Down the Mountain we go

Dennis and I on the descent - to give you an idea of the amazing views...of course I was more focused on the road as we were going 40mph plus down the mountain (we had to slow down for a motorcycle!).

Ouray

The sights were unbelievable, probably the most beautiful scenery of the trip. Another century, which was great for the 1^st half, but the last 30 miles the road was not conducive to biking. Ouray is an awesome town and the 1^st Presbyterian Church was great. We had ice cream at the local ice cream shop before our dinner crew prepared an amazing dinner – at this point, almost any food is good. I also was heading back to the church when Maura asked if I wanted to get ice cream – sure, why not get seconds? While at the ice cream shop, we were talking with a resident who said the climb up Red Mountain was nearly impossible – sounds like a challenge to me.

Gunning for Gunnison

We woke up at were treated to an all you should eat breakfast by the Optimist Club of Buena Vista – I had 4 pancakes and 2 glasses of OJ. The ride today was challenging, as we climbed from 6,700 ft up to 11,312 feet – Monarch Pass, which is part of the continental divide. The ride was not that bad – 6% for 14 miles, but only because all of the riding has gotten us into biking shape. A couple of riders even stopped for a quick snowball fight. We had lunch at the top of Monarch Pass, and Angela treated everyone to a cup of hot chocolate. Despite the dark clouds, I decided it was time to continue the ride and went down the mountain at 40+ mph. The rain clouds decided to let loose and the rain started to fall, making the descent chilling. My teeth were chattering and my hands were shaking – not good when the hands are controlling the steering. I also had to be careful on turns as the road gets slick with the rain (and all the gas / oil on the road). I made it to the gas station at the bottom of the mountain, to see the thermometer reading 58 degrees. I went inside to warm up, and after another hot chocolate at 40 minutes, we continued our ride – really pushing hard to stay warm and get to Gunnison. We stopped at the Sonic in Gunnison (Happy Hour 2-4) before making our way to the high school for showers and dinner. David, Renee and Dennis then headed to a local bar for a drink and a game of shuffle board. Since we could not shut off the emergency lights in the gym, it was the perfect time to sleep with a t-shirt covering my eyes.

Leaving Buena Vista in the morning, with the Collegiate Peaks in the background.

On to Buena Vista

David and I in Garden of the Gods

Maura and I racing at McDonald's (note that we are wearing helmets)

Today we started our next century (100 mile ride) by going thru Garden of the Gods – it was awesome and we spend a lot of time there, which partially caused such a late arrival. I stopped at the McDonalds in Woodland Park to fill up on water and also took a ride on the bike in the playground. We had some good climbs and stopped at the National Park visitor station for some lemonade and water, courtesy of the VFW. We continued on our way and was lucky enough to avoid the storm before reaching Buena Vista. The members were so nice, but I was so tired and was fighting to stay awake. Ted told us of several great things to do, but I was too tired to acknowledge them. Dinner was great – lasagna, salad and brownies and I got to bed at 8:30 – a sign that the lack of sleep was starting to catch up.

Build Day

Today we got to build with Pikes Peak Habitat – framing! Luckily we already had experience with Orange County (Chapel Hill, NC) Habitat so we were able to get a bunch framed. Lunch consisted of 18 feet of Subway subs (thanks to Aimee), which we completely devoured (of course). Today was also mail drop, and after spending 30 minutes arguing with the post office that I had more than 2 boxes, they proceeded to give me 5 cartons of mail (that’s more like it). One of the packages was from Blount County Habitat, with a thank you note and a bunch of energy bars (Thanks Crystal). We went out to downtown, hitting up a microbrew before going to Cowboys, a country western bar that featured line dancing (and a little bit of rap music). I won’t say that I knew what I was doing, but I was out on the dance floor, moving my feet and music was playing, so I would say that I attempted to dance.

125 Miles to Colorado Springs

So today was the longest ride of the trip – 125 miles. Breakfast was at 5:15, and a huge shout out goes to the church for waking up so early to prepare us breakfast. Once we were on the road, what was going to be a hard day became even tougher, with my group getting 8 flats (I personally got 3 of them – time to buy new tires) – there was a lot of debris on the roadway. The morning started off nice and cool, and became really hot as we entered Pueblo (mile 55). After stopping for a quick bite and to refill our Camelbaks, it was off into the Colorado heat before stopping at mile 80 for some Subway (and to avoid the brief rainstorm). I changed one of my flats at lunch #2 (at mile 90 – usually we are already done at this point), before starting the last 35 miles, and seeing the dark clouds headed our way. The ominous clouds kept getting darker and darker (but had cool flashes of light) before a huge wind gust knocked a couple of riders off their bikes and onto the grass on the side of the road. At this point we decided to search for shelter, and stopped at a hall, where the lady would not let is in, but told us we could stay under the porch. The rain was coming down at a 30 degree angle, pelting us and forcing us to huddle together to stay warm. The storm finally let up and we continued on our way. Once we got into Colorado Springs, we thought the worst was over, as we only had 10 miles to go. Of course, those 10 miles included some steep hills, where we had to be in our easiest gear – not the way to end a 125 mile day. But we made it, got to shower at the YMCA and have dinner from Olive Garden, which Aimee from Pikes Peak Habitat arranged (she was an awesome help with all of the logistics).

Rocky Ford, CO

The ride today was not too bad – I was driving the van. Lunch stop was at a picnic stop right next to the Sheriff department. This proved to be advantageous as I was able to get an inmate (dressed in green/white stripes) that was washing off the sidewalk to refill our water cooler. She was very nice about it and this ensured that we had plenty of Gatorade. After lunch, I stopped by the local library, and upon entering, the librarian asked if I was there for the butterfly exhibit. I informed her that no, I was not, just to check email. The rest of the day was nice and uneventful – stopped for a cherry milkshake before arriving at the church. Showers were at the local community pool, and I had the entertainment of talking to the high schoolers working there. Dinner was great – homemade potluck. We had a bike clinic for the kids that was brought indoors due to rain. We had an early bedtime, and route meeting occurred at night instead of the next morning since we were doing 125 miles the next day.