Notes
Today was the hardest day of the tour BY FAR!!!! An incredible descent down 3,000 feet in the first 10 miles from camp put us in Gateway and at the mouth of John Brown Canyon. The canyon quickly showed us what was in store, rugged beauty and NASTY climbing!!! The surface was dirt/gravel road, very hard pack with loose sandy surface. Not deep sand, mind you, but enough grit to keep your mind on not spinning the rear wheel!!! This led to some 21%+ grades that were too much for me... I pushed my bike for about 1 1/2 miles, as we were climbing above 8,000 and oxygen being in short supply combined with traction problems put me off my bike for a bit... we got a good taste of the heat on this climb!
Total elevation gain was near 6,000 ft!