Day 24: Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rise and shine...or not. Today was quite gloomy. It looked like it was going to downpour and start storming allll day. But, luckily it did hold out on us. And I guess the cooler weather was actually a plus with a long day on the road.

Our route was pretty ambitious today, unbeknownst to us. We originally thought we'd be able to do 140 miles from Denver to Sterling, but that was under the assumption that we would all be well rested and that the route would be completely flat. We couldn't have been more off. I think all of us were pretty worn out after taking advantage of our rest days to explore the surrounding areas. And most of today was actually uphill. Whoops. Guess we were a bit off.

We put in a valiant effort, finally retiring to the van around 7:45 pm with about 120 miles behind us. It was a long day with not a whole lot to look at. We've been spoiled the last couple of weeks with unbelievable views. We already started our segment into corn fields, wheat fields, and lots of (hopefully flat from now on) open road.

Sadly today's highlights were a gazillion grasshoppers, a llama, and turtle roadkill. Hopefully it was just the rainy day atmosphere that took over today's mood on the road. It was a little dull and drab. Even still, grateful to be out there riding and continuing to enjoy what our country has to offer.

Day 23: The Conclusion of the Boulder Experience

My experiences in Boulder were wrapped up today. We fit a ton of stuff into the last day, starting off with a morning rafting trip in Idaho Springs on Clear Creek. It was a little more calm than we were expecting, but still pretty fun nonetheless. Apparently, we missed the tough stuff by a few weeks as the water level has dropped since then. We went through 5 rapids, saw a ton of beautiful sites, and floated by the oldest and biggest gold mine in the state. We also saw a huge water wheel and waterfall. Overall, we were glad we had the rafting experience...I don't think any of us could have left CO without rafting.

Sam, Wally, and I with our Argentinean guide, Ivan.

Then Wally and I hit up Pearl Street for lunch at Paradise, followed by a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. The park was amazing. We saw some more amazing sites, a number of animals (chipmunks, deer, elk, and marmots), and built a snowman. I've always wanted to build a snowman or be in snow in the summertime - and it finally actually came true.

We finished up the day with an awesome dinner at Mad Greens and a stroll around 29th Street. I'm off to Denver in the morning to meet back up with the rest of the crew as we'll all begin our trek forward again, forging on to Sterling, CO.

Day 22: Jam Packed

We had a ton of things on our agenda today. We...

1. Hiked at Chautauqua Trailhead.

2. Picked up my bike.

3. Made a trip to the Army Surplus Store and other shops.

One store had travel quotes all around the outside walls...we all know how I'm a sucker for quotes.

4. Visited the creek and rope swing.

5. Laid out in the sun.

6. Visited campus, Folsom Field, and Fairfield Quad.

7. Watched a flag football game.

8. Went to Goodwill and Whole Foods.

9. Wandered around The Hill (the college area).

10. Took a nap.

11. Attempted a Yoga Class.

12. Had dinner, dessert, and explored Pearl Street some more with Bobbie's family, who is also visiting.

The CO crew.

After all of that, we were pretty exhausted, ending the day with a total of 10 miles on the bike. A viewing of Fight Club wrapped up the night with another early morning and full day ahead of us.

Day 21: 4th of July

I couldn't resist as Wally and Sam rose early and geared up for a road race. It's kinda tradition to do road races on holidays, so I laced up my running shoes and ran bandit (unregistered) in the 4 on the 4th (a 4k road race). I hadn't run in about 3 weeks and we were at altitude, so I was preeeeetty conservative for the 1st mile, and surprisingly felt pretty good and picked it up quite a bit for the last 2/3. I have to say, as much as I've been enjoying biking, it was awesome to be back around runners...once a runner, always a runner. We hung around the post-race festivities for awhile since Wally and Sam both placed in their age group and were rewarded gift cards and 6 packs, courtesy of the Avery Brewing Company, who sponsored the race. Unfortunately, none of us won the entire race, which would have gotten us our weight in beer.

Then we took my bike in to get all checked out after the first 1/3 of the ride and strolled around the famous Pearl Street. Totally up my alley. Lots of shops, cafes, restaurants, and street performers. Everything was so trendy and unique, so fun to wander around. Ended the day with a purchase from the candy store and a sore muscle massage bar from LUSH.

Unfortunately, it decided to storm around 4 for the rest of the day and into the night...so no full firework show went off. I think this was the first time, at least that I can remember, that I haven't gone and watched a firework show on the 4th...kinda a bummer. But once it settled down we started walking around and fireworks picked up. I'm not as used to having such elaborate fireworks going off all the time outside of the town show since they're illegal in IL. It was a different way to enjoy the 4th, and even though we didn't get to see a full show, it was neat to be walking with fireworks going off in the background. I felt like I was in The Sandlot.

It was a good first day in Boulder with only a few more days to pack in a long list of "To Do's."

