Days 4-8: Saratoga, WY (Oct 10th-13th)

RIVERSIDE TO SARATOGA

i woke up in the morning feeling sore and stiff (no surprise).  i had breakfast at a small café, which was also the bar i ate at the night before.  the entire town was just slightly larger than this building.

RAIN DANCE

riding most of the 20 miles to saratoga in the rain didn't really bother me.  i did get cold though, so once i got into saratoga i promptly found the hot springs, parked jorge, tore off my cycling shoes and jumped in.  i had a few days to relax in the hot springs while the storm blew over.

“WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU BIKING THROUGH OUR TOWN ANYWAYS?”

asked the angry drunk cowboy at the local watering hole. maybe it was the edward abbey shirt i was wearing that made them so angry,

            “a patriot must be ready to defend his country against his government.”

but it was more likely my loud response. “because you don’t have to start a war to fuel the damn thing!”  this pissed off enough people that even I knew i had crossed the line.  i spent the next 15 minutes backtracking, lying and finally pulling a 180 by conceding to these right wing nuts “you’re right, change is bad!” (this was just weeks before the election) and that if i saw any terrorists on my travels to jackson i’d be sure to let someone know.  if you want the full story just ask me sometime.  this was high up there on the 'look-what-you’ve-gotten-yourself-into-now’ scale along with getting mugged in mexico and almost getting kidnapped in new zealand.

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

i spent the next 3 days in saratoga drinking coffee, watching the weather, and soaking in hot springs.  i met a fishing and hunting guide in a coffee shop, kyle, who was eager to get one more run on the river.  floating on a raft we went fishing and duck hunting – surf & turf as he called it.  also, thanks to a friendly couple, i was offered an empty bed to crash in and learned a great deal about native americans.  chilly, part Lakota, spent hours talking to me about the history of the land; he also showed me the bows and arrows that he had made for hunting.

 

 

Days 2-3: Cameron Pass and Riverside (Oct 8th-9th)

WHO'S JORGE?
i had a lot to think about on day 2, my hardest day of the trip. it was also the day that i found a connection with my bike. when i was in argentina on an expedition with 11 other people, we hired mules to haul our gear 60 miles to the base of a mountain called aconcagua - the object of our attention (22, 840 ft). i don't know why, but i named the mule that carried my cargo jorge, and he was a good mule. and like all of the beasts, he was overworked. as we hiked towards aconcagua we noticed dead mules along the trails. i decided after that trip i would never hire an animal to haul my gear for me, at least in that fashion. i named my bike after my mule, jorge. just like the counterpart in argentina, jorge can climb steep grades for long periods of time in a slow yet persistent way with heavy loads. he kind of became my wilson. i caught myself saying things like, "come on jorge! don't stop now!" my iron horse - the mighty jorge:

HONESTLY
i must have sworn out loud more than i would like to admit on the last 10 miles climbing cameron pass. near the top i also spotted a female moose – which was cool. soon after that, you can see in this photo both my excitement for sweet nourishing water and the remnants of my awesome handlebar mustache. in my defense it was mustache week at road34 right before i left fort collins (1-7 free beers every night all week in accordance with the quality of you mustache).

CAMERON PASS
i made the 4,200 foot climb through a fair headwind, and was genuinely tired afterwards. highly recommended.

DUDE, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?

"i just dropped my bike"

"are you ok?"

"i'm not sure, i could probably use a hand to bend my bike back to shape"

"sure, do you need any tools?"

"yeah, i need an allen wrench, by the way, what the hell are you doing"....

