YES Tour Day 28

Statistics:

Gallons of chocolate milk: 1.25
Tired Yogaslackers: 4

Today was mostly a day of rest - as much as the YogaSlackers are able to rest. Originally we planned to do some pack rafting, but it just didn't happen. Instead we managed a bit of sleeping in, a bit of morning relaxing, a bit of yoga, and then an acroyoga workshop with over 40 attendees outside. With a large group it would have been easy to get almost nothing done, but with many strong people, we were able to get a lot in the extended 2 hour class. It looked like a thunderstorm was going to make a mess of things. The gusty winds blew some mats around but only a few drops hit us before it cleared up again. Jason became rather hoarse trying to be heard though the weather.

Jason here: It was amazing for me to be working with such strong and talented fellow slackers (Chelsey, Sam and Tom) which allowed us to work with 45 people new to AcroYoga and share a impressive amount of the fundamentals. I am so thankful to be able to extend people's limits through this work (acro, slackline, climbing) and feel so comfortable doing it because of the people helping me to teach.

I just want to take the time to acknowledge them, as they are often in the background, while I am "teaching", but without them I would be far less willing and able to do what I do.



YES Tour Day 28 at SpotAdventures

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YES Tour day 27, 108 climbs

Statistics:

total climbs for day: 27
total climbs for tour: 108
Miles biked: 12
hills named "Kill Hill" biked up: 1

We started our morning at the Wanderlust Hostel with some coffee or tea and a relaxed pace. Then it was off for the much hyped breakfast special sandwiches at the Firebrand before we got down to the real business of the day, rock climbing. We biked 6 miles to Hartman Rocks. Unfortunately the last bit was up the aptly named "Kill Hill" which wasn't all that high, but it was very steep. We started climbing at Buddha Belly, then moved to another area where we did 4 more climbs, some in the rain. We were joined by one of Chelsey's friends, Alyssa, who helped her weather the excesses of experienced male rock climber suggestions and heckling. We were grazed by a few thunderstorms here, but managed to keep climbing. Then we moved on further up the hill to do a 5.6 slab that turned out to be more of a sketchy 5.10. Instead of that one, Chelsey lead another climb that was actually more 5.6. Then for a finale we ascended "Penis Rock", a free standing pillar with a 4 bolt tricky face climb up it. This brought our total rock climbs for the YES Tour to 108.

The reason 108 was chosen as the goal for many of the YES Tour activities is because of it's significance in Eastern Religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and connected yoga and dharma based practices. It is the product of 9 and 12, 2 squared times 3 to the third, the hyperfactorial of 3, it is a refactorable number. In Hindu Astrology, 9 is the number of planets and there are 12 Zodiac signs. The Hindu deities have 108 names, the mala has 108 beads, there are 108 sins in Tibetan Buddhism, there are 27 lunar mansions with 4 quarters each... you get the idea.

We bicycled carefully back down Kill Hill (it is scary going down steep dirt roads in slicks) and back to the hostel for a barbecue and more catching up (photos and blogging). Maybe 108 hours of sleep would completely revive me.




YES Tour Day 27 at SpotAdventures

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YES Tour day 26 Salida to Gunnison

Flat tires: 2
Miles biked: 72
Elevation gain: 4,250 ft
Top Speed: 42.5 mph
high speed crashes: 1
time off bikes: 10:20 p.m.

We all slept in a little bit after the grueling day and late night of day 25. we consumed a large amount of oatmeal and liquids we headed off to the 4th of July farmer's market in Salida. In addition to the usual arts and local produce there was a circus school performing at the market. We set up a slackline and did some yogaslacking and taught some people a bit as well as acro demonstrations. Too soon we had to leave to prepare for the trip to Gunnison.