Day 20: Loveland Pass

LOVELAND PASS - WOW. What a climb right off the bat. For the first 11 miles of the 89 for the day, we were pushing and not getting very far. Loveland Pass was potentially tougher than the Sierra Nevadas, but was luckily nowhere near as long. The pass took us up to almost 12,000 ft. elevation (11,990 ft. to be exact). But, once again, the views were unreal and possibly worth the pain. It was soooooo great to have Wally and Bobbie with me today. They have been teammates for the past 4 years and we all know how each other works and how to support one another. I give them HUGE props for trekking through some of the hardest climbs we will see the entire trip...I'm not sure they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into considering they hopped on their bikes again this morning.

Wally on our way up the pass.

Bobbie and I on our way up the pass.

This time, the pass did reward us with a big Continental Divide sign, elevation engraved. The views were by far the best we've seen yet. You could see everything from up there. This summit is the highest altitude we will reach during the entire trip. Unbelievable. And we also had snow next to us again. Still one of the weirdest and craziest concepts to have snow next to you in the middle of the summer. So weird.

Us at the summit!!!

We had a number of awesome photo ops and stuck to mostly frontage roads and trails again. I also hit my max speed today, finally breaking the 40 mph barrier with a top speed of 41.3 mph. Pretty insane. Of course this was on a smooth frontage road with not a car in sight and the rest of the road visible ahead of me, so we were good to go. Another funny and crazy thing was that we literally had to break so we weren't speeding. How crazy is that?!

After the summit we were blessed with a lot of downhill but were shocked by a few unexpected steep climbs randomly thrown in the mix. But once again, we prevailed, despite Bobbie's scraped knees and elbows, Wally's insane (but usual) sunburn, and altitude's edge over me, we finished the day out all in one piece. And best of all...we conquered the Rockies.

We ended the ride in Denver, CO and I headed back up to Boulder with the guys for the 4th of July and to spend some much needed time with familiar faces. We started the Boulder stay off with a rewarding Ben and Jerry's binge. We deserved it.

Day 19: Keystone - Always Smooth Even When You're Not

Well the Rockies finally gave us a run for our money. We had a 52 mile day consisting of A LOT of climbing and little descent. Luckily we were again blessed with frontage roads and bike trails. We climbed through Vail Pass and I felt pretty gipped when I got to the summit and there wasn't even a summit sign waiting to reward my efforts...the Vail Pass Trail sign was the next best thing.

Probably the funniest things of the day were the words of encouragement painted on the bike road along Vail Pass. There were a bunch of "Allez" (let's go) and even a large portion of painted cheerleaders accompanied by "Be Aggressive, Be, Be, Aggressive." I had to laugh at that. It made me think of Jock Jams Vol. 3. Too bad it was already so steep I don't know if I really could have clipped back in had I stopped to take a picture, so unfortunately the painted cheerleaders on the road are left up to your imaginations.

The last few miles provided yet more glorious views and great people. With the paths winding and splitting off constantly, I continued to ask "Which way to Keystone?" Lucky for me, biking seems to be a sport of choice in the area and people were very helpful along the way, ensuring I was not adding on more mileage and climbing than necessary.

Wally and Bobbie, two Illinois Wesleyan Cross Country and Track & Field teammates and some of my best friends decided to join me for the ride tomorrow. They are among 5 of the men's team runners that opted to train at altitude this summer in Boulder, CO. They are having quite the experience themselves and added to the summer's list of experiences with their trek from Denver to Keystone today. They pretty much experienced a lot of the same problems we had our first days of the trip (bike issues, directions, fatigue, dirt roads, and so on), but they made it to Keystone in one piece, ready to get back on the bike again in the morning.

Day 18: Scenic Route

We finally got off I-70 and had the pleasure of riding on a trail and frontage road for the entire day! The scenery on the trail was soooo nice. The sounds of the Colorado River rapids were also much more pleasant than cars, trucks, and horns. Maybe one downside, or upside, to biking on a trail though is the desire to ride leisurely. I don't know why, but whenever I get off the road I tend to go into a completely different mindset. Probably because I don't have to worry about cars and trucks whizzing by and glass and rocks along the shoulder, threatening to pop my tires.

We ended up in Edwards, CO after about 52 miles, just shy of Vail. It was another day of steady climbing, amounting about another 3,000 feet toward the summit. We are lucky to be hosted again by a Garton family, relatives of our first hosts. We had an amazing lunch, afternoon trip to Vail, and dinner. Fresh food is seriously the best thing ever after munching on Cliff bars and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all day, everyday (not that those don't taste like the best thing I've ever tasted at the moment).

I guess we've been very lucky with the weather, we have yet to hit a patch of rain or storms...until tonight. Good thing we finished pretty early today because we got dumped on. It was storming like no other for awhile, which made us weary of tomorrow's weather predictions - it's supposed to storm pretty much allllll day. We have a number of hypothetical situations that we formulated tonight and various escape routes if it does by chance start to storm in the midst of our ride. We'll see what the day brings, as mother nature might add some more spice to our next 60ish miles into the Rockies as we head to Keystone, CO...as if that's not rough enough already.