Cliff Diving

Well, I made it back from the bike ride. It was a great experience. Some of the highlights were:
-- Took a bath in lighter fluid to remove road tar (more on this later).
-- Rode through Palisade and wondered why I was going farther than that. They had grapes; they had wine, and a great little restaurant.
-- Had my first experience with Espresso Love (but that's another story).
-- Got lost for three hour in the backcountry of Colorado during one of our fishing adventures.
-- Ate enough bananas this past week to make any monkey envious.
-- Stood in line. Lines for the bathroom, lines for the showers, lines to eat, etc.
-- The schedule for six days went like this - wake up, pack, ride bike, set up tent, go fishing, find a restaurant, have an adult beverage, shower, go to bed. Get up the next morning and repeat the process.

The first day the ride took us through the Colorado National Monument (pictured above). It is a spectacular 45-mile ride. Riding to the top of the Monument took an hour and twenty-two minutes. Because of the steep grade, getting to the bottom took only fourteen minutes with an average downhill speed of 41 MPH. I almost made it to the bottom faster, much faster, as I narrowly missed going off a cliff.

From the top of the Monument, it is a rapid decent to the bottom. It's a two-lane road with a very narrow shoulder. It is also known for its tight hairpin curves where I didn't want to know how fast I was going. It was one of those turns that just about cut the trip short.

Heading into a hairpin curve, I noticed a car coming up the Monument in the other lane - not a problem. What I didn't notice right away was the tandem bike half way through the hairpin curve in the middle of the lane I was in. It was quite the site - a husband and wife on a tandem bike, in the middle of the road, going about eight miles per hour. I was going 37 MPH. The wife was hanging on for all she was worth; screaming at the top of her lungs, "Slow down your going to kill us!" I started to laugh until I realized someone could easily die and most likely, it was going to be me! I had a lot of choices but only a few seconds to decide. I could hit the car - not a good option. I could hit the bike - not a good option, I could picture the wife leaning over her husband saying, "I said you were going to fast". I could go off the cliff - really, really bad option. It was three hundred feet straight down. Or, I could try to pass the bike on the outside - between their bike and the cliff. While I still wouldn't call it a good option, it was the best one I had. Half way past them, I could feel the sand under my tires start to slide. I also noticed the bike ride was causing the wife to have a religious experience, she yelled "Holy" something or the other when I shot by - I was past them by the time she got all the words out.

A little ways down the hill, I pulled over. My heart was racing and I wanted to slow it down plus I was shaking so bad, I thought I might lose control of the bike. Moments after I pulled over another biker stopped beside me. She said I had the missed going off the cliff by a matter of inches.

Fortunately, the rest of the ride went well. Pedaling back into town I kept thinking about the tandem and telling myself - that is why I ride alone.