Resting with friends

We're in Louisville, CO near Boulder for the weekend staying with our friends Sarah and Sean. We didn't ride our bikes on Saturday or Sunday! It feels a little strange.


The morning we left the Ordway hostel we rode 11 miles up the road to Olney Springs to pick up a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies from Kristin's mom. It was neat entering the rain shadow. Getting to Pueblo the climate was even more arid with cactus and sagebrush. It's fun to watch the wildlife change as well. We saw a jack rabbit and badger in Kansas. As we entered Pueblo riding on the shoulder of US-50 we rode alongside a prairie dog colony. They were scared but curious. We also saw a coyote cross the road outside of Olney Springs.

We were following an old railroad track with telephone poles that were barely above head height and falling apart. It was very dry and desolate, but Pueblo was a big city--by far the biggest we've been in. We stopped there for lunch, and when we left it wasn't long before a group of thunderstorms appeared in front of us. The lighting kept getting closer and the wind stronger. At first we thought about taking shelter near a small white building we saw in the distance. When we arrived at it, it turned out to be a semi truck tractor. The thought of crouching next to it while the storm passed pushed us to a ranch house with a big wrap-around porch we could see a half mile up the road. We went up to the house and the family was very generous and let us park our bikes in the garage and stay in the house for the storm. It was a big one with about 2 inches of rain in an hour and a half and lots of lighting. When we continued on our way, still hoping to make it past Canon City, our luck ran out. Nick got a flat tire from a piece of glass he probably picked up riding through Pueblo. After we fixed it, Kristin put air in her back tire and the inner tube valve tore off the inner tube. We had to replace a second flat. The winds turned around, and we slowed down a lot. We only made it as far as Florence that night - 89 miles for the day but 20 short of where we thought we had to be to meet Sean on Friday. No showers either, which was sad. And sort of gross.

Not making it those last 20 miles we had no idea what to expect the next day. We intended to end the day 12 miles from Hoosier Pass--85 miles ahead and 5,000 above us. It would be our first day of climbing in Colorado. We screwed up setting our alarms and didn't get the early start we thought we would need. With all that, it turned out to be one of our favorite days on the whole trip. We made good time while climbing and the mountain scenery was beautiful and a welcome change. At one point we stopped to eat sandwiches and fill water bottles at a hostel that we would have loved to stay and enjoy. We even found homemade tamales in a little town called Hartsel. It was a good thing too because during the last 19 mile stretch between Harstel and Fairplay it started raining on us and at 9,000 feet it was cold! When we got in to Fairplay it was still raining and colder. It got down to about 42 that night. But we learned in Kansas what the tough do when the going gets tough.

When we woke up in the morning, ready to summit Hoosier Pass and the continental divide, we could see our breath. The last 2,000 feet of the climb went fast and we did it in about an hour and a half but we were not warm. After the summit, the descent was even colder. We stopped in Breckenridge for hot drinks. From Breckenridge to Silverthorne we followed bike paths that parallel highway 9. It was nice not riding on the shoulder, but it was strange to see so many people on bikes that weren't riding across the country. We don't think they knew what to make of us.

Sean picked us up around noon Friday in Silverthorne just off I-70. Now we're relaxing. We made ravioli and ice cream and played euchre. We played a lot of euchre with Sarah and Sean in college. We're watching the Olympics and managed to catch the opening ceremony. We had lunch today with Terry and June--old neighbors of Kristin's. We're getting back on the road tomorrow morning clean, well fed and well rested. Thinking about this weekend has motivated us for a long time and we're finally enjoying it!

Getting over Hoosier Pass was a big accomplishment. At 11,542 feet, it's the highest point on our route. We've been hearing about it for a long time, and we've finally seen some climbing in the big mountains, and we're optimistic for the rest of the trip. The big storms of last week are supposed to be over, so we should have warmer weather, but we'll still have to deal with smaller afternoon storms. Getting flat tires was sort of a bummer, but we were feeling like a goalie with a shut out or a pitcher with a no hitter--there was a lot of pressure that's gone now. Actually, on the drive down from Silverthorne we put our bikes in a trunk rack, and the heat from the exhaust melted Kristin's back tire giving us our third flat! We've never heard of that happening. Still, the tires have only had one puncture flat in over 2000 miles--the other two flats can't be blamed on the tires. We found a new spare tire and did some bike cleaning and routine maintenance. We replaced both of our cleats on our shoes because they've worn out. A part of Kristin's cleat actually broke off and made clipping in hard. We didn't really anticipate so much wear from pushing off and walking around in our bike shoes.

The restful weekend has been good, and seeing friends has been wonderful. We're ready to get back on the road tomorrow morning where we left off.

Some numbers:

3--flats.
2,385--miles traveled.
2--days with no miles ridden. We haven't even gotten on our bikes.