Bicycle Touring and Climbing in the Colorado Rockies, 1944

[gore galore]

BICYCLE TOURING AND CLIMBING IN THE COLORADO ROCKIES, 1944
by gore galore

Most everyone on this site is aware of Justin Simoni's 1,720 mile bike tour to climb the Hundred Highest peaks in Colorado in 60 days in 2017. But no one is probably aware of the earliest known precedent for this type of trip when Stan Midgley of Evanston, Illinois bicycle toured some 500 miles and climbed four peaks including a 14,000 footer and a first ascent in a two week span through the Colorado Rockies in the late summer of 1944.

Stan Midgley was a chemist at Abbott Laboratories during World War II. He didn't own a car in those gas rationing times but he owned a bike. Over night trains to Denver were $41 round trip and in 1944 he checked his bike to Colorado Springs to begin his bicycle trip.

Midgley had a 35 pound English model bike, called Humphrey, with a three-speed gear-shift and 5000 miles on its cyclometer. He packed 60 pounds of equipment on the back of the bike.

Here is a record of that historic trip.

DAY ONE
A leisurely ride from Colorado Springs through the Garden of the Gods to Manitou at the base of the big hill looking up through Ute Pass at noon.

At 5 p. m. after five hours of riding, walking and loafing on the Ute Pass highway went over the top of the big hill, 3,000 feet up in twenty miles.

Shoved of on the 14 downhill miles. “I still dream about the next half hour, gliding down a highway smooth as a bowling alley following the graceful curves of the old railroad grade, the constantly changing scene accompanied by the whir of the spokes above the rumbling roar of wind in the ear – beautiful music to any bike rider.”

Resumed the ride up the next hill beyond the Platte River through the twilight and on in the moonlight. Around 8 o'clock checked in under a pine.

DAY TWO
Breakfast consisted of a vitamin pill and a few lumps of sugar helped along with a canteen full of water.

The remaining ten miles up 9500 foot Wilkerson Pass was an easy two-hour ride followed by a grand loaf overlooking the thousand-odd square miles of South Park.

Then at 10 a. m. began the exhilarating spin down to the floor of the park.

South Park offered some easy riding on the level for 30 miles.

During the four and a half hours across the park to Fairplay “the wind which had been gently pushing me along all the way from Colorado Springs suddenly turned around and hit head on at a mile a minute. It was worse than a heavy grade.”

So kept grinding on until about 5 p. m. struggling through the ripple-marked sand drifts on that miserable section of road between Garo and Fairplay when a truck drove out of the dust clouds and someone hollered “You want a ride?” as Humphrey, pack and all came aboard to Fairplay.

DAY THREE
Cruised along the six miles to Alma.

Not far above Alma the climb begins in earnest, and from there on it was a walk – four miles in an hour. At noon Humphrey rolled across the continental divide at Hoosier Pass, 11542.

Sixty-one miles downhill - “what a beautiful thought as I shoved off into the hairpins in the dark woods of the Pacific slope.” Humphrey has a hand-brake on each wheel “and don't try it with less” on that road.

CLIMBING QUANDARY PEAK, AUGUST 30
Got so close to 14,256 foot Mt. Quandary and chucked Humphrey in a bush and made the side trip. “Poor old Quandary's register said nobody comes up there anymore and seemed so pathetic. I wanted to register Humphrey too. I still think he could have made it.”

Midgley's notation in the Quandary Peak register for 8-30-44 reads: “3 days by bicycle from Colo Spgs.”

It took two hours to get down off of there and reach Breckenridge in the early twilight after climbing 3500 feet that day.

DAY FOUR
Next day was all downhill along the sparkling Blue River for 25 wonderful miles to Slate Creek where turning aside through the ranch of the same name and going up six miles to camp at Slate Lake.

DAY FIVE
Up the good trail to Upper Slate Lake.

CLIMBING PEAK “S”
Then to the top of the 12,800 foot peak south of the upper end of the lake. This peak was a first ascent and named it Consolation Peak (Nee Peak “S”). Then completed the traverse down to the wild and trailless south fork of Slate Creek, back to the trail at Lower Slate Lake.

At 6:30 p. m. rolled down through the ranch on Humphrey, who spent the while in a bush.

It was just after sunset and Humphrey seemed to float along like a feather and was such fun kept going through the twilight and the light of the full moon, around Green Mountain Lake to camp on the north shore at 9 p. m.

DAY SIX
September 2nd was the longest ride of the trip – from Green Mountain Lake to Grand Lake. Getting back on the oiled road at US 40 was cause for jubilation. “From there on I could look at the scenery again after 70 miles of dodging foxholes and rocks while riding tight-rope along the bald lanes between the ridges of loose gravel. Don't mistake me, gravel roads are fun but you have to watch them like a hawk or be grounded.”

