Driving home yesterday I was listening to ‘Willie’s Roadhouse’ on Sirius XM, and a novelty song by C.W. McCall came on. It was one of those CB radio, long haul truck driving songs that were popular in the 1970’s, inspired by movie Smokey and the Bandit. Breaker, breaker…
This particular song told of a pair of big-rig brothers who were hauling a load of chickens through the Rocky Mountains, and they lost their brakes. The catchy refrain, sung by the background lady singers, goes like this:
Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin’ on down the other side
Suddenly I realized that the song was talking about a place I had actually been. In Southwest Colorado. Elevation 10,856. On my bike. Yes, I actually reached those heights by pedaling under my own power. During that memorable week I ascended passes over 11,000 feet three times, so Wolf Creek wasn’t the Cima Coppi of that trip.
That memory got me to musing about all the cycling trips I’ve done. Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, So Cal, Death Valley. Montana up into the Canadian Rockies. Some of the trips with Stoker on our tandem, some riding single. Always in beautiful country with plenty of mountains to climb.
And Europe. I made my first trip in 2007, to the French Alps around Lake Annecy. I went to the Dolomites in 2011. In 2014 I did my first trip with 44 | 5 Cycling Tours. That went so well and I had so much fun riding through the magical Cevennes Mountains that I have returned to ride with 44 | 5 ten more times in the Alps, Pyrenees, Dolomites, Cevennes (3 times!), Girona in Spain and Haute Provence.
You want the Euro stats? Even if you don’t, here they are: 13 trips. 6,300 total miles ridden. With 631,000 feet of climbing. Incredibly, 1,900 of those miles were on the tandem, and not on flat terrain either: we pedaled the rented tandems up 123,000 feet. Although we skipped an ascent of Mont Ventoux. Not tandem friendly…
And 5,480 of those miles were on trips with my favorite touring company, 44 | 5. Co-owner Gerry says that Strava tells him there was a year when Gerry and I rode together more than he and fellow owner John did. Since those two live in the same town that is pretty incredible. Headed for Europe? Check John and Gerry out at https://www.445cyclingtours.com/
For a variety of reasons, it is highly probable that Stoker and I have done our ‘Last Tandem in Provence’. We spent some of our happiest times ever there, and she did some absolutely amazing rides to help her pilot through mini Mistrals and traffic circles and up the little cols around Malaucène, which weren’t all that little on a tandem. It is kind of sad to think we won’t ride there again, but there are many fond memories to think back on. With apologies to Rick in Casablanca: “Stoker, we’ll always have Malaucène”.
Rich Freggiaro Cycling Blog 