Day 3: August 13th, 2008 – Audi is born on the Blue Mesa

Monarch Pass --> Black Canyon National Park (12 miles east of Montrose)


The night atop Monarch had been extremely cold. I woke several times to restart the fire and massage my feet back to a temperature I could bear. Since I rolled into camp around dusk the night before, I hadn’t been able to see the beauty that surrounded me while I slept. The last few hundred feet to the top were a welcome climb considering I knew I had a morning full of coasting awaiting me on the other side. Of course I stopped to take a picture with the Continental Divide sign at the summit then I headed down the backside towards Gunnison at a nice 45 MPH coast.


In Gunnison, I made a few stops at the Sonic, the Subway, and the local bike shop to top off the tire with a little O2, and then started the Blue Mesa Reservoir…. Life really comes full circle. When I came to Colorado for the first time when I was ten, my folks drove Amir and I along the same highway I was now traveling. Along the Blue Mesa I vaguely remember a large cycling race along the shores of the lake. Surely neither my parents nor I imagined that I would return to that place in such a fashion.


The Reservoir was beautiful and the volcanic spires that surrounded the western end were surreal. On the climb out of the res basin one of my panniers (saddlebags) was tossed from the bike. I stopped to reattach it and found that it was sitting atop a set of Audi rings that had been ripped from the car as it struck a close by guard rail. I was tired from the climb and needed some comic relief so I strapped the Audi symbol to the back of my bike. After three years of loyal service my Specialized Allez finally had a name, Audi was born.

I climbed for the next few hours over Cerro Summit and down towards the Black Canyon. About seven miles before Montrose I came to the junction that lead to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (Cool Fact: Gunnison was a surveyor that, in the early 1800s, was riddled by arrows and dismembered by Indians only weeks after passing through the region that now shares his name). Being the park junkie that I am I couldn’t resist the 5 mile detour to the park containing America’s steepest canyon. I figured it would be a downhill to the canyon….. Very wrong! The five mile stretch had roughly a 14% grade, but also a beautiful view of the San Juan Mountains where I would spend my next two days. I arrived at late dusk, pulled into the campground, took off my shoes, unfurled my sleeping bag, and passed out 30 seconds after getting off the saddle. 111.4 miles, my first hundred mile day had taken its toll.

Day: 111.4 mi

Total: 244.22 mi

Elev. Climbed: 2000 ft

Elev. Difference: -5100 ft

Elev. Peak: 8500 ft