Velowander

Day 43: Arrival in Ordway, CO (Ordway to Pueblo, CO 53 miles)

(photo to upload later: Dave snoozes against his 'bent at the intersection of highways 96 & 50, while waiting for Maggie)

We had a breeze on our tails for some of the day. When you've been riding a while on a given day, it is often hard to tell if you have a tailwind unless you stop, whereas you are always conscious of a headwind. Those headwinds, grinding along in granny gear with a noise in your ears so loud that you can't hear 18 wheelers until they are right on top of you... but I shouldn't complain. In eastern Kansas we had some tough headwinds, and we've had many sidewinds but over the past few days we've been blessed with a fair number of at least modest tailwinds.

While stopped at a convenience store on highway 96 for our usual Gatorade (this time Mango Electrico which was tasty) a trucker chatted with Mag & me. He said he had passed us each day for the last 2 days, and remarked that it was strange that I ride so far ahead of Maggie (he said I pulled into the convenience station at Haswell, CO where we met Bill the cyclist while Maggie was about 1/2 mile behind). Actually, I think the arrangement works out well so that I can ride at my comfortable speed, which is usually but not always, a bit faster than Maggie (we typically ride at pretty similar speeds at medium or steep grades) and we are so far we have been able to stay in touch by mobile in case Maggie wants to stop or has a problem.

While riding on highway 50, we saw tons of gopher or prairie dogs running into their holes at our approach. They were really cute. They run until they are next to their hole where they figure they can dive in if you try anything. I'm guessing we saw 30 or more of them.

As a result of Maggie's super pasta dinner last night I had good energy in the early part of the day but was bonking by noontime. I think if I keep eating carb heavy meals at dinner I should have my energy back and get out of the calorie deficit, which I surely must do before we hit the rockies. I'll give Maggie veto power over my eating so I can make sure I eat enough carbs. But I tell you, sometimes it is hard to get enough energy at restaurants that serve big steaks (I'm not a vegetarian but I don't eat a lot of red meat especially).

Today is August 19th and Dr. Ed doesn't fly into Colorado Springs, CO until Aug 23rd, so we have a few days to do things in the local area. We plan to go to Canon City, CO which is less than one day's ride away (pronounced "canyon"; the first n is the Spanish "enye" - anybody know the ALT key sequence for that letter? anyway). There is this crazy suspension bridge spanning a huge canyon (http://www.royalgorgebridge.com), and there is a train and helicopter tour - the heli dives down through the canyon which is supposed to be very scary. Plus we will go to Colorado Spring's Garden of the Gods (http://www.gardenofgods.com) and the 14,000 foot Pikes Peak (http://www.pikes-peak.com) which I would like to consider hiking but there is also a special cog train that could take us up.

Pueblo itself wasn't super welcoming, a bit ghetto to use Maggie's parlance. In a city of 100,000 I thought it unlikely that we would find a host family or church accomodation so we checked into the Traveller's Motel (1012 N Santa Fe Ave Pueblo, CO 81003 719-543-5451) at a cost of $34, including tax for 2 people. They were out of non-smoking rooms so we took a smoking room, it is a bit gross and the room is the most downscale yet but we'll get by. I guess $34 only buys so much in this town.

We're at the Pueblo Public library (100 E Abriendo Ave Pueblo, CO 81004 719-562-5600). It is a huge, modern, well lit facility with lots of glass. It is the best library we've seen on our journey thus far at least outside New York City. I'm waiting for Maggie who is working on her blog (I've been working on mine too but mine is more brief so doesn't take me as long). I tried to call up wikipedia but the library's content filter blocked it saying it is "pornography/adult content". I'm glad the library board is protecting us from the largest encyclopedia on the planet.

Labels: Bike Touring

posted by David @ 3:00 PM