That day covered over sixty miles thanks to a strong west wind that pushed him along the Colorado River – most of the way in high gear. “The experience of running before the wind is almost as exhilarating as a long downhill.”

At Grand Lake broke his diet, consisting mostly of three quarts of milk daily with an excellent dinner at the Corner Cupboard. Tomorrow it was over the hump, 48 miles to Estes Park.

DAY SEVEN
Started at 9:45 and with over 4000 feet to climb averaged 11 miles an hour plus 700 feet of climbing. That brought him to the foot of the hill in Phantom Valley about 11 a. m.

Tacking up the hairpins from there on was a 98 percent walk. Just below timberline on the west side an open car with two soldiers huddling with two girls careened by. One of them leaned out yelling at the top of his voice “Are you nuts?”

During his trip “Hundreds of others had said the same thing – not aloud, but just as eloquently in their rubber-necked stares.”

Reached the high point about 5 p. m., 24 miles from Grand Lake. “It was a great feeling to have crossed that blue hazy distance from the top of the Gores to the top of Trail Ridge in two days.”

“At 6:30 there started what thousands have dreamed about but relatively few have tried – what happens when you go down Trail Ridge on a bike – you will find it a thrill of a lifetime. The road is perfect for it – just steep enough for the wind resistance to hold you at 30 to 40 m. p. h. No brakes are necessary for 20 miles, but you better have good ones – just in case.”

ESTES PARK
At the end of one week he had come 250 miles, made a first ascent, and climbed a 14,000 footer. That called for a few days of loafing and riding 110 miles around Estes Park.

CLIMBING McHENRY, SEPTEMBER 13 AND PAGODA PEAKS, SEPTEMBER 9
Humphrey really proved his worth in climbing McHenry and Pagoda Peaks. Without the sixty pounds of freight on the back, cranked him up to Bear Lake in about 80 minutes – that is 10 miles with 2000 feet of climbing. The return takes 30 minutes.

SEPTEMBER 15
Left for Denver – 125 miles that proved to be the climax of the trip with each turn of the road past Longs Peak, Allens Park, and Peaceful Valley to camp that night near Ward.

GRAND FINALE
Then came the grand finale as Humphrey climbed over 4000 feet that day – up and down ridge after ridge – not a level hundred feet in the whole 48 miles. “Even that 25 miles of washboard and rubble north of Nederland called the 'Peak to Peak Highway' was almost gripe free. The entire morning was spent either walking uphill, or worse yet, riding downhill – hanging onto the brakes for dear life.”

At Nederland arrived back on the oil for keeps. “This is a sensation akin to stepping into a well-upholstered meadow after crossing a three-mile boulderfield.”

Late in the afternoon reached Dory Hill where the road sinks away for a wonderful 2500 foot descent into Clear Creek Canyon. “What a finish it was gliding through continually changing scenes for 13 miles past Blackhawk and on down the canyon to the foot of the last big climb, an 800 foot pull up Floyd Hill.” That two mile walk took exactly half an hour, just after sunset, and at the top kicked out his roll on the needles under a yellow pine.

From here in it was nearly all downhill, so the last 28 miles were easy – throwing in a side trip to Lookout Mountain. Came down the smooth Mt. Vernon Canyon Highway and the last of 488 miles.

The total expense of Stan Midgley's bicycle trip was about $6.00 a day of which $5.25 went to color film. He figured his average speed was 6 m. p. h. And he lost 25 pounds.

POSTSCRIPT
I corresponded with Stan Midgley about his mountain climbing trips to Colorado in the 1930's and 1940's. In 1983 he wrote a long letter to me and here is what he said about his bicycle touring in those days.

“In those days I never met anyone else with a bicycle in Colorado. I crossed nearly all the high passes on my 2 bike trips. Nor in Glacier National Park, which I did on a bike in 1940. Also I never saw bikes in the mountains of California, where I did a lot on foot and by bike after I moved here in 1946. Taking a bike to the mountains was almost unthinkable then.”

Stan Midgley's hobbies were mountaineering, bicycle riding and photography. During the summers he rode his bicycle to work, 48 miles a day. He spent his vacations climbing mountains and taking pictures.

In 1946 he entered a national contest and won the first prize of $1,000, featuring his bicycle trip through Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon area. From that time he went on to become a successful travelogue lecturer making over 4,000 appearances from coast to coast and in Canada and showing his films on television more than 400 times until he retired in 1992.

Stan Midgley passed away in 2000 at the age of 87. I wrote more of him in my trip report “Grand Traverse Peak, North Face: A Climbing Convergence of the Past and Present.”

[nomad]

great read!
Thanks

[Mtnman200]

Thanks for your post; very interesting history as always.

