The Death Ride is a three day ride covering 234 miles and 16,000 ft of vertical. The weather over the three days was so unique to each day. It was as though in three days we rode in three seasons.
Day One
The ride started in Silverton Colorado at the base of Red Mountain Pass. When we left it was raining steadily with temperature in the low forties. It was a slow steady climb up to the top of the pass. The temperature continued to drop and the rain turned to sleet and the n to snow. When we reached the summit at 11,010 ft. it was 32 degrees and snowing heavily. The ride down was extremely cold and treacherous. When we arrived in Ouray at our hotel we dried our clothes and warmed up. Rose made the summit and 2 miles down the other side of the pass but was too cold and wet to continue down the pass. A kind general contractor picked up her and another woman and took them to Ouray. Once dry and warm, Mike and I left for Ridgeway and Dallas Divide.
It continued to rain and the temperature stayed in the low 40's. The rain grew stronger as we started our descent off Dallas Divide. We slogged through the day until, with fewer than 20 miles to go of the 72 mile day, our friend found us and talked us into getting into the car. We spent the night in a warm lodge in Telluride.
Day Two
When we left Telluride it was in the low 40's, partly cloudy, crisp, beautiful with great visibility of the surrounding peaks and valleys.
As we started our climb up Lizardhead Pass the wind picked up to a moderate head wind. When we reached the summit we put on our warm clothes for the descent. The wind was strong enough that we had to peddle down hill all the way to Delores. As we lost altitude the temperature rose. All the riders were stripping clothes off by the SAG stop in Delores. We lost the head wind when we turned toward Mancos.. From Mancos to Durango the wind was calmer but at our backs. Wish I could say it helped on the climb. It did make the last eight miles of descent to our hotel a lot of fun. We arrived just in time for the free wine. I don't drink wine but it made Rose happy.
Day Three
The group starts as the train pulls out of the station in Durango. The Iron Horse race pits bicycles against the train for the 50 mile journey up 2 mountain passes to Silverton. We didn't race the train but did ride on some beautiful quiet roads that pass through the valley and begins a gradual ascent to the base of Coal Bank Pass.
At about mile 25 we began the real climb up to Coal Bank and then Molas Passes. It's 6000 feet of elevation gain in less than 25 miles. An hour of riding doesn't click off miles with an average speed of 6 or 7 mph. It's worth the pain to slowly take in the scenery. All the vegetation was especially green after an uncommonly wet May and June.
The higher elevations still had snow. It is sure much nicer to ride past snow on a clear 55 degree day than ride in it as we did on day one. We celebrated when we arrived at the finish line, had a good dinner back in Ouray then eased our muscles into the outdoor hot top at the motel. Great ride experience.
