Day 38 - Monarch Pass, CO to Gunnison, CO - 46 mi

First things first, check out our newest video!!

Today we awoke to the coldest morning yet (camping at 10,000 ft!!) - there was some ice on Don's stove as he prepared to whip up some bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches for breakfast - Don's Diner is definitely one of the highlights of the trip! We used a late start this morning to allow the sun to come out from behind the mountains and clouds - we had a 3 mile climb to the top of Monarch Pass after nailing most of the massive climb yesterday.

Needless to say the top of the pass was beautiful. That is definitely the highest elevation I have ever been to as we crested on our bikes around 11,300 ft. The majority of the group also took the $7 gondola ride to the top of the mountain to claim our space above 12,000 ft!




Following our crest of the mountain we had to make it back down! This consisted of a ~10 mile downhill with many of the riders intermingled with cars as we traversed the road. I only hit 44 mph but a few of the group (drafting a semi truck) hit 51 mph. The fastest time on the trip still stands at 53 mph by Jeff Huizing in the Ozark Mountains of MO.

After that, we rode through some fairly treacherous, semi-flat land of CO where we got nailed with some really hard rain drops and pushed through some nasty headwinds. All of this paid large dividends as we arrived in Gunnison, CO for the night, home of Western State College. Most of the team traversed some of the local bike shops and outdoor shops (I picked up two extra MSR tent stakes) before heading to the Gunnison Brewery for a cold local beer and some decent food.