Sam was trying to clear up some issues by text message on his telephone and was probably getting blisters from all the texting. We packed up and ate not enough food, waited out a sudden and heavy downpour and were back on the road heading west around 2:30. Another bit of rain as we headed out of town got us wet but not soaked. The sign said 60 miles to Gunnison and we were pleasantly surprised. Then a mile later we turned the corner and the sign said "Gunnison 66". Something so little can be so demoralizing. But it wasn't as frustrating as the uphill. We were heading for Monarch Pass, so uphill was the name of the game. Eventually it got to the point where we just put it in low gear and kept pedaling. We stopped to refill water at a campground and then continued up. Luckily where things were steepest there was usually a passing lane so that the cars and trucks weren't passing quite as closely. Up Up Up we went. At least the scenery was beautiful. It cooled down nicely and finally we topped out Monarch Pass at 11,312 feet above sea level. Unfortunately we got there just as the little summit store closed at 6:00. More accurately Jason and Chelsey got there then, Sam and I got there a bit later. We inverted a bit to drain our legs, took some pictures, ate the last of the food, redistributed our water, and put on some more clothes for the descent.

The descent was a bit scary but mostly fun, especially as I wasn't pulling the trailer. We bombed down at high speeds (Sam hit 42.7 mph without pedaling, but in a tuck). Soon we were at the bottom and refilled our water bottles and talked to a guy in the middle of a race down the continental divide by mountain bike.

The next stretch went fairly quickly as it was mostly downhill and we kept in a tight paceline and zipped right along. This came to a literal crashing halt when we spread out a bit going down a hill over 30 mph. As we regrouped Chelsey merged into where Jason was and her rear pannier hit his front pannier. He recovered but the trailer wobble was enough to throw him off balance and he went down at about 28 mph. Needless to say this wasn't pretty and damaged his panniers, bicycle, left side, clothes, and hands. We spent some time patching him and the bicycle up (flat tire, ripped panniers) before heading down the road again.

Another 10 miles down the road Sam's tire went flat. By now it was fully dark and there was a fair amount of traffic as people were heading home from the fireworks. A car pulled up behind us to see if we were ok, and it was a guy from CDOT who patrolled this stretch of road. He put on his orange reflective vest and kept the car behind us to help keep traffic away from us. Then an ambulance stopped (it turns out there was a bad accident up the road, and on the way they saw us and decided to make sure we were ok too). We patched this flat (a double pinch flat from some big bump Sam had hit at high speed). Of course we didn't see the second hole until we had patched the first and started pumping the tire up again. Then we were on our way for the final 8 miles into Salida. We were very happy to get to the Wanderlust Hostel recently opened by Amy, one of Chelsey's friends. We were exhausted, but also starving, so we cooked up a heap of Eastern Essence food, showered, and went to sleep. Sam actually fell asleep texting.



YES Tour: Day 26 at SpotAdventures

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YES Tour day 25: Trials, tribulations and smashed pecans

Miles: 103
Elevation gained: 3200 ft
Flat tires: 7
Inter-team conflict: 1

Jason here:

Our plan was to wake up super early and bike the entire distance from Pueblo to Salida. Coffee was in our mugs by 5:15 AM, homemade bread toasted, buttered and masticated by 5:30. I'd only gotten 3 hours of sleep, but the rest of the crew seemed rested and ready.

We packed and headed out into the cool morning. At the river (a few hundred yards after we started) we stopped to take pictures of the world's longest mural and to do a little photo/video shoot of handstands and yoga. After all, it was our earliest start so far, and we only had 100 miles to go. Why not take our time? What could go wrong???

A mile later I had a flat. When we stopped to change it, I noticed goat head thorns (nasty three pointed thorns that stand up like a tripod) all over my tire. A moment later, we realized that both Sam and I had thorns all over our tires. I reached down, pulled one out and "pssssssss" the tire started deflating.

My two tires were covered with them and when I'd pulled the tubes out, we realized that each tube had been punctured over a dozen times. One of Sam's was really bad too, but his other only had 4 holes.

Luckily we had 3 spare tubes, and we cut up our remaining patches to try to repair the least damaged tube. We painstakingly removed all the thorns from the tires, and 90 minutes later, we were ready to go. Back on the road.

