Thank You Rockies

Photos by Dan Sharp
Words by Joe Staples and Carey SH

Where to start?

We could talk about how we rode 55miles of gravel when none were on the route. We could talk about how the day was supposed to be 84 miles but turned out to be 104. In all honesty, for this to be anything but a "thank you" to the locals we met and chatted with, who directed us, would be to overlook the amazing gifts they gave.

It started the other night when John, a local rider invited us to his house for dinner in Durango, CO. Ben had met him on a ride in Los Angeles and promised we would all meet up. His friends told us about roads, GRAVEL roads that could take us to Pagosa Springs our designation city for stage 5 of Ride the Rockies. We remembered the road names.

To John and his friends, Thank You.

The morning of stage 5, Durango to Pagosa Springs, Rob, the owner of Bread a local bakery made us an amazing breakfast; told us 30 stories in 30 mins and introduced us to a 65 year old who raced 6-day races in Belgium.

And, if the day couldn't get better, 60 miles into our ride, on a 45 mile section of our gifted new amazing gravel route, under scorching sun we were passed by the first vehicle we had seen in 20 minutes. The driver's name was Joe Chavez. At that point, none of us knew him but because Carey said hello and grabbed onto his truck while we were rolling, that all changed. 15 minutes later we were sitting on the porch of his log cabin, playing with Rocco his dog, drinking cold Pepsi's. We were listening to stories about the local Elk and watching fellow Continental riders cool off in his freezing river.

To Joe Chavez, Thank You.

This week has been a journey, and it is not over yet. If we have learned anything in these 6 days it is that when locals talk, you should listen.