FEEDING THE DEMONS
i certainly hope that damian made it back to fort collins safely. he crashed right at the top of the pass. after i left him and began my descent, i found more head wind. strong head wind, the kind that slows down what should be a 25-35 mph descent to 10-15 mph. see, you work hard up a pass because you know what's on the other side: a scenario where gravity is on your side. although, wind can stop you in your tracks - that bastard. i just kept thinking to myself of all things i had done wrong on this trip… i didn't really train, test my rig out before departing, plan my trip (i didn't even have a map), have an experienced touring partner (or any partner at all), i was leaving in october (a month after the bike touring season ended), i thought it would be a great idea to put 150+ lbs of my 'life necessities’ on my bike, and now i was starting to realizing that i would likely have a strong head wind the entire way. oh yeah, the first snow storm was estimated to hit in 2 days. haha, if you know me at all, i love being the under-dog, and hauling up the pass to hit this new front (the wind) made my endorphins and synapsis fire even faster and harder. while lost in these thoughts i pulled off near lake agnes and the noku craigs to take this keeper:

DINNER

yup:

CROSS WINDS
fighting off field mice throughout the night didn’t keep me from sleeping. after i felt a few run over my chest, and confirmed their existence with my headlamp, i stuffed all of my food and dirty clothing (sweat) into my bivy. in the morning i felt especially sore and tight. chemicals! drank my coffee and set off. the 20 miles into walden were pretty gnarly due to ridiculous cross winds... from the south! excellent! this meant i could get to walden and when i turn north could cruise for miles with the wind to my back.

WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE JORGE
leaving walden i had an awesome tailwind. i was cruising between 20 and 30 mph for half an hour, then the wind changed directions, as did my path. that was the last tailwind i had on the entire trip. literally. haha, judging by the way these cowboys and cowgirls staired at me they must have thought i was crazy. i made sure to wave, i got a half wave back. i'm now in wyoming.

FIRST GIFT OF THE ROAD
so later in my trip a met a man named juan who said "the harder times get, the better the gifts of the road are." it's that positive "have no fear, it will work out" attitude that attracts good things into your life. as the sun was beginning to set, i had just about decided to pull over on the side of the road and camp. but i needed water. bad. and had 25 miles to saratoga - my destination. i saw what looked to be a river basin with trees. i rode the 5 miles quickly and discovered a small town, with nice people, and neat place to camp and a bar called the mangy moose. riverside, wyoming: population 59. perfect.

Epic Bike Ride: Intro and Day 1 (7th Oct 2008)

WELL THIS IS STUPID

these were the first words that came out of my mouth while engaging in the first pedal stokes of my epic bike ride, the exact moment my wheels left coats' drive way (thanks for the 2 month couch surf fellas), the beginning of... still not sure what yet.  the new me?  too cliche.  needless to say this plan is an abrupt lifestyle change focused around adventure and sustainable living - not stupid really, just the way i approach it, with no time to spare (at all) and with a complete lack of preparation.  'just the way i like it stupid' - not 'stupid stupid.'  this photo is metzler putting the last parts of my bike together the day i departed:

FIRST THINGS FIRST

this was an idea i came up with sometime last march.  on my weekend trip to jackson to see head for the hills and ski j-hole, it turned out i was meant to stay for over a month of skiing, partying and working on the mountain.  my stuff was at one point loaded in mike's car, ready to go back to fort collins.  apparently the head for the hills van had a problem, and more importantly it was still snowing.  hmm, i pulled my stuff out of mike's car.  the next day it was final, i wasn't putting my gear into any car anytime soon heading back south.  jackson called me, i answered.  perks of being a bum, you can do whatever you want.  this is a candid photo that chris caught of me, completely perplexed as to how i was to get all of my skiing, climbing and camping gear to jackson:

MAKE HASTE YOUNG MAN

my first words of the trip made casey smith, my 5 year partner in crime (i'll have to do a jaurez-2004 post sometime), laugh for a few minutes.  casey did a great thing for me, helped me get out of town.  i believe the hardest step is often opening the front door and leaving.  this was definately like that.  my 'last night' was the night before, and i really had so much planning to do the next day i couldn't really clear my mind.  yes i procrastinated.  wonderfully as usual, thank you, but i do wish i had one more night with my friends in fort collins.  i'm addicted to my friends, it's true, which is why i had no problem beginning the first day, 7th october 2008, at 2:00 pm and travelling a whopping 27 miles to steven's gulch in the poudre canyon.  if i didn't leave right then, and i knew it, i probably not be able to make the trip.  a storm was coming in 4 days and i needed to be about 170 miles away from fort collins in saratoga in order to bunker down, enjoy hot springs, and await the next window.  i knew the name of the game was to be storm dodging.

