No wonder I was soooo spent at camp that night.
We found a perfect campsite, with a view of the lower slopes of Pikes Peak. My Golite Shangri La performed flawlessly during the crazy overnight thunder and lightning storm. No bears pillaged our food, which was a concern of mine after Nick's bear encounter from 2 weeks ago.
We woke up to a beautiful day and got off to an early start.
After about an hour of spinning up hill, we encountered some guys doing the RTP trail in a day. We let them pass and shortly thereafter I was surprised to catch back up to one of them. Unfortunately, my bike started acting funky. I thought it was chainsuck, but it was much more. A broken chain and twisted derailleur hanger. Not sure which came first...
I stopped, fixed the chain, straightened the hanger, then hopped back on. I started riding up to catch Nick, then realized I couldn't shift. @$!@#@#$? Singlespeed for another 50 miles? Argh! Whatever, it'll still be fun. I figured my brifter had given up the ghost and hiked up the trail, eventually getting back to Nick.
Nick smartly pointed out that maybe I had just broken a shifter cable. Sure enough, that was it! And, even better, Nick had a spare in his kit. Additionally, he had a tiny screw driver which allowed me to change the cable on my Shimano brifters. Lesson learned...next time around, I'll have a spare cable, derailleur hanger, and Leatherman that has a tiny screwdriver bit. While I fixed my bike, another few riders came by. They too, were doing the RTP in a day. Actually, they were GPS'ing the route for the RTP race in October. Nice guys and gal to chat with while fixing things. :-)
I got the bike back in order and we took off to the Crags. Both Nick and I were feeling well and made good time. We saw the RTP guys again at the Crags and then again at the Cripple Creek KOA, where we all hung out for a chat and some lunch.
Nick and I left the KOA feeling pretty good and just kept on hammering. We hit Gold Camp Rd, then continued the massive climb up to 376.
I got caught in a big thunder/hail storm while Nick pulled away from me with his 1x9 gearing. I hunkered down in some giant pines and put on my rain gear. Once the storm passed, I continued the awesome climb / hike-a-bike to the top, where Nick was relaxing in the sun.
Nick pointed out that we were going quickly enough to finish in 2 days, instead of 3. We'd continue to ride and see how things went. Both of us felt great, pushing through the next massive hike-a-bike section,
then continuing through an awesome thunderstorm in the incredible Jones/Pipeline downhill all the way back to Colorado Springs.
I managed to have a spastic wipeout on Captain Jacks, sliding about 10 feet off the edge, hitting a couple trees. No significant damage, but a reminder to keep it safe for the last 5ish miles back to Nick's house.
We finished early on the second day, probably around 5pm. It was an excellent trip with excellent company. I learned some valuable things for future bikepacking trips. Thanks Nick!
Comments