[planet54]

I found this photo with a google search. A good chance this was from the same trip,but I don't know for sure. Maybe someday gore galore will post a photo in his trip reports and mountaineering tales .

Lendo.jpg

[gore galore]

Wonderful addition and can't say thanks enough for posting this picture find of Stan Midgley. I have only seen a facial picture of him from his travel lecture brochure and have listened to some audio tapes without the video when he was appearing on a Detroit television show in the 1950's. I am convinced the picture at Poudre Lake on Trail Ridge Road would be from his 1944 trip. Stan Midgley was 31 years old and is standing next to his bike Humphrey with the 60 pounds of gear on the back. He was certainly a pioneer in long distance bicycle mountaineering. Unfortunately I do not have any information on his other bicycle trip in Colorado.

[TomPierce]

Do you think his pants were spandex?

Looks like he was a tinkerer as well. I'd bet a paycheck the handlebars he was using weren't stock on that bike, and were probably hard to locate in the US. All speculation from an avid cyclist. Just amazing to read what he did on a 3 speed gearbox, which is internal in the rear hub and damned difficult for a non-expert to repair. And burdened by 60 pounds of gear. Amazing!

-Tom

[justiner]

Really cool story. His description of the Peak to Peak highways is awesome! I sort of wish it still was like that. Although the perfectly smooth tarmac is nice, as well I guess.... The bike looks exactly like the bike my Mother had when she rode me around in one of those old school back seats!

Here's some more (sadly not Colorado-centric) stories of two-wheels adventures in the mountains:

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web11s/wfea ... ng-history

[kaiman]

Wow! Cool story and picture. Thanks for sharing!

[gore galore]

No Spandex, but I do notice the canvass tennis type shoes for biking and the canteen at the ready on top of the gear pack with maybe a bed roll tied on the right side to add to your observations of the handlebars and rear gear box of the bike. My 1975 10-speed Peugeot does not seem so ancient now.
And for the two-wheels adventures in the mountains we could add Alex Honnold and Cedar Wright's 700 mile enchainment of California's fifteen 14,000 foot peaks in 2013. But as to early bicycle mountaineering in the western United States I haven't come across any accounts of long distance trips with multiple peaks climbed before Stan Midgley's time.

[justiner]

Or even afterwards. Not until the Dunmire Brothers did their 14er tour in 1985 have I found any big trips by bike. Other than that, I'm sure there were a few crazies in Boulder pedaling up to Longs Peak. I should ask Bill Briggs when he started his bike stuff. I think the invention and mass production of mountain bikes really helped open up terrain.

I think it's pretty cool he had a 3 speed hub. I honestly bet that thing was bulletproof. I doubt the gear range was all that good, though. According to the Wikipedia Page for Sturmey-Archer, their original 3 speed hub was released in '36, and still sold in 2016!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmey-Archer

Probably the same hub that Heinz Stücke used to ride all around the world

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_St%C3%BCcke

I had the pleasure of seeing his bike in Paris, which he would live on and off in.

All Midgley would need then to keep his bike working would be to lube the chain - and you can use almost anything! Cooking oil does the trick, in a pinch.

Wish I could find more about him. Does anyone think the CMC library would have some info? I'd take a trip just to check that out. I guess I could make a request!

[TallGrass]

I think it's pretty cool he had a 3 speed hub. I honestly bet that thing was bulletproof. I doubt the gear range was all that good, though. According to the Wikipedia Page for Sturmey-Archer, their original 3 speed hub was released in '36, and still sold in 2016!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmey-Archer
Probably the same hub that Heinz Stücke used to ride all around the world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_St%C3%BCcke

Not having one in hand, how did it effect three speeds? Looks like one would be 1:1 direct drive with the internals locked up, another appears to be a four-planet planetary gear set up, but the third? Or is there a second planetary gear set up not shown?

... Nevermind. Found a better photo. The one above omitted the second set.


And some more for gearheads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hub_gear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohloff_Speedhub
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_St%C3%BCcke

[justiner]

Good ol' Stan pops up again! I was reading Kramarsic's Gore Ranger book, and it seems Midgely has a few first ascents in the area!

In the post 1935 CMC outing period a few new mountaineers came to the Gore Range and made significant climbs. Foremost among these was Stan Midgely

(pg 15)

Some of his first ascents:

Mt. Solitude
Mt. Valhalla
Outpost Peak
Peak S./Consolation Peak <-- this first ascent was done on one of his bicycle trips in 1944!

Midgely wrote an article in T&T No. 318 called, Free Wheeling in the Rockies or How to Lose 25 Pounds

Having just gained 25 pounds after finishing my bike trip last September, I found that title hitting pretty close to home!