Cleaned Up, Stitched Up and Ripped Off in the US

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Cleaned Up, Stitched Up and Ripped Off in the US Don Goodhue "Can you say that again slowly?" "Seven hundred and thirty-seven fifty, " said the woman behind the counter. nd that was US dollars -I was stunned. An hour - earlier had been streaking down a dirt road on my bike in the hills above Vail, Colorado when the ground got in the way. The last thing I had planned was a visit to the Vail Valley Medical Centre. The weekend had started okay although not without its hassles. I was spending a week in Vail at a conference and had managed to arrange a couple of days to spend some time exploring the hills by bike. The first trial of the weekend was LAX Airport. "You can check transfer baggage here," said the man at the United transfer desk. "But you will have to transfer that thing yourself. I That thing' was my bike bag. So as I dragged my bike from one terminal to the other, on-bus off-bus, I thought of the film "Flying High". "The red zone is for... Only this time there were no flower-toting Hare Krishnas; instead the next obstacle was the man at the United "odd-sized" checkin counter who insisted that I pay $60 for the privilege of having my bike transported. You can imagine how confused he was when I told him I was on an Air New Zealand code-share and that I had paid for the bike in Wellington (he looked at me as if to say "what state is that in?") and that no, I would not pay any more and yes, I had a plane to catch. (I hadn't really paid in Wellington but it seemed to do the trick.) He shrugged his shoulders in defeat and dragged the bike onto the conveyor belt. United Airlines was to get their own back. Upon arrival at Denver airport the bike was there but nothing else. The woman at the United counter soon informed me that the rest of my gear had been checked onto a later flight from LAX. Riding the single track Don Goodhue Next morning Irode into Vail village and after acquiring a map and guidebook, headed for the hills. The ride was to a place called "Lost Lake" and involved a climb Icontinued uphill on a single track through relatively from 8,000 ft (at Vail) to about 10,500 ft. The weather open forest until I came to another road, at which point was perfect hot and dry. I decided to give up on the lake and leave it lost. headed The road out of town climbed up the side of a long downhill to eventually meet up with the route I had folcanyon firstly on a good gravel road, which soon gave lowed up. There was plenty to look at - birds, squirrel way to 4WD tracks and eventually single track. On the things, and even a deer. As I descended, the road imway up Imade a note of the odd rut in the road to avoid proved SO I let the bike pick up speed. The only thingl on theway! back down. Lower down the ride was through had to worry about was staying on the "right" side of aspens, and as it was "Fall"i in the Rockies, they were at the road or so I thought. their best in blazes of gold. Higher up the forest was Suddenly all hell broke loose and I was lying facemainly conifers and eventually alpine meadows. first in the dirt, having just been doing about 45 km/h. After a couple of hours' riding Ihad finished climbing One of the ruts I had seen on the way up jumped out and got to the point where the guidebook said to gol left and got me. The dust cleared - the bike was OK but but there were more lefts on the ground than in the my left elbow and knee were feeling it. Upon closer book and on the map. So Ichose the most likely looking inspection there was quite a gash on my elbow so I one and continued. The further I went, the more obvi- slapped on a patch and gingerly made my way back to ous it became that I was not on the route described in Vail. Painful! Before long I was in the Vail Valley Medithe book. Never mind, "Lost Lake" should be just over cal Centre; cleaned up, stitched up and feeling ripped the next ridge (according to the map). off. Forty minutes, six stitches and NZ$1,100. Tramping and Mountaineering 1998