DURANGO — “Don’t look down. Just don’t look down.”
That was the mantra for some cyclists challenged with vertigo Wednesday as they toiled up Red Mountain Pass on Day 4 of Ride the Rockies.
The snaking Million Dollar Highway, originally blasted around the edge of a mountain so miners could reach their gold and silver stakes, has such precipitous drops and extreme weather that some drivers avoid it altogether. The commemorative crosses at the base of an avalanche chute for snowplow drivers killed on Red Mountain serve as a solemn reminder of how tough this pass is.
Cliffs plunge straight down hundreds of feet from the white line at pavement’s edge. The joke of the day was “bike lane” spray painted in the several inches of pavement outside the line.
The pass was daunting for some, but not all.
“I was taking pictures all the way from my bike,” said Brian Mahoney of New Jersey, who couldn’t stop marveling at the scenery.
Cyclists said riding three passes in one day took some mental toughness. Professor Evans Adams, who teaches science at Fort Lewis College, said he learned a new technique Wednesday for overcoming the urge to sag. “If you look down right in front of your wheel and you just see this itty-bitty little square of pavement, it’s better than looking up the hill,” he said.
That kind of fortitude wore out for some riders. Ride official Heather Amen said buses brought several loads of done-in cyclists to Durango. For those who made it all the way, weather turned expectation on its head again.
The last 25 miles should have been a cruise into Durango after the three passes, but a tree-bending headwind turned it into a grind. And in a final blow, some cyclists had to walk the steep climb to Fort Lewis College at ride’s end.
