Ride the Rockies

Let the ride begin! Six days of riding, 442 miles, nearly 25,000 vertical feet, a few mountain passes, and even a wildfire. Ride the Rockies, ahhhhh!  Bicycle Guy is doing the ride, along with 2000 others, 5 of whom we know. 

Karl, Taldi, Jeff, Sarah, Houston and Steve, all friends from back east.

 Plenty of vendors, police on motor patrol, food, music and fun.

 Saw this poster in a shop...yep, I brought my hoop.

 This is the 'bike corral', where the bikes are stored every night.

Most of the riders camp, some stay at motels, but the motels can be 45 minutes away.

 We're glad we chose to camp as that is where the action is. We camp at schools, on football fields and wherever there is a patch of grass.

 But the action stops at around 8:30. We're all in bed by then. Up at 5:30 to start another day.

The precision like aisles are 'rented' tents that the crew sets up for riders who decided to camp but didn't want to bring their gear. We move to a new location every day, of course.

How do they get all that sweat off after a hard day of riding, you ask? There are mobile showers the size of a semi truck (in fact they are semi truck beds, pulled by semi trucks) with about 12 showers in each. A crew sets them up early in the day, and packs them up at 8:30 p.m. to head to the next location.

The sink area is pretty awesome. Hey, I didn't expect this so I was gleeful when I saw it. Running water! Whoo hoo!

 The organization of this entire event is superb. There are dozens of these little recycling tents around accepting cardboard, plastic, paper and aluminum. 

For those people who don't have a car but lots of gear, there are trucks that haul the stuff. They're labeled 'early truck', 'middle truck', 'late truck'. At each location, there are football players to haul the bags to the tent site. We have a car, so I can sometimes drive to the site or haul a bit. All in all, it's been a great time. More scenery to come later.