Salida, CO - Welcome aboard mate!

Hello, hi there thanks for taking the time to read my and my teammates writings. My name is Ryan Bougie and I am the most recent team mate to this unbelievable group of individuals pedaling for a common means. Here is my brief history which brought me to this group prior to our merging stories that you have been following along with in this blog.

October 2006. John Glynn-Morris brother to Trystan presents this idea that bro and him have been scheming of possibly riding this fabled trail through the divide lands of North America. The seed is planted.

December 2008. A holiday rendezvous with Trystan seals me to committing to this Big Epic Trip. Dreams will become reality.

June 2009. 3 weeks prior to departure I realize I will not be starting the trip as planned with the rest of the crew. Instead a last minute ski trip to Alaska presents itself to me promising babes and powder snow. Being a committed skier I could not let Alaska pass me up as I have been making pilgrimages there since Simon and I visited 4 years prior.

July 2009. Skiing temporarily out of my system I establish contact with the group by the middle of the month and make jet travel arrangements to join up.

July 21, 2009. I flew into Denver international with a schedule to ride 200km to meet the team at the Silverthorne Colorado library at 5 P.M on July 24. A hot sweaty day layover at L.A international and one missed transfer to Denver due to a misprinted ticket and I was finally touched down in the mile high city. Sometime after midnight I had unpacked and assembled my bicycle in front of the questioning eyes of many onlookers.

My first bit of luck was meeting an airport custodian who was more than happy to recycle my bike box for me as surely he was paid by the hour and for this special mission he would have to cross the airport long and far to deliver the precious goods to the compactor.

My second bit of luck came shortly after, as I was pedaling down the interstate away from the airport. Under the cover of darkness the night sky illuminated with the unmistakable glow of red and blue lights. I was being pulled over by the highway patrol. How is this luck you ask? The kind officer tells me to get in the back of his cruiser as he is going to escort me off the freeway and not ticket me, as driving on such surfaces is illegal in the state. He drops me in front of a 7-11 store where he suggests I purchase a map to get me where I need to go. I dare not mention Mexico as this man already thinks of me as a lunatic. One Red Bull, one chili dog and map for the city of Denver and presto 3 hours later I was again on the outskirts of town this time on the right side. Next day.

When my urban map ended I quickly got lost again and found myself at the most un-usual of side attractions. Red rocks amphitheatre is or was a natural acoustical outdoor theatre. I spent the morning scrambling and rambling amongst the beautiful red rock and marveling at the natural acoustics of the place. Back on the road with a fresh map I managed to avoid the interstate by following the old highway paralleling clear creek and its endless mob of commercial rafters floating by its crowded banks. Camping near its headwaters that evening I could see the next day’s objective of getting over the 1200 ft level of Loveland Pass which would bring me into the resort of keystone and the town of Silverthorne where my rendezvous was to take place. I fell asleep marveling at the visible amount of mining that has occurred in this area. One mountain I would later find out has collapsed in on itself 3 times from being “honeycombed” by mines.

The next day I reached 90km/hr coming down from the high pass that took a good chunk of the morning to ascend. That evening I caught a free outdoor concert given by a local musician of aboriginal descent. I also met some friendly locals Cindy and Helen who invited me to stay at there place that night. The meeting of the crew was ahead of schedule and under budget. Full of exuberance these boys look like riding machines. Thoughts of being able to keep up enter my thoughts. Cindy and Helen from the previous night were kind enough to invite 4 more smelly dudes into there home that night so we could have a BBQ and come together as a new team of 7. Seven for the following day all of us headed down the road to Breckenridge down a winding path. Magic does happen, and people like Cindy and Helen and the rest of my team being the sole cause. I look forward to all our stories following the same road from here on out. I hope you can continue to follow our progress whenever you feel the urge. Thanks for tuning in, until next time. Peace