June 20, Day 20

June 20, Day 20
Salida to Pueblo, CO
Mileage: 93.87
Temperature: Freezing in the morning and hot in the afternoon

Dear All,

We knew today was going to be long and it was. It really turned out to be two days in one. We'll explain later.

You may be interested in a health report. So far we are OK. One more rider went down today. That's the bad news, The good news is that one who had been down was back in the saddle although a bit weak. The staff has really been terrific about this illness. Rules have been put in place to attempt to reduce the incidence of new outbreaks. For instance, at the SAG stops only one of the four staff is allowed to fill water bottles so that people aren't touching the big jugs of water. We have always been required to remove riding gloves and use handiwipes prior to getting any food, but now no one is allowed to leave gloves or a helmet anywhere near the food. In addition, only packaged food is being offered. No longer are cut up oranges or trail mix offered. The staff wiped down the entire interior of the SAG vehicle and is constantly telling everyone to wash their hands. We're washing our hands so often the skin is starting to peel off. We're all hoping these precautions will work.

On to today.

We loaded our luggage at 5:30 which meant that we were up by 4:45. We were on the road by 6:00 am.. The first 45 miles of the ride were marvelous. It was slightly downhill on a beautiful road with very little traffic. Within the first 5 miles were joined by Rick (yes, the same Rick who's description of Amy's climbing was in one or our prior blogs). The three of us set up what turned out to be a pretty good paceline with Rick taking a pull then John and every once in a while Amy took a pull as well. The picture shows Amy doing her job. We were averaging close to 19 mph.

The entire first 45 or so miles had the Arkansas river running on our left no more than 10 feet or so off the shoulder. And, boy, was it running. Mark Mahoney or Bob Glanville might be able to tell us what level the water was but we were told it was probably a 4. It was wild with holes at least 3 feet deep. At one point we saw a raft and a kayak running the river and it was something to watch. The kayak was clearly having trouble with the size of the holes but it did get through.

The canyon we were in is named Big Horn Sheep Canyon. Neat name, but we saw none of its namesake. The views along the river in the canyon were really special. John just had to stop a number of times to take pictures which meant he had to “hammer” to catch up with Amy and Rick. We hope the pictures do some justice to what we saw.

About 10:30 we took a slight detour into Canon City, CO for a bit of a brunch. As we turned onto Main Street a sign announcing that a prison was just down the road. But this prison had a museum and a gift shop. That's right, a prison museum and a gift shop. That's a bit much. But, we guess CO figures it might as well make some money on the prison. We decided not to visit. John was thankful since almost of the souvenirs that he could think of would weigh a ton and since he carries everything on his bike, it was not a pleasant thought.

Canon City, CO is a cute little town and we found the place that all the locals go for breakfast. A nice little spot with a wood floor and great homemade bread.

After brunch it was back on the bike. The next 50 miles or so were as different from the first 45 as night is from day. We rode another couple of miles with the river on our left and then all of sudden we were out of the canyon and, it seemed, out of CO. The mountains were bare memories unless we looked over our shoulders (not such a bright idea when you're doing 17 mph or more on a bike). Instead the land flattened out and turned brown. We did see Pikes Peak way off to our left, but we were really into what we think is called the high prairie. For the first time we saw a cowboy actually rounding up a herd of cattle although he was assisted by several all wheeled terrain vehicles which somewhat compromised the image.

The final 20 miles were really, really tough. The wind picked up (we're guessing it was well over 20 mph) and it was right on the nose. The scenery was nothing to write home about (or put in a blog). It was simply pedaling to get to the motel. We arrived beat and simply fell on the bed and went to sleep for about an hour.

Tomorrow is our second day off. We're likely to clean bikes and rest.
Take care everyone and thanks for reading. Your prayers that we don't come down with the “bug” would continue to be appreciated.

Keep the good vibes coming.

Amy and John
PS: By the way we have added a feature which allows you to comment on the blog. Just click on "comments" at the end of each post and we think your comments will appear.