Day 18 - Montrose to Gunnison

Leaving Montrose, we were looking at a couple of significant climbs before some really nice downhill to get into Gunnison. After battling headwinds the previous day, we were hoping for a nice calm morning but a strong breeze was still there. We fought against it for about 14 miles but it did finally disappear. The uphill wasn't super steep, just constant, but with the added wind it created quite a challenge. Luckily the views were beautiful and I tried to look up and around to remind myself how lucky I am to be out here doing this!

Natalie and Lonny got up earlier than they probably wanted to come to the hotel and see us off. It was great to be able to spend time with them!

It was a beautiful day with an interesting sky

Summit of the first climb. We had a really nice downhill after this and the promise of a great little store that had amazing pie!

Very different from the desert views of previous days!

It was still pretty early in the day and we had a big climb coming up. I wondered if it would be worth it to have this sitting in my stomach as I climbed. I was assured by someone who had done the route before that it most definitely was. :) When we got there they only had 5 slices of pie left - 2 peach, 2 rhubarb, and 1 apple. I snagged one of the peach, Fiona took the apple. The other pieces got snatched up by riders very quickly as well. It was delicious and we enjoyed the break!

As we started up the next climb, my legs were really complaining. Stopping sometimes just makes starting again feel all that much worse. We were just working through some of that when Fiona looked down and noticed her chain was hanging loosely. She thought it had just slipped off and started pedaling to see if she could get it back on. Then there was a sound as something knocked into her spokes and she saw her derailleur flopping around. Broken derailleur hanger. For those of you non-bikers, that's essential in being able to change gears. Could be a ride ending occurence but luckily, she had a spare one - recommended by the tour company. I called the support van and we started looking at it to see if we could fix it ourselves. We got the old one off before help arrived but greatly appreciated that assistance to finish the job. We were  probably only sidelined for about 20 minutes, giving us more chance to digest the pie. :) And we were off again!

More climbing but it was beautiful!

Top of the second major climb and sag stop. This was on top of Blue Mesa. I'd never been here and so was enjoying this the first time as much as anyone. We still had some climbing after this but not as sustained. We rode quite a while around Blue Mesa Reservoir which is huge.

There's a glimpse of the reservoir in this shot.

 My bike computer wasn't (isn't) working and my Garmin ran out of charge so I had no real idea where we were mileage wise. At one point I thought we were surely within 10 miles of Gunnison. When Fiona told me we were still 20 miles out I was a bit discouraged. Hot day, with the climbing and the wind I was just ready to be done. We stopped in at a little store and bought some cold drinks and basked in the AC for a bit, then carried on. The break did us good and we made it into Gunnison in good shape. After a shower and a snack at McDonald's I had enough energy to clean my bike up - the chain was looking nasty. I have become much better at bicycle maintenance on this trip! I also discovered a wire in my back tire. Pulled it out, no hissing sound so I was hoping it hadn't worked it's way into the tube yet. Next morning it was still holding so I got lucky on that one. Haven't had a flat since Nevada!