Cortez, CO

Today was a short day, but we got an early start as we had to be out of the church by 6:15 for the Men’s club (we are flexible and work with our host sites to minimize any inconvenience). After Angela got a flat before leaving the parking lot, we waited for her to change it (and use the floor pump). We rode over to the Bread (not bombs) Bakery to join up with other riders for a morning coffee break – hey it was a good 0.1 miles away. After everyone left, we hung out for our 15 minute buffer before hitting the road. Lunch was at a local park, which had some shade trees just off the highway (and we devoured some of the awesome chicken left over from Emily’s aunt and uncle). The ride was fairly straight forward, a couple of climbs initially, and then some fun descents. Thanks to the joy of drafting, Michelle was able to not shift gears the entire afternoon. Several riders stopped at a trading post to pick up friendship bracelets. A couple of riders (David G, Ana, Cole) decided to take a 40 mile detour to Mesa Verde – more power to them. We were able to shower at the middle school before hitting up Pizza Hut for dinner (Thanks Ben’s mom). It was wonderful staying at Trinity Lutheran Church, where we were able to sleep anywhere in the lower level and take full advantage of the a/c on a hot day. We had our weekly townhall meeting where everyone unveiled our new t-shirts – light blue with a picture of Cole Emde (our resident bike mechanic expert) and a saying of “The Cole-alition”. On the back, was the Bike and Build logo and the words “Running on Cole Power” “NC2SD – 2008”. Special thanks for the shirts goes to Daven – designing the shirt, Dave G – placing the order, Scott W’s dad – coming up with the idea, Claire – organizing…it was a team effort. The night ended with a viewing of Anchorman, in anticipation of our arrival in San Diego in 2 weeks.