Or so we thought. Less than two minutes later, we had another flat...we repaired it.
Ten minutes later, another, and then another. In the first 2 miles from leaving Pueblo, we had 7 flat tires. And with the trailer, and the racks - changing each one was a bit of an ordeal.

The cool morning turned warm and then hot. By 11AM, we'd made it only about 5 miles, and if we'd calculated it right then, our average speed would've been less than 1 mph.

Thankfully, the rest of the day was flat free. We climbed slowly up the Arkansas River valley. We were all in our own worlds during the beautiful, long and, exhausting ride. The long time together with no breaks started to manifest in petty disagreements and mis-communications, especially between Sam and I. Sam thought I was puching to hard, I thought we were taking too many breaks.... Eventually it came to a head during a stop at lonely riverside gas station/cafe. I thought we were just stopping for water (I really wanted to make Salida by darkness), Sam was lured by the homemade milkshakes and cool indoor temps.

It was certainly one of our low points as a team. There was obvious tension, and I ended up riding ahead from the group and pushing hard and purging my emotions through pedaling. I ended up in Salida an hour ahead of the other, and was able to have a nice practice on a concrete street meridian while I waited.

That night we crashed at a friend of a friend's house. Everyone was exhausted, and Sam, Tom and Chelsey went to bed without dinner.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

What the..?!?!

I looked at the clock and it was 1:30 AM.

BANG! BANG! BANG!!!

The house owner had returned home from a night of play with friends, only to realize she still needed to make a pecan crust for her 4th of July dessert. She was crushing a giant bag of pecans with an even more gigantic bowl. It went on for 30 minutes, and in the end became so surreal that Sam and Tom got up and went to the kitchen and ended up chatting about all manner of things until nearly 3.

For me it was just another night of less than adequate sleep.

It was our longest day yet. 102.5 miles.
Yes Tour: Day 25 at SpotAdventures

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YES Tour Day 24: Flying by

Day 23: in which the Yogaslackers go flying but do not bike to Salida

Miles Biked: 21
Miles flown: around 170
Yoga classes: 1
Ice cream servings required to restore Sam: 2

Today we planned to go flying and then bike towards Salida. As it often happens things did not go according to plan. We took advantage of not actually having to be anywhere early to sleep in a bit. Pat, our host is a pilot with an aiprplane and he was kind enough to offer us an airplane ride and we couldn't refuse. Eventually we bicycled off east to the airport, but we waited until things warmed up enough to create some turbulence. We piled in and took off and headed west. We could see the river and their "house" and the bike path we planned to take for the first part of the ride. In almost no time we were over Canon City and then Royal Gorge. The turbulence was getting to Sam and he started to turn the color of his favorite shirt (yellowish-green). He got rather sick, but figured he was empty and had us go on to within sight of Salida, then we turned south and went over the Crestone Needles. There we saw a large Elk herd up on a ridge line. Then we coasted back down to Pueblo. This was the first time I had been in a small airplane in the mountains and the views of the peaks and ridges as we flew over and by them was amazing. I snapped a heap of photos which will probably not do the views justice at all.

This link is the track of our bicycling plus the plane ride.

YES tour day 24 at SpotAdventures

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Once we were back on the ground, we returned the favor and flew Pat in the hanger, much to the amusement of some of his co-workers there. Then we biked back into town for some sushi lunch (we could tell Sam wasn't well when all he wanted was red bean ice cream) before returning to the house to balance the pain of leaving around 4:30 p.m. or later with the pain of getting up early and biking all the way to Salida in one day. The pain for tomorrow won out over the pain for the day. This also allowed us to go to one of Marcee's yoga classes at the Fountain of Health yoga studio. Then we played on the slackline Pat set up on the roof and worked on our media (photos and video). More ice cream revived Sam before another healthy delicious dinner. A final soak in the hot tub helped prepare us for the pain of the long uphill ride to Salida scheduled for tomorrow.
Note: Jason here, it is now 2 am in the morning. I just finished this video of our climbs up to date. I hope I can get up in the morning.


Day 24: bike to Airport at SpotAdventures

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