Day 44: 56 Miles

Pueblo, CO to Cañon City, CO

Today was the first real day of elevation gain in Colorado. I started out the day at 4,600 feet elevation and ended at 6,400 feet. The first 40 miles were relatively easy as I only gained 800 feet of elevation. The remaining 1,000 feet were climbed over an 8 mile stretch.

There were two routes out of Pueblo. The first was more back roads but included a climb and was 15 miles longer. I opted to get onto route 50 and ride the shoulder of the highway directly to Cañon City. It was still a scenic ride and the shoulder was wide so there were no issues. I’m happy to save some miles where I can.

I made it to Cañon City before noon and decided to grab some breakfast food from the grocery store for tomorrow. I then found a decent spot to grab lunch and rest up before the tough 8 miles to the campsite I’m staying at tonight. I haven’t really done any climbing since Missouri, so it took me some time to get into a rhythm. All things considered, I actually did a decent job making it through. By the time I got to the campsite it was after 2:00 and the temperature had reached 95 degrees. I’m definitely going to have to get up earlier the next couple days, because climbing in the heat is not fun.

The campsite I’m staying at is 4 miles from the Royal Gorge Bridge. This bridge was at one point the highest in the world and remains the highest bridge in the United States. It looked like a bit of a tourist trap, but the views from the bridge looked great, so I decided to check it out.

Of course getting to the bridge required a 4 mile ride with almost 600 feet of elevation gain. It was probably the toughest riding of the day. I left all my gear at the campsite, so my bike was much lighter, but it was still hard making it up there.

Admission to the bridge included unlimited gondola rides across the gorge, a 20 minute movie, and access to walk across the bridge. The views were pretty incredible, but walking across the bridge actually made me nervous. It is a suspension bridge so it sways a lot in the wind and the wood planks to walk on bounce a bit as well.

After crossing back over the bridge, I grabbed dinner at the visitor center and then rode back down to the campsite. Coming back down required almost no pedaling which was great. Tomorrow I continue climbing and if all goes to plan I’ll be in Breckenridge by Sunday.