THIS WAS NO MEXICO

but according to casey it was sure as hell a lot of fun to be biking up the poudre canyon for the first time.  he rode to the mishiwaka inn with me and wished be luck.  that was really cool.  on top of that was the beer he dropped in my bike for my first night.  great one casey, that rocked.

Cataract Canyon

CATARACT CANYON MEANS BUSINESS


It's no secret that raft guides for A-1 Wildwater are a unique breed. We party hard, and don't take life too seriously. There are, however, a few instances every summer that you might find an A-1 raft guide with an odd look of seriousness. Scenario 1, while trying to pretend to customers during that paddle (safety) talk that we deserve respect. Scenario 2, while sinking the 8-ball at the Steakout (Watering Hole if you will). Scenario 3, your a rookie and you just flipped. Scenario 4, plans for Cataract are under way. Never else do I see us put hard solid work into planning anything as much we do about equipment, ice, food rations, and most importantly beer rations on a multi-day raft trip. We decided to make our trip smoother this year than last by doing a better job planning and buying all the food, buying dry-ice designated to it's own cooler (last minute idea) and purchasing 540 beers (all PBR's) to make sure we don't run out this year.

ANYWAYS

Cataract Canyon is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Compared closely to the Grand Canyon. For the past two years (please tell me this is going to be an annual event) we took the 112mile stretch on the Colorado over 5 days. 2 days of flat water, 2 days of rapids following with one very long day of flatwater (depending how high the god forsaken Lake Powell has risen). The highlights of the trip were many but I suppose I didn't have a bad moment on the entire trip. Highlights include: party barges, side canyon hikes, native american petrolgyphs, cliffjumping, cold PBR's (for 3 days), oar-rigging 700+ lbs rafts, beach volleyball, rapids, seeing turner swim (twice), being forced into kayaking rapids I had no business kayaking, campfires, meeting small creatures, the confluence (Center of the Universe), shooting stars, and being with friends. Lot's a fun.

SUMMER FRIENDS

The past 2 summers have been a time of enjoying the high and mighty river gods and being together with friends. Summer time is the high life for us. Being paid to be on the water. Green fun tickets (tips) - good for one day only. Train! Buildering? And trailor-sessions. Over and over again. Now, most of us will disperse into the unknown (to each other) - our winter lives - with our winter friends. Winter is more or less a recovery time for next summer. For myself, I am looking forward to my sabbatical/cleansing on wheels - my adventure to Jackson Hole.

JACKSON HOLE OR BUST

"When are you leaving?" No clue. "How long is it going to take?" Not Sure. "Have you been training?" No. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" ... "Dude, what are you still doing here? You're going to freeze!" Yes I know it's a stupid idea.  I'm still going to do it, or at least try.  My procrastination on this whole adventure (see above) is fairly normal for me. My trip to Jackson-Hole is just getting more and more interesting/exciting/dangerous as a find myself closer to the winter months while still in Colorado. The trip includes: selling my car, purchasing a new bike - Long Haul Trucker, installing it with an Extracycle, attaching my skiis, ski gear, climbing gear, camping gear, a few civilian clothes and biking my ass 500 miles from Fort Collins to Jackson Hole. See you soon winter friends.

Is This Thing On?

So this is Andy Zimmerman's blog. The first thing you should know about me is that I generally try to start things and am easily distracted and direct my energy towards new things.  We'll see how this goes.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure where I'm going to go with this.  Will it be PG or R?  Political or business related?  Just adventures?  I'm going to expect a little bit of everything.

The summer of 2008 is coming to close as another great summer on the Poudre River. I am anticipating a 5 day raft trip through Utah in the next week, and am looking forward to fresh powder days this coming winter in Jackson Hole, WY.

Dreams of snow are upon me.

If you need to contact me, email me at a.r.zimmerman@gmail.com.

Over and out.