Sargents Mesa
I got encouraging messages from Mark. I asked if we were still friends, and he said yes. He was following me on the tracker. I also shared a tracker link with some friends on Instagram. The good words from family and friends were buoying me up. Segment 17 was another sufferfest for me. Tons of hike-a-bike, lots of rocks, very little bike riding, much like the previous day. Just not fun. I was suffering along, pushing my bike uphill at about 6.9 mi when I saw a bikepacker come the other direction, we met at an intersection. Had a brief conversation. He said he was going to get water at Baldy Lake down the hill, and I only then realized that that was where I needed to get water. It was a good, steep, rocky descent, at least a half mile off the trail, so we left bikes at the top and walked down together. I learned a bit from him. He was also a high school mtb coach, from Montrose, he had started much more recently than me and done big days. He said that he had set an alarm for 2:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m. to do some of the big mountains early. That was eye-opening, very good idea to avoid the storms. When we got water at baldy Lake - where I wish I'd taken a picture, it's a pretty lake - I saw that John just added some drops after he scooped water into bottles. I asked him what it was, and he said that it was grapefruit seed extract, and that it killed bacteria. He learned about it from guiding. He told me a little bit more about his next ride, he was hoping to make Buena Vista in one day. He definitely was biting off bigger chunks than I was. He was running low on food and I gave him one of my 1/2lb salami sticks that I had eaten a little of at Tank 7 the day before. I told him that Tank 7 was flowing, I took pictures of his bike set up, and him. He was running clipless pedals, a full suspension Pivot, and a much lighter load. It made me think about how much I was carrying, and whether I could get along with less. He said that he didn't have a tent, but rather just a tarp, and he felt it was sufficient. He wasn't using any digital equipment to record or guide himself, he simply was following signs. He said he did go off course once. The walk back up to the trail from Baldy Lake reminded me of how much I was at a disadvantage, with sea level lungs and not much fitness. I was breathing hard and had to stop and rest while he kept walking and talking up the hill. He said that he lived in Durango and often trained up at 11,000 ft, and that he felt that he was acclimatized. The rest of 17 was tough; rocks, pushing, not much water. I was able to filter water at Lujan Creek, and then I had a final descent. I don't even remember that descent at this point, I just remember that it was really rocky, unpleasant, a lot of work. That got me to segment 18.
Segment 18 was a surprise, almost like an apology for all the brutality of segments 14, 15, 16 and 17. It was through sagebrush country, single track on old roads with mild grades. It was really pretty and I could pedal all of it. What a nice change! I was planning on getting all the way through 18 and I had this fantasy that I could get to the beginning of the La Garita wilderness bypass, put my thumb out and get to the Cathedral Ranch Cabins that night. It was a stretch goal. About 4 mi into segment 18 I started to feel drops, and they quickened, and I got under a stand of conifers with my bike, put my jacket on and thought I would wait it out. Big hint: this does not work in the Rockies. Thunder and lightning, harder rain, hail. I was just in my capilene long sleeve hoodie and my Houdini shell. It did not let up. It went on for a long time. I started shivering, and my teeth were chattering. Thunder and lightning all around. I now know I waited too long. I finally got some warm clothes on in the trees, rain jacket and pants, and then went hunting for a flat spot. I went a little further back down the trail, found one right by the trail and set up my tent and got in it. Everything was wet. The tent was still wet from the last two nights, it had been wet since 15. Again I kept my food with me instead of trying to hang it, there was nowhere to hang it. I had read on the internet that bear hangs were not that effective, bears can climb trees and a motivated bear will get your food. So what to do? Of course a bear box would be great but how do you do that with a bike packing setup? I kept it with me and hoped for the best. I learned a lesson, you don't get to pick when you're done with the Colorado Trail, the weather does. I also learned, do not delay, immediately get in the tent if it starts raining.
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