Riding a bicycle 100 miles in one day is an accomplishment many bicyclists want to achieve. For motorcyclists it is riding 1000 miles in a day, a 10/24, 10 hundred miles in 24 hours or less. Since getting the 1986 Kawasaki Concours I've wanted to ride a 10/24 again just for the fun of it. So on June 3, 1995, I left home at 6:11am for a 1000 mile ride around Colorado. I headed north out of Denver on I-25 in foggy, misty conditions, then west from Fort Collins on C-14 into the sun and very pretty scenery of Poudre River Canyon. One interesting obstacle I had to brake for was nine mountain goats who were standing on the road trying to decide whether they wanted to be down at the river or up on the mountain. At 10,276' Cameron Pass there was 3-4 feet of snow that the cross country skiers and snowmobilers were enjoying.

I stopped at Walden for gas and to reconnect the speedometer cable and then turned south on C-125 to travel through North Park to Willow Creek Pass, the first of the day's four crossings of the Continental Divide. More winding roads and nice views of creeks full to their banks with the heavy snow and rain of the spring. At the intersection of US-40 it was west through Hot Sulphur Springs and Kremmling and up to Muddy Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass. Even though the ground was still white with snow up on the mesa, bicyclists were riding up and down the pass from Steamboat Springs, including one I followed for a while who was coasting down the hill at 50 mph. At Steamboat I stopped for a noon-time Power Bar and took a picture of the Yampa River overflowing onto the bike path.

Then it was on to Craig for another gas stop and for appearances of dark clouds to the west. I made it to the city park in Maybell in time to put on some rain gear just before the rain started to fall. In the middle of the 57 empty miles between Maybell and Dinosaur I was stopped and ticketed by a Colorado Highway Patrolman for going 72mph in the 55 zone. Too bad Colorado's speed limits in the wide open spaces aren't a little more reasonable like Montana's!

At Dinosaur I turned southeast on C-64 to Rangely and then south on C-139, a highway I had been wanting to see. Several miles south of town I came upon a section of road being rebuilt. The signs said the clay surface was slippery when wet. It was still raining off and on. The road was slippery as advertised, but fortunately it was that way for only 4 or 5 miles. The road winds through a pretty canyon, much of which is open range so I had to slow almost to a stop three or four times to chase the cattle and calves off the road. After about 40 miles the road climbed steeply up to 8,268' Douglas Pass, a very scenic location where there had been quite a few dirt slides because of the rains. At

I-70 I turned east for Grand Junction, then south on US-50 to Delta where it was time for more gas and another quick food bar. I continued on US-50 past the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Blue Mesa Reservoir, another winding, scenic area (lots of winding, scenic roads in Colorado!). East of Gunnison the sky ahead was very, very dark and I figured I was in for it. The storm and its rain was heading east and the sun was setting very brightly to the west. The result was one of the brightest double rainbows I have ever seen, so spectacular that people were stopping all along the road to take pictures of it. After about 15 miles of rainbow I headed up the grade to Monarch Pass in light rain. The rain turned to light snow about 5 miles from the summit so I reduced speed and kept wiping the snow off the helmet face shield every little bit so I could see. Finally I was safely over the 11,312' pass and headed down to drier and warmer weather.

At Poncha Springs I headed south on US-285 over Poncha Pass, still in a little daylight even though it was 9pm by then. At Mineral Hot Springs I took the fork in the road onto C-17, a 51 mile completely straight stretch of road to Alamosa. There it was time for more gas, another food bar, and another two notches warmer setting on the electric vest. I went east on US-160 over another pretty section of road over North La Veta Pass but didn't see any of if it in the dark. At Walsenburg I turned north on I-25 for some easy but boring riding on the Interstate. I arrived back home at 02:39am after traveling 1051 miles. A great day!

(Too bad I didn't know about the Iron Butt Association in 1995 or I could have documented the ride and earned one of these pins. :)