Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Day 17

8/24/11  A day of riding mountain roads in Colorado.  We got up, packed our mess, and jumped on the bikes.  The weather was nice and cool when we took off, and it never got hot all day!  I think it was our first all-comfortable day of the trip.  In the afternoon, thunderstorms popped up, and we actually had some pretty cool temperatures.  At one pass, it was 52 degrees!

Basically, the day was spent riding various roads to cross the mountains in high places.  I believe we did 4 passes; none as spectacular as yesterday's.  I was a bit disappointed that the others did not match up with the first one.

Professional bicycle races were being held in the area, so we had to be sure to not be where one of the races was taking place.  We got lucky to arrive in one town just minutes before the bicycles arrived.  If we had been later, there would have been a 3 hour delay since they close the roads when the bikes are in the area.

The highlight of the day was riding to a friend's home south of Denver.  He and I did a ride together a couple of years ago on the coast of North Carolina.  I've kept up with him with emails and phone calls, so when he knew we may be in the area, he invited us to come and stay with him.  So, we did!  He's coming back to North Carolina in September for a ride on Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway in late September with some other people.  I'm joining him and his friends on that ride.

We talked bikes and rides, and I really enjoyed the evening.  He invited a couple of friends who will be coming to NC over, and we talked about the ride over steaks and beer.  It was a good night.

Tomorrow, we leave Denver and head east on I-70 for about 500 miles or so.  It will be boring, but we'll make some distance.

No pictures tonight again; it's getting late.  I'll try to do some tomorrow.

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