Up and over

Andrew and I woke up on Sunday, had breakfast, and immediately got to work on our next obstacle: Elwood Pass, at over 11,600 feet. We had 1600 feet to climb over 8 miles of dirt road through more stunning mountain wilderness. We kept a solid pace and soon found ourselves making a victory lunch (only some of which was accidentally spilled) overlooking an alpine meadow. We then had over 3000 feet of glorious, bumpy decent over 19 miles to get us back to paved highway. Thankfully the road down was in great condition, with very little washboard, so we were able to keep our speed up as we raced down the mountainside.

Once we made it back to smooth pavement, we had an easy ride into the town of south fork where a pizza joint/taproom awaited us. After gorging ourselves, we decided it was still early, and we should just go for the extra 22 miles to the next town of Creede. A few hours of more great riding though canyons carved by the Rio Grande, and we were checking in to the first motel of the trip. We showered, did laundry, hosed off the bikes, ordered takeout, and watched Beetlejuice before falling into a very comfortable sleep.