As soon as I arrived in Telluride I knew I wanted to explore the area more than just the usual few hours in the afternoon, before leaving first thing the next morning.
The guys and gals! in the bike shop put there heads together and in the end the lovely Deane offered me a place on her sofa bed for the night.
Her mum was visiting for the week and they had a family meal planned so I made myself scarce and went to check the town out some more.
I got speaking to tons of locals. They all said to me exactly what I was thinking in that I should spend a day here. I had another offer to stay with Ashten and his girlfriend, either in a tent (theirs) or in their living room the next night.
Ashten is an expert local mountain biker and was not working the next day so offered to show me the best bike trails!! Perfect.
So I hired a fat looking mountain bike first thing in the morning from the friendly bike shop. They normally charge $38 a day but the lovely lady at the desk let me take it for free!!
I'm getting bowled over by all the random gestures of kindness and goodwill I have been experiencing through this whole trip. It's restoring my faith in the human race.
The bike was a super cool mountain bike with massive wheels and soft suspension. It was like learning to ride all over again. Very different to my Surly.
First port of call was to ride the gondola or cable car over the mountain and then down to the next mountain village, called.... Mountain Village. From here Ashton led the way along some really cool and scary mountain bike trails. There was no way I could keep up with him. He just flew along but would stop and wait for me to catch up. He rides them every day. It was great but I was fairly cautious as an injury and bike ride across the USA don't mix. I almost went over the handlebars once but stayed on in the end.
Next stop was a bike/hike up another mountain face on the other side of this small town. Most of the way up it was too steep and the stones too loose to ride up. Eventually half way up we reached a waterfall that was about 350 ft tall. The spray really cooled you down after the climbing and of course it was spectacular.
The whole day was a very different workout to just spending 6-9 hours pedalling, so I'm quite tired now, but very happy with today's experience.
There is so much outdoor activity to choose from here. I would happily spend a week but feel I should keep working across country. Back on the other bike tomorrow :)
The guys and gals! in the bike shop put there heads together and in the end the lovely Deane offered me a place on her sofa bed for the night.
Her mum was visiting for the week and they had a family meal planned so I made myself scarce and went to check the town out some more.
I got speaking to tons of locals. They all said to me exactly what I was thinking in that I should spend a day here. I had another offer to stay with Ashten and his girlfriend, either in a tent (theirs) or in their living room the next night.
Ashten is an expert local mountain biker and was not working the next day so offered to show me the best bike trails!! Perfect.
So I hired a fat looking mountain bike first thing in the morning from the friendly bike shop. They normally charge $38 a day but the lovely lady at the desk let me take it for free!!
I'm getting bowled over by all the random gestures of kindness and goodwill I have been experiencing through this whole trip. It's restoring my faith in the human race.
The bike was a super cool mountain bike with massive wheels and soft suspension. It was like learning to ride all over again. Very different to my Surly.
First port of call was to ride the gondola or cable car over the mountain and then down to the next mountain village, called.... Mountain Village. From here Ashton led the way along some really cool and scary mountain bike trails. There was no way I could keep up with him. He just flew along but would stop and wait for me to catch up. He rides them every day. It was great but I was fairly cautious as an injury and bike ride across the USA don't mix. I almost went over the handlebars once but stayed on in the end.
Next stop was a bike/hike up another mountain face on the other side of this small town. Most of the way up it was too steep and the stones too loose to ride up. Eventually half way up we reached a waterfall that was about 350 ft tall. The spray really cooled you down after the climbing and of course it was spectacular.
The whole day was a very different workout to just spending 6-9 hours pedalling, so I'm quite tired now, but very happy with today's experience.
There is so much outdoor activity to choose from here. I would happily spend a week but feel I should keep working across country. Back on the other bike tomorrow :)