Day 1 -- Fraser, CO to Walden, CO -- 74 Miles

The time had come to leave the comfortable confines of Fraser and to hit the road. I always think this is one of the toughest moments of every trip. Always present is that little voice saying, “Your going to leave the comfort and safety of this life for what again?” And that’s the thing, you just don’t know what you are getting into. Sure you have a plan and a mental image of how things might look, but these are just guesses.



I said farewell to Andy, Nate, and Ruby and made my way south down US 40. My first goal of the day was to connect to the junction of US 40 and Colorado 125, where I would meet up with the TransAmerica Trail. In 2004, I biked the TransAmerica Trail all the way from Yorktown, Virginia to Seattle, Washington. That 4,000 mile trip taught me that some the best road cycling in the world is through the Rocky Mountain corridor from Colorado to Montana. My hope on this trip is to revisit this same section of trail on a more relaxed schedule than in 2004.


Ah the joys of cheating gravity! Highway 40 was almost entirely downhill from Fraser to the junction at 125. This is what happens when you begin your trip near the Continental Divide, on the downslope! The eventual turn onto 125 was a reality check though, as I was greeted with my first climb. I lost my breath within seconds of taking the turn but eventually my lungs cooperated and I was able to settle down. Highway 125 is some good cycling! Most of the route follows Willow Creek on a gentle grade the tops off at Willow Creek Pass (elevation 9,600 feet).
Near the top of the climb I met a fellow by the name of Kurt McDaniel who had ridden his bike from his home in Oklahoma and was planning to eventually go to Oregon. You can see his blog here. It was good to see that another crazy person like myself was doing a big bike trip and having a lot of fun with it!



The summit of Willow Creek Pass was not very scenic but psychologically it meant a lot. You just never know if you have trained hard enough to do one of these trips until you get out on the road and try it out. My legs, lungs, and bike all proved fit for the task.

The descent of Willow Creek Pass meant dropping into the North Park of Colorado. A park is basically a large basin surrounded by mountains, and North Park is a spectacular example of one. Everywhere you look you see some distant peak that takes your breath away, with a beautiful foreground of rolling carpets of high mountain prairie and wildflowers as far as the eye can see.

From a cycling perspective, this section of the trail was very forgiving, as it had a rolling terrain with significant elevation loss all the way to the town of Walden, my destination for the day. The miles can fast and easy. With the exception of getting hammered by a five-minute lightening storm that left me momentarily soaked, I couldn’t have asked for a better finish for a first day.

Upon my arrival in Walden I happened upon a group of cyclist congregating near a hotel. They were all participating in 1200 mile brevet, or endurance race. The goal was to see how fast each rider could finish the course – with some people never stopping for sleep. A few of the cyclists, seeing me on the perimeter of the group, asked me if I wanted to join them. At which point I stroked my goatee, opened a Gatorade and an ice cream Drumstick, and announced that I was looking forward to doing nothing except eating and sleeping the rest of the day! In all seriousness, it is not place to judge the dreams of others, as I obviously have crazy dreams myself, but I don’t think that any event which routinely proves to be so strenuous as to cause participants to lose control of their bowels is really my idea of fun.

Kurt pulled into town a short time after my arrival. After sizing up the town lodging options for the cyclist, we decided to split an inexpensive hotel for the evening. In general, I’m not a big fan of hotels but sometimes you just want something easy (and mosquito free!).

For Dinner Kurt and I decided to eat at the Moose Creek Café across the street from the hotel. I enjoyed their prime rib special: heaping mounds of prime rib, mashed potatoes with gravy, grilled onions, and a salad to boot. I topped it all off with a slice of homemade blueberry pie with a fat scoop of vanilla. Ah the joys of making sure one gets enough calories on a long bike journey! If it wasn’t for the calzone and chocolate milk I downed later on in the hotel room, I would say that the dinner proved to be adequate!