BTC

Larry Hofstetter's tour notes

click the highlights for pictures

This was the 12th annual BTC tour and it ran from Sunday, July 25th to Saturday, July 1st. Called the Telluride loop tour, it started and finished in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. BTC advertised the tour as 471 miles with 38,000' of altitude gain and four passes over 10,000'.

Jill and Chris Guild, dear friends, have a cabin (named River Break) in Pagosa Springs. They offered their place for a few nights before the start of the tour. The altitude at Pagosa Springs is 7,000'.

Fred and I decided that we needed a few days for altitude adjustment so we left San Diego on Wednesday morning, June 21st, enroute to the land of the thin air. Bikes and bags all fit inside Fred's Honda van - great traveling machine - even the doors were automatic. After a long hot day through Phoenix and Flagstaff, we spend the the night at a Holiday Inn at Kayenta, Arizona on Navajo Indian reservation. Checked into the room and went searching for a cold beer. The dinning room hostess told us the closest beer was two hour drive east or west. No alcohol on the reservation. Two sad and thirsty hombres. More about Kayenta later.

Thursday June 22, dawn launch, breakfast at the Blue Pot Cafe, and a drive through Monument Valley on Route 163. Stopped to offer water and assistance to two guys (French?) on fully loaded touring bikes. This was in the middle of no where so they were in for a long HOT day.

Arrived in Pagosa Springs about 1:00 PM and then on to River Break. Pagosa Springs is a lovely town in the foothills of the San Juan Mountains; many mountain vistas and a great hot springs.

For the next several days Fred and I played tourist, hiked a little, rode a little, ate a lot of the Jill and Chris' wonderful food, drank a few cold beers and lounged in the hot springs, The Springs

Saturday night June 25th, we gave up a warm bed at River Break for a tent on the Pagosa Springs High School practice field. We also discovered that we would be joined by 2200 other tour riders representing eleven countries and forty states.

There were many tour options - tent camping, indoor gym camping, hotel camping, full meal tickets, separate meal tickets or no meals. Fred and I chose tent camping with all meals (we did have indoor camping as a backup - never used it).

The Ride

Day one, Sunday June 25th, 65 miles over the continental divide, Wolf Creek Pass (10,850') and on into Creed.

Day two, Monday, June 26th, 106 miles over the continental divide again, Spring Creek Pass (10,901'), Slumgullion pass (11, 361') and on into Gunnison.

Day three, Tuesday, June 27th, 65 mile high speed run into Montrose. Seems like we were there in time for breakfast. Beautiful ride along the Blue Mesa Reservoir.

Day four, Wednesday, June 28th, 65 mile ride over the Dallas Divide (8,970') to Telluride.

Day five, Thursday, June 29th, rest day in Telluride where the real estate prices are higher than Coronado.

Day six, Friday ,June 30th, 83 miles over Lizard Head Pass (10,222') into Mancos. I had a camera download malfunction at his point of the ride - lucky you.

Day seven, Saturday, July 1st, 88 miles over Yellow Jacket Pass (7,780) back to Pagosa Springs. I finished about noon. This was my hardest day - I was tired. Thinking about a cold beer and a soak at the hot springs kept me going.

Fred rode like a monster man the whole tour - great job. I plodded along but I rode every foot.

We departed Pagosa Springs for places west about 2:00 PM on Saturday. We pushed hard and stayed at a flea bag motel in Flagstaff; a train close abeam every 10 minutes.

More to the Kayenta story. I was driving and about 10 miles east of Kayenta, on Route 160. I was stopped and ticked by the Navajo reservation police doing 70 in a 65 zone; a two lane, middle of no where, and no traffic. I completed my traffic school on-line. Watch out for Kayenta - no beer and a speed trap.

We arrived back in San Diego about 3 PM on Sunday.

Highlights: visit with Chris and Jill, a safe tour, great scenery, new friends, and the hot springs.

Low lights: the tour was over subscribed by at least 700 riders, 1500 riders would have been better than 2200; no daily briefs on road conditions like Cycle Oregon; and my most un favorite place - Kayenta.

Other: weather was pretty good; afternoon thunderstorms and wind but we were always in camp early. We generally started the rides at first light and were in camp before it got hot or windy. Set up the tent, shower, and relaxed - it worked for us.