Kevin and Keith on Long's Peak
Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
What would possess two middle aged men to ride from Denver, CO to Phoenix, AZ? I mean, really; potential snow and cold on the almost 12,000 ft. Loveland Pass in Colorado on day one to the blistering hot sun of the Arizona desert on day nine with more mountain ranges and deserts in between.
The story begins almost 13 years ago when Kevin moved from Pennsylvania to Colorado. Before moving, one of Kevin's buddies, Royce, told him to look up his brother , Keith, who lived in Denver. Both Kevin and Keith liked to bike, ski and hike so the friendship flourished from day one.
Keith had always talked about doing a bike trip. Not a grand tour like RAGBRAI or Ride the Rockies, but a ride where the rider is on his own with just a map and maybe a friend taking an extra pair of bike clothes by car to the next overnight town.
The talk continued with every bike ride and hike. The best biking story is the day Keith and Kevin were planning to ride from Nederland, CO to Littleton, CO. Keith and his wife, drove over to Kevin's house to pick up Kevin for the ride. The plan was to drive into the Colorado foothills and ride mostly downhill back home. Upon arriving at Kevin's house, Keith saw that the garage door was open so he decided to pull into the garage and blast the horn to get Kevin's attention. The next sound was not the horn blasting but the crash, bump, thump, splat of the bike on the roof rack hitting the house above the garage door and tumbling off the back of the car onto the driveway. The stem was broken and the top tube was crinkled. Absolutely unrideable for the speedy decent we had planned. Not to be deterred, Keith simply drove to a nearby bike store and rented a bike for the day. Nothing can stop a man on a mission!!
Now back to the current story. Keith did some scouting of routes on his way back from Phoenix to visit his parents. Highways suitable for riding a bike were driven. Convenience stores and towns were noted as possible rest and overnight stops. Now he just needed to ask Kevin to join the ride. It didn't take long to convince Kevin to go along; just the time it takes to eat a plate of ribs at the local Rib City!
There you have it. Two friends looking to check another item off the bucket list or maybe to just prove to themselves that they are not over-the-hill, yet. Whatever the reason for doing the ride it is sure to be an adventure with tall and small tales to tell the people back home. Some of the stories my actually be true!! Archive this blog to check on the embellishment of the stories Kevin and Keith tell as the years go by.
Check back on June 11 when the ride begins.
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