Day 9 & 10 – Salida to Saguache

Day 9 – Chillin in Salida

Day 9 was a recovery day in the town of Salida, a cool place to hang out and chill. Salida has some funky shops and the Arkansas River runs through it so there are lots of activities such as rafting, kayaking, floating and a standing wave.

There are also lots of deer in Salida, chomping on foliage in driveways. They don’t seem to be bothered by people.

It was a nice relaxing day and gave Mike some time to recover.

Day 10 – On The Road Again

We checked out of the Woodland Motel and headed for breakfast at the Red Hen Bakery before our journey began to the town of Saguache, about 50 miles away.

The first part of the ride was a 2000ft climb up Poncha Pass, the same climb we did on Saturday (day 7). Due to our unscheduled rest day we have modified our route to make up some time. Todays ride is mostly paved and we have cut out Marshals Pass.

Of course, we had a headwind to make things a little more challenging but we made it to the summit.

Poncha Pass is Highway 285 and a pretty busy road. Fortunately the shoulder was fairly wide and vehicles are mostly considerate of cyclists. The downhill was into the wind and we soon left the mountains behind and entered the plains.

The wind was brutal making riding a bike with full packs very challenging. We stopped for lunch in a small town called Villa Grove. Nothing was open except for a pottery studio and another form of pot shop.

After lunch we headed back into the wind. This time we went on County Road 58EE to get away from the traffic. More wind. The horizon was one big dust cloud.

We passed the Joyful Journey hot springs and Brent couldn’t resist. We carried on and eventually made it to the town of Saguache and the Big Valley Motel. This was a very tough day and as I type, I realise I have not used the word “stunning” in this post.

We ate burgers at the Oasis Restaurant and Mike mustered up the energy to ride a dinosaur!

Today we rode 49 miles and climbed 2,661ft. With the wind, it felt twice that!