12 day southwest Colorado tour

[eofelis]

My SO and I just completed a 12 day, 500 mile bike tour around southwest Colorado. We left right out our door and had an awesome time.

I rode my little Surly LHT with panniers and he rode his Surly Crosscheck with a Bob trailer. We had not-even-one flat tire. He had a few minor mechanicals, but they happened while we were in Durango.

Here is a link to pics:

http://sports.webshots.com/album/553273978zbzVVI

[Tri Girl]

OMG- the scenery is so incredible!!!! I'm jealous of your long, and enjoyable vacation (albeit a working vacation).
I looked at all your pictures, and it looks like you had a wonderful adventure. Tell us more about it (more than the pictures anyway). How many miles a day did you ride, how did you go about finding camping accomodations, did you have any funny things happen along the way, did you meet any interesting people (the hitchhiker looked fun). Did you journal while riding (well, not while riding, but in the evenings)?
We'd love to hear more about it. Well, I'd love to hear more about it, and I'm sure others would, too.

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Simply breathtaking (in more than one way, surely).

[eofelis]

I will try to sit down and write up a summary of what each day was like, and post it. I was just happy to get pics up for everyone to see.

[aka_kim]

Red Mountain Pass from Ouray, fully loaded. You rock!

Great pictures!

[maillotpois]

Wow - that's very cool! I would love to do something like that one day. (Apparently I am not doing anything like that with my present husband. )

[Pedal Wench]

Neato!!! I was just there too (okay, still no pictures) for CRMBT, and we drove from Durango to Gunnison and back, so just over Red Mountain/Molas/Coal Bank. Gonna ride them next year, so really evaluating the climbs and shoulders! I couldn't imagine some of that with a loaded bike. You took pictures only on sections with nice wide shoulders. You should mention the areas with NO shoulder, NO white line, just a drop off the edge of the road down a cliff! I'm still trying to decide which direction would be best -- Durango to Ouray, or the other way.

Thanks for sharing!!!!

[Bike Goddess]

Fabulous! What a great trip! You have such wonderful vistas. Pictures only show a fraction of the view but suffice to give us a taste of your trip.

I've never done a bike ride with panniers so I have no idea of what it must be like. However, when I see how much climbing and the altitude I'm so impressed with your endurance and perserverence. I loved the shot of the rental place and your comments!

Thanks for sharing and would love to hear more. I'm also interested in % grades, length of climbs, elevation gains, etc if you have the data.

We're so lucky to be able to cycle around our country. We have many special places here and I treasure my moments outside out of town and being closer to nature.

[BikeDutchess]

Wonderful! Looks like a great trip. Awesome pictures! Those were some wicked climbs you did, fully loaded!

[mtkitchn]

Wow, what an awesome trip! Nice pics and nice smiles!