Day 24 Dinosaur to Craig 141.1km Uphill 4299ft Downhill 3873ft

Sleep, sleep, wonderful sleep. I woke up refreshed and ready to tackle the day. I had quickly wiped down my bike chain and oiled it last evening so I was ready to go. I should mention that some cyclists are struggling with colds, stomach aches and then there’s the problems of putting two squirts of disinfectant in the final rinse water instead of only one. One squirts does the job, two squirts guarantees that you’ll probably be running to the nearest facility to do the ‘job’. Yes, some cyclists are dealing with this problem. I’m happy to report that all systems are fine (as if you really wanted to know!).

On to the ride….John said, ‘okay we’re going to go slow today’, because he is feeling abit off. So much for slow….he did take it slow for the 1st km and then slowly he cranked it up. I will admit the pace was a tad slower than usual. Now I don’t care what anyone else writes in their blogs but today the ride was hard for me. I’ve talked to a number of cyclists as they've come in and some really enjoyed all the up and downs. I found them hard. You’d barely get to the top, and then I’d see the next roller in front of me. It was relentless. We started the day climbing. At miles 15 it was downhill for a short time and then we settled into the climb. Thank goodness for cloud cover. At one point we looked behind us and there was a partial rainbow and in front of us the sun was sending light rays thru the clouds. I felt a little like the Israelites did when a cloud led them by day and a pillar of fire at night. For me it was just a reassurance that God is always with us. I don’t think you can see the rainbow in my photo…just trust me on this one.

Looking behind

Looking to the right

After I took the photo Barb noticed she had a bulge in her back tire. John had just reassured her that she would make it to the next SAG when Betsy drove by. She seen us all gathered around a tire and suspected the worst so she stopped. Hooray for Betsy! She had another tube, both John and Gerry went about fixing it. Since you don’t need 6 people to do this job, several of us started up the climb. A pace line doesn’t work well on the climbs, because Barb and I are slower than the guys. I will give credit to the guys, they either wait at the top for us or they will ride beside us to help us up the climb. Andy stayed with me throughout the reminder of the day. We arrived in Maybell (it’s a very, very small town…a park, and variety store) shortly after 11 a.m. By this point we have covered roughly 94km and have another 50 to go. I purchased a coke for the sugar and then to make sure all my bases are covered, I added a choc bar to the order. Sugar high….give me energy please! What can I say about the rest of the day, it was tough but the company made it fly by.

Today we saw Round Top Mountain, Blue Mountain and in the back ground we could see Douglas Mountain. The Yampa River flows between the Blue Mountain and the Douglas Mountain. (Gerry has nicely gotten his map out to provide me with this info and now he is struggling to fold the map up again.). We traveled on hwy 40 for the entire day but the traffic was noticeably lighter. Nice wide shoulders as well.

Made it into camp around 2 pm. The highschool is located at the top of a hill (go figure). Set up my tent, showered and then Cory (bless his heart) drove several of us to the laundromat. We have peloton at 8pm and then we end the day with a mid week worship service.

Tomorrow we have Rabbit (Ear?) Pass to contend with. I think we’ll tackle the day much like the drive into Salt Lake City. Start off easy and reserve some fuel in the tank for the 12 mile climb.

Till tomorrow, take care, Cynthia
P.S. Teresa rode today and finished. I’m so happy for her.
P.S.S. Max speed 66.3km Average 23.5 Total trip 142km Actual Bike time 6:02:22