Full Circle

Good fortune allowed us to once again meet up with the Gilbeys from Perth, Australia. This time it worked out that we could cycle 8 days with them and their godson Andrew on their three month trip from Phoenix to Banff.

It took some planning though because we had just finished leading an 8 day trip for Adventure Cycling called "Intro to Road Touring-Wisconsin. The 1 1/2 day classroom and 4 day on-the-road tour with 15 cyclists new to this type of trave went just great. We got to bike with people from Illinois, Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin who love pedaling so much they wanted to try it fully loaded with tent, sleeping bag and cooking gear! It also served a double purpose of conditioning us for the mountains of southwestern Colorado.

In fact, I felt like I had come full circle. In 1988 when we met Leo asked me, "Do you like to travel by bike?" We planned a trip to the Colorado Rockies. To get ready for the trip we biked for a weekend near New Glarus, Wisconsin. I remember wondering how I'd ever survive the mountains because those rolling Midwestern hills almost did me in. What I discovered though was mountains have less grade than the hills. Endurance is the key out in the West and by the time I'd spent a week on a bike, I had developed that endurance.

I was still struggling with those Wisconsin hills two weeks ago. But despite strong winds, rain, and some cold weather all the riders made it through the tour! We had our good bye lunch on Friday June 11 and then Leo and I only had a few hours to make it back to Chicago, repack for Colorado, get a night's sleep and begin the drive to Durango the next day. We rented a car in Colorado Springs, drove it and our car to Ponchas Springs where we left our car in a motel parking lot, and then with our bikes tucked into a very small SUV we drove to Cortez where returned the rented car to the airport. The next morning we began biking to join Malcolm and Helen on the 15th.

Who are the Gilbey's, and why would we want to drive 1500 miles to bike with them for 8 days?

Our friendship started in 1994 when Helen and I met outside a general store on highway 20 in Washington state. We were both wearing bike shorts. "Where are you biking to?" she asked. I relied, rather smugly, "Oh, we're biking from Seattle all the way to Montana...Glacier Park. Where are you bikeing to?"
"Main," she answered. Wow!
"Where did you start?"
"Spain."
Not only were they biking all over the world but during the next four days biking with us they described their six year experience teaching in Singapore. Yes, they were our inspiration for going to Shanghai and teaching English in 1997!

Helen and her husband Malcolm then moved to Perth Australia. (They're actually "POMES", as Malcolm says..."Prisoners of Mother England who have escaped." Mal taught outdoor education at both high school and university levels, and Helen got her Ph.D in physical therapy and started a rehab clinic.

Since that first meeting we have hiked with them in New Zealand and cycled with them for four days of their trip from Banff to Mexico. We've emailed during their winter job driving buses to ski lifts in Jackson Hole, Wy. and last winter when they ran a B & B chalet in the French Alps. Now they were doing this trip, on the Great Divide trail going South to North and they wanted us to join them again!

We met u[ with them in Delores about 15 miles from Cortez and began our tour. Our typical day went like this: We woke up around 6. It was usually cold--in the 30's! We'd pack up the tent and put the panniers on the bikes as water boiled on our small camping stoves for our coffee. We'd cycle for 10 to 15 miles then have an "American Breakfast" at a cafe in a small town. We'd bike for another 20-25 miles to the next campground where we'd set up the tents. Leo and I would usually eat lunch on the road. At 4 o'clock it was "tea time" when we'd also have some sort of hors d'ouvres. Then we'd cook dinner using food we'd bought in a grocery store or gas station. After clean up we'd bring out the cards and the Jack Daniels and play 2 to 3 games of cribbage. The rest of the time was spent reading, writing in our journals, or emailing on the small computer that the Gilbeys carried. Andrew also carried a computer and could talk to his family in England via Skype! It was amazing to us that many of the cmapgrounds had WiFi.

The scenery in this part of Colorado is spectacular. Like most Midwesterners, my family had only visited the Estes Park, Aspen and Garden of the gods areas. I discovered this time that many Coloradans vacation in this part of their state! No wonder...for three days we traveled through aspen-covered mountains. We rolled down red rocked canyons, along roaring mountain rivers and through a few ghost towns.

I'll be honest. Each day I pedaled up a "pass" or a "summit" or a "divide" and it was tough, very tough. At 66 and 63, Leo and I feel very lucky we can still do this. Our last day, after the three hour climb to the top of Monarch Pass at 11,222 feet I felt not only exhilaration and satisfaction, but a sadness that maybe this was the last mountain pass for me.

Maybe next year we will travel less on roads with cars and semi-trailer trucks. Maybe the next trip will have less camping, less gear and more bike path. Like a bicyle wheel that needs truing, I had come full circle, and it was time to recalibrate. That's what you do in life as the years roll on.