Day 14 - HALF WAY?

Early wake up in my private bathroom. Apparently other people wanted to use it too. First breakfast would have to be sugar.

Biked back into Frisco looking for the bike trail up to Breckenridge to find Mark also searching for the route out. After a few more wrong turns, we were finally on our way after asking a local for directions. Not very many people awake at these hours on a Sunday.

TWO WEEKS

Yup, two weeks on the road today. Was I half way? Nope. I was barely 1890 miles into the 4300 mile race. Yikes, I'm going to be biking into July if I don't get some big miles in soon.

Stopped at Breckenridge for real breakfast at a nice coffee house and as I typically do, I brought my water bottles in with me for filling. On the ride into town Mark and I got split-up and I wouldn't see him again for another day or two, but we were never far apart. While eating my egg breakfast, I realized that my water bottles had not been washed out for two weeks. That's got to be a new record, even for me. I asked the friendly server to please wash them for me. Finished a rather long breakfast break eating at 9500'. Highest breakfast ever for me. But, I still needed to get higher to get over Hoosier Pass.

HOOSIER PASS and YET ANOTHER CONTINENTAL DIVIDE

Ok, I know that on yesterday's ride, I thought that the all the Continental Divides where done -- I lied. Hoosier Pass was to be the last Continental Divide. This pass was the highest of the race at 11,542. So I guess its all downhill from here. And a fast downhill it would be -- never have I gone so far so fast.

After a quick 30 miles I had to stop at Hartsel for water and some cool air. The air was super hot and super dry. Remember the Adiabatic effect? My lower lip had already split open and my earlobes got a hard crust on them. This condition would last well into several weeks after the race is done. At Hartsel, I met a rider that was recovering a package at the little post office there. My package with the six race maps was waiting a further 50 miles downhill at Canon City. I was on map six now and it was very important that I get the next set of six before the post office closes.

This ride would be even a steeper down hill and the bike just wanted to fly. My hands were pressing on the brakes the whole way. So glad I had disc brakes. With this heat, I could see how a tire would blowup as regular break pads cooked up the rim. Breaks were very important on this decent as the road did not provide a way out if they failed.

Before reaching Canon City at about 10 miles out I had to get out of the heat. Found a campground that sold ice-cream and I spotted a garden hose under a tree. That's where I would hang out for half an hour dousing myself over the head and trying to cool down. Slightly refreshed I found the post office in Canon City and retrieved my package. Then I used the same box to send about five pounds of unnecessary gear back to PA. Some clothing, one of the two battery packs and the GPS was shipped home.

There was a further 45 miles to the rather large city of Pueblo and this would be my goal for the day. A city this size will have a pharmacy. My cold was demanding some drugs. The ride would seem to take a long time because, once again, you could see the next town many many miles downrange. During this section of road also I would find these fancy green houses along the otherwise barren road. All virtually the same with tall protective fences around each one and plenty of lights. They must be cannabis grow ops for sure.

On the outskirts of Pueblo, as it got dark, every time the ride would take a dip over a stream bed, my face would get pelted with a million bugs. My helmet was full of bugs as I would duck through the buzzing cloud. This would happen for many nights from here forward.

Finally in Pueblo I would find all the stores I needed. My wife had text me the list of medications I should take. It had been many days since I rode in a town this size and it felt weird. Trying to find inexpensive accommodations was not easy, unless I wanted to head out of town in the wrong direction. Found John peddling around looking for a place to sleep. How did I get ahead of John? Well, he had bike trouble and luckily the owner of the bike shop was able to fix his with some used parts. That was not going to be the case if I had bike trouble as I had mentioned in a previous post.

While I searched for a place to camp in the city, I quickly realized that outdoor sleeping would not be safe. Lots of homeless people out and about hollering at each other. A hotel would need to be had and I paid top dollar for a fancy room that was more expensive than I cared for. And it was the worst service ever. When I was all washed up and clothes drying all over the room, I notice on the dot tracker that Mark was across the street at another equally expensive hotel and John was somewhere under an overpass.

This had been a hard day due to the heat. Water and heat mitigation was going to become an important aspect to pay close attention to. My ginger bottoms were in as much pain as always, but at least it wasn't getting worse, as if that was possible. My cold was progressing in the wrong direction. I had crossed the 2000 mile mark, totalling 163 miles. Now the race was getting on the flats -- I was faster on the flats.