Day 43: Wednesday, May 17

First of all, I need to send a shout out to Mikael... Happy Birthday! It is very obvious that we are now in the plains as the roads here are all flat and mostly straight. A grain silo will appear on the horizon of the next town, but it is sometimes more than 20 miles away. And we can see that same silo for the next hour or more as we ride towards that town. It's just something different that we haven't experienced before.

We met a lady when we stopped to eat a snack in Arlington this morning. She was very helpful and gave us a map put together by city and county officials in eastern Colorado that listed the services available in the towns ahead. There has been a severe drought in this area of the country, and several of the cities are almost modern ghost towns. We crossed into Kansas in the late afternoon. Unfortunately, there wasn't a big "Welcome to Kansas" sign there to greet us. Tonight we are camped at the city park in Tribune. Today we set a new distance record of 114 miles.

Day 42: Tuesday, May 16

This morning we had a couple of small hills to climb over before we made it to Pueblo. Pueblo marks the completion of Section Six, and the approximate half-way point of the route! Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication between Shayne and I. Shayne was ahead of me, and I didn't realize that he rode through Pueblo without stopping. I backtracked to make sure that I hadn't missed him, but then he called my cell phone to let me know that he was already in the town of Boone. Throughout the day, we watched the mountains fade into the horizon and tonight I can't see them at all.








Today was another 106 mile day which puts us ahead of the schedule that I laid out this past weekend. Thankfully, my new gel seat is working very nicely! We set up camp at the city park in Sugar City. Now we are less than 100 miles from the Kansas border.

Day 41: Monday, May 15

The last ten miles from Breckenridge to Hoosier Pass were exhilarating! Of course, it probably had something to do with the thought of the downhill waiting on the other side. We made it to the top within an hour and a half.

We did have one more pass to cross, but that was basically a blip on the radar on the way down from Hoosier Pass. We smashed through the century mark for the first time riding over 106 miles today.

Tonight we are camped at the Pioneer Park in Florence. Two more 100 mile days, and we should be in Kansas.

Day 40: Sunday, May 14

Today is Mother's Day, so I called home this morning to home to wish Mom a Happy Mother's Day. When we started the trip, we were planning on averaging 70 miles a day from Oregon to the Rocky Mountains and then 100 miles a day from the Rockies on. I was hoping to finish by June 17. This morning, I looked at the rest of the maps and calculated riding 100 miles a day with one day off a week. If we are able to keep up that schedule, we would arrive in Williamsburg, Virginia by Saturday, June 10.

Shayne and I went through all of our stuff and by leaving our winter gear at Rasmussen's, we were both able to take off our front racks. Our bikes are a lot lighter now, but it is a little alarming to think about the possibility of running into more cold weather. I also switched my tires and put on my new seat. After Sunday morning meeting, Rex, his wife, and her sisters prepared a delicious Mother's Day Lunch for all of us. Then Rex drove us back to Breckenridge.

Given how much trouble we had trying to find a place to camp Friday night, and the fact that we no longer had our warm gear with us, we decided to stay at the Fireside Inn, a hostel in Breckenridge. Since Shayne had spent the night there before while hiking the Colorado Trail, the owners upgraded us to our own private room.

Day 39: Saturday, May 13

Today was a nice, leisurely day. We only had to ride 15 miles from Silverthorne to Breckenridge where Shayne's brother, Rex, was coming to pick us up this evening. There is a phenomenal bike trail connecting the two mountain resort towns that went around the Dillon Reservoir.

We had time to stop by the library in Frisco to check our e-mail. Rex picked us up just outside of Breckenridge. We gained another 850 feet or so today, and now we are only 10 miles and less than 2,000 feet in elevation from Hoosier Pass. On the drive to Rasmussen's, we were able to stop by an REI where I bought a new gel bike seat and a set of tires. Tonight, we had dinner at Rex's and played some cards.

Day 38: Friday, May 12

First thing in the morning, we crossed the Colorado River. It is weird to think that several hundred miles downstream, this same river carves through the Grand Canyon. We spent most of the day riding from Hot Sulphur Springs to Silverthorne. We gained close to 1,100 feet over 54 miles.









Along the way, we went around the beautiful Green Mountain Reservoir.









The gel pad that I bought in Oregon is not designed to handle this much use and it has been slowly deteriorating. I removed it this afternoon as it is actually doing more harm than good. I am hoping to stop by a bike store this weekend to pick up a new bike seat. Plus after 2,000 miles, I also need to replace my tires. We made it to Silverthorne by mid-afternoon where we met Doug. It was interesting trying to load both of our bikes and gear into the back of his truck with his hiking gear. With all of the melting snow, we had a difficult time trying to find a place to camp. The sun had completely set by the time we set up camp at the base of Copper Mountain.

Day 37: Thursday, May 11

My computer has a temperature feature on it, and when I woke up this morning it read 16 degrees inside my tent! That is the coldest it has been so far. Unfortunately, we weren't aware that there was a water outage scheduled in Walden this morning. Of course our water bottles had frozen over night. We rode the 21 or so miles to Rand, but everything in the town was still closed for the winter. We had no choice but to push on.

By late morning, we rode over the third highest pass on the trail, Willow Creek Pass (9,683 feet.) The next pass is Hoosier Pass, the highest point on the trip. Then it is all down hill to the Mississippi River (or so we hope!) The next town we came to was Hot Sulphur Springs, where we stopped for a well-deserved late lunch/early supper. As we were paying our bill, the server gave us a pass to get into the Hot Sulphur Springs Resort for free. We are really getting spoiled! This is the second day in a row that we have been able to soak in a hot spring. This resort is really nice. The water spills into 24 different pools built into the landscape.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the springs. I am certainly going to get a good night's sleep tonight! We set up camp in the city park that is across the street from the Resort. The plan is to ride the 56 miles up to Silverthorne tomorrow where we will meet Doug, Shayne's friend, who is planning on hiking in the area over the weekend. Then Saturday will be a leisurely day as we ride the 15 miles from Silverthorne to Breckenridge where we will meet Shayne's brother, Rex, who will take us back to their parents' place for Sunday. As I lay in my tent tonight, I am reflecting back on the seven days we spent riding through Wyoming. While it is hard to put into words, I would have to say that Wyoming's "theme" is the state that could have been a lot worse. Beginning with Yellowstone and the possibility of having to ride around the park to my stomach virus and the possibility of having to stop to the potential for 50 plus mph winds that either never materialized or seemed to always be at our backs.