Click below for today's route and ride stats:
I'll Get by With a Little Help From My Friends
Today we moved across eastern Colorado and into Kansas. The high winds we were experiencing the previous day in the mountains and in Trinidad were expected to hit us again as we entered the plains. Today's 193 mile ride from Trinidad to Ulysses KS brought us very gently down in altitude from about 6,000 to 3,000 feet.
Because of the long day ahead and the fact that we were on the eastern edge of the mountain time zone, we rolled out at 5:30 am. The start of the ride was at a very brisk pace as winds were expected to be unfavorable and the general attitude seemed to be to get as many miles banked before the winds grew throughout the day.
I don't know why, but you can never believe the forecast for winds in these areas of the country. What we anticipated to be a southwest morning breeze, building to a high southerly wind by noon, turned out to be a morning wind from the northeast, changing to due east, then to south east. Since our route basically went due east, we were fighting head winds and cross winds the whole day. This was definitely a good day to hang in groups to share the workload of pushing the bikes forward against the wind,.
We flew out of Trinidad way too fast. I would guess our lead group was about 10, and after the first 10 miles or so, a rider would drop off due to the brisk pace. By mile 27, there were just three other guys and myself. One of them was a RAAM guy who was an incredibly strong athlete. At this point I felt myself starting to cook with still a very long day ahead so I laned over to one of my riding partners from the last several days (Randy), and told him I was going to jump off. He had the same idea as myself, so we thanked the other two and watched them fade away on the horizon.
Randy and I rode together for about the next 40 miles to the second SAG stop taking turns in the wind. We hooked up with another couple of riders to help each other to the lunch stop at mile 107. We had lunch in Pritchett, Colorado, a real tiny farming town, where we met Wyatt, an 7 year old boy (he reminded us that he will be 8 on September 14th) who was demonstrating the tricks he could do on his bicycle. Wyatt rode with us out of Pritchett as we finished our lunch. What a cool kid.
The scenery changed dramatically as we left the mountians behind and hit the plains of eastern Colorado and Kansas. Flat and green as far as the eye could see.
By mid afternoon the winds were shifting predominantly to the southeast and were building. By the time we reached Ulysses, they were probably at a steady 25+ mph. We were all elated to be done with this long and tiring day, again best shared in the company of others.
Here are a few pics I shot today:
Pre-dawn breakfast. Brad is bagel man today.
Rode with Randy the whole day. Great guy.
Randy and I swaping turns most of the morning.
Kim, Colorado. For sale. Has central air.
Flat and green as far as the eye can see.
Wyatt showing us his stuff in Pritchett, CO
Working in an echelon to duck the wind.
4 Down, 7 to go!
Daily bike wash ritual
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