @ SC. He and a friend where driving the friend’s converted Van Specialties in Portland, OR Sprinter. They had stopped along the way to ride, one was w/ Don from Galena Lodge back in Sun Valley. The 2 of them were team members on Tim’s Hugh Ass race team. Jeremy said he and Tim and Sue will be visiting Sedona this winter. Cool.

I hit I-25 and headed south into CO. Next stop was PUSH just of teh interstate. I wanted to visit w/ Darren to learn what new suspension tuning he had in the works. Unfortunately he was out of town. I did visit w/ several guys I had talked w/ b4. Rich gave me a ride suggestion of Cheyenne SP outside of Colorado Springs which is where I am.

My travel plan now is thru Salida on rt 50 to Fruita. I will pass thru Gunnison and see Bill and Susan @ Tommechi Cycles. There is a new trail outside Montrose that I will ride.

I called the WA license agency and I will be able to acquire my tabs w/ a little extra snail mail steps. Cool. I will hand in Fruita awaiting the US mail.

After PUSH I drove to Susan & Don’s for an over night visit. Don is a creative artist among other things. Some of his work is with and / or on animal bones. Their coffee table supports 2 newly acquired bleached bull skulls, raw material for future work. Susan is 3 days younger than me as my understanding of our mothers’ history was there was a “race” to drop the first kid. I won by a …. ? She is the only one of my cousins that I have visited.

Sunny day fall colors drive from Denver to CS. In the 50s daytime w/ just below freezing @ night.

Sunday’s ride brought forth the same breathing problems that i thought I had fixed. My lack pain medication didn’t alleviate symptoms.

Off to take care of business.

Spent night out in the open part way up the mtn above Green River. Windy in the evening. Moon rose casting light on the desert. Chilly but didn’t use heater.

Today i am to meet Wade and some other riders @ 9:00 where i am parked to ride more of the trail system. Wade was the only one who showed, the others bailed. Nice day that still needed a long under wear top. Wade again showed me the goods. Lots of marked trails wander around using the various ledges of sedentary rock. We were the only people up there. Elk used a section of our ride and badgers pock marked some pieces. Well built and creatively configured trails. Quite something riding in this open expanse of high desert. We stopped and chatted quite a lot each learning something from each other. Short ride time but long total time.

Wade needed to be at his bike shop @ noon which decided our ride. He made it. We bid adieu.

I drove into town and picked up my squashed bottle of Squirt lube that fell from my van the day before. I had an idea of stopping in Rock Springs to ride White Mtn. I asked Wade about it and he said that the area has been hacked by motorized traffic and was confusing to navigate. I decided to pass and drive across the state to Laramie for Curt Gowdy IMBA epic trail. Drove I-80 all the way enjoying a following to quartering high wind. I exited the interstate onto a st highway traveling thru Medicine Bow NF. Trees! Very windy. I turned onto the first open FS road and found a camp spot.

Forecast for next several days is for winds, gusts to 45 w/ rain & snow forecast. Tuesday is  the next favorable forecast day. I will await the better weather. There are still patches of snow from storms last week. Camped @ 8100′.

I will admit the inhalation of my pain medication affects my breathing as i have not consumed for 8 days and the congestion in my lungs is gone. I am still short of breath.

My license tabs expire in Nov and I need an emissions test performed in WA that won’t happen. Acquiring the tabs will be a challenge jumping thru out of state hoops w/ no permanent address. I am picking Fruita, CO.