June 20, Day 21

June 21, Day 21
Pueblo, CO (Rest Day)

Dear All,

Well, today we get the opportunity to take it easy. It's the second such day since June 1 and it's pretty fair to say that we were ready for it as are those parts of our anatomy that regularly come in contact with the bike.

By the way, several of the riders have Garmin calculators for their bikes which provide a host of information. One piece of information that you might be interested in is the total number of feet we have climbed to date. Believe it or not according to one rider's Garman, we have had total climbs of 58,268 feet. That's more than twice the height of Mount Everest. What d'ya think about them bananas?

We dozed off last night at about the same time as usual (around 9:00) but didn't actually get out of bed until 7:30. It was wonderful.
Since there is nothing to write about in terms of our journey itself we thought we might take this time to do a couple of things.

First to thank Andy, Christine, Michelle and Gerard, the staff who are always there when we need them. It's uncanny the way they seem to know exactly when to appear on the road to repair flats and to give encouragement. When it's hot and you've ridden 75 miles with another 20 or so to go in the heat with wind in your face, they seem to be able to say just the right things to boost spirits. And, as we have described, they have taken very seriously the illness that has befallen so many in the group. Michelle makes certain that we “follow the rule” both on the road and off, while Andy runs “route rap” and basically sees that everything is running smoothly. Christine is either on a bike checking on riders and handling SAG stops. And Gerard is fixing bikes or taking pictures as well as being on the road. They are really super and ABB should be proud of them. We sure are.

OK, so what happens when we're off the bike. On a riding day, very little other than riding really happens. As you know we start the day when the sun comes up and when we get in, it's time for a shower, figure out what to wear the next day, go to “route rap”, eat dinner, write the blog and go to bed. About every third day or so we try to find time to do a little laundry making certain that the riding shorts are always clean. Sometimes the motels don't have enough machines so there are days when we ride with day old socks or shirts (never day old shorts).

But the off days (of which we are in our second), the pace is leisurely for everyone. As we indicted we get up later and then find a real place for a sit down, take our time, type of breakfast. Then it's time to completely empty our suitcases. Given that we don't have time to pay much attention to them on riding days (just stuff the cloths in, close 'em up and load 'em on the van), we take the off day to repack. But only after putting virtually everything in the laundry. Most motels have one and sometime two washers and one or two dryers. As a result there is a bit of line to get the laundry done. When the suitcases are repacked it's as if we have half again as much room. Wait a day or two and it'll look a mess all over again.

Then John works on the bikes. He tries to clean them from top to bottom paying particular attention to the drive system. The chain is cleaned and oiled which takes a bunch of time and is a pretty dirty process. The rear cassette is cleaned and then the frame itself paying attention to the brakes. The tires are checked for any abrasions or cuts that could cause a problem on the road.

After lunch we just take it easy. We both brought books with us but for the last 21 days we don't think that we've read a total between us of more than 20 pages. There simply isn't time. On the off days we try but most ofter within five minutes of opening the book we asleep taking a cat nap.

Tomorrow is our 40th Anniversary and coincidently it will be our longest day of the entire trip, 120.8 miles. That's long!! At the time of writing this blog we don't know what time we'll be on the road but we're guessing it will be really, really early. The fear is twofold, both related to the weather. First, is the concern about afternoon thunderstorms. Two days ago Pueblo had hail the size of golf balls and apparently in the heat of the summer that's not uncommon. Second, it is the ever present concern about the wind. It has a crazy way of moving all around the compass and the hope is that the earlier we leave the less likely we'll be hit with a strong headwind later in the day (like yesterday which was a brute).

So, if you have an extra moment or two, pray for a west wind or no wind at all, but nothing that has the word east in it.

Apparently the motel we get to tomorrow in Lamar, CO does not have WiFi so we'll be off the air for a couple of day. Nonetheless, your good vibes will be felt so send them along.

John and Amy
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