Day 42: 79 Miles

Eads, CO to Fowler, CO

Today was probably the best day I’ve had on the bike so far. I couldn’t have asked for nicer weather and the road was flat for most of the day. The scenery also started to get a little more interesting as the day went on. Eastern Colorado has looked a lot like western Kansas, but today the mountains started to pop up over the horizon. I know they are still far away, but it was great to watch them come into view as the miles rolled on and I got closer.

I left the motel this morning right around 7:00 AM. With the time zone change the sun was already up but it was cold out. I think the day started out somewhere in the 50s. This part of Colorado is extremely flat and I could see miles ahead. About five miles into the ride I could see a silo from the first town I’d be riding through, 16 miles ahead of me. I thought this town had some services in it, but when I got there the silo was basically the only thing in town. The next stop was at mile 56, so I was happy it was not hot out. I would have been out of water before mile 56 if it had been as hot as the last few days.

There wasn’t much excitement during the ride today. I saw a few more racers riding by in the opposite direction. They were a bit more talkative today which was nice. I guess they can afford to stop and talk given they are now a couple of days behind the leader and unlikely to catch up. I also rode past a couple of guys shooting off rifles in the field next to the road. The gunshots were very loud, so I was a little on edge until the road curved and I was moving in a direction away from them. I also had to deal with thousands of grasshoppers on the road. It was funny to watch the waves of grasshoppers jump out of the way of my bike as I got close. I also had a few stowaways on my bike as several grasshoppers hopped onto my bags and stayed there for miles.

I got to the town of Sugar City around mile 56 and found Bill, Mike, Mark and Patti leaving a cafe. Mark and Patti were already riding away as I showed up, but I talked quickly to Bill and Mike. The four of them were planning to stop in the town of Ordway which was only 5 miles down the road. They had left the motel around 4:30 AM, so they are obviously travelling at a slower pace than me and had already had a long day. It was still before noon, so I told them I was going to ride ahead. I’m now in the middle of the group of 9 that are on the road. I went into the cafe and read the notes that Matt and Joe had left in the cyclist book from the day before. They apparently had a rough day getting to Sugar City. I read that they had battled 20 to 30 mph headwinds for a long time. I’m happy with my decision making in terms of my daily mileage and places to stop. It looks like the guys ahead of me had two hard days and will probably be stopped in Pueblo tonight. I’m only 35 miles behind them, but the last two days for me have been relatively easy. I’ve set myself up so tomorrow I can get to Pueblo early, go to the bike shop and then decide if I want to put in some more miles in the afternoon. If I do that, I can probably catch up to the guys ahead.

Today felt great on the bike. I averaged 13.2 mph over 79 miles. This was the 3^rd longest day I’ve had, but I was done right around 2:00 PM. The other long rides I’ve put in have gotten me to my endpoint much later in the day. I checked into the motel and found it to be much nicer than I expected. It is always nice to walk into a cheap motel and find it’s clean and up to date. The motels have been very hit or miss, so it’s nice to get a decent one. Tomorrow I’ll either stop in Pueblo and make it a short day or continue to Cañon City. The next few days are going to involve a lot of climbing but I should be in Breckenridge in 3 or 4 days.