Day 34 : A Doggie Kind of a Day...

From Ordway, CO to Pueblo, CO - 57.9 miles

Story [in numbers]:

Time on bike: 5:10:14
Average speed: 11.2 mph
Max Speed: 23.5 mph


Story [in words]:

we had a record start time this morning. the guys that we were hanging out with at gillian's were interested in getting up early and trying to beat the heat and winds of kansas...and we thought getting an early start sounded like a good plan as well. so, the alarm went off at 4am and we were loaded and on the bikes riding by 5:15. it was really beautiful because as we started cycling the sun was just coming up behind us (don't worry, there was enough light to be safe).

we cycled about 18 miles to the town of fowler, co where we found a little diner called phat willie's. as we pulled up, there was a beautiful husky puppy on a leash outside of the restaurant...it was a sweet lovable thing for sure.

we both ordered cheese omelets, hashbrowns and toast. i was proud of myself because i discovered that we could get two eggs, hashbrowns and toast for $4.99...or we could get a cheese omelet (made with 3 eggs), hashbrowns and toast also for $4.99. so we each got a "free" egg and some "free" cheese. really, i'm just a math nerd...but whatever, i enjoy it!

we finished our food and headed out to get back on the road. the best part was that we had ridden 18 miles and had breakfast and it was only 7:30. we got all ready to go, however, as i began to wheel my bike away from the building, i discovered that i had a flat tire. so, we put the bike back and took off our helmets to begin changing the tire. as i started to change the tire, we noticed a dog walking over from the house next door. it walked right up to cailyn and just wanted her to love all over her. this dog was something else...it was super round, and i am pretty sure that it's belly dragged on the ground. after a few minutes of petting the dog, we heard a voice from the house next door saying, "waddles"...and we just laughed, because there was absolutely no better name for this dog...because that is exactly what happened any time it walked.

we got things all changed and got back on the road without too much of a delay. the rest of our cycling today was fairly enjoyable...basically flat, and not much wind at all. and as we went, the mountains just kept getting slightly closer and slightly bigger. we even got close enough to be able to see one snow-capped peak. (it is pretty crazy to think that on july 5th we will likely be able to touch snow...just crazy) as we approached pueblo, cailyn finally got to see something that she has been wanting to see for a number of days. off to the right side of the road, there were many little mounds of dirt...and then we saw them...little animals, prairie dogs, scurrying for their holes as we came up to them. i am pretty sure that if it was up to cailyn, we would be going home with one as a pet. i do have to admit, they were pretty cute...especially the little ones!

we cycled into pueblo (which is a pretty large city) and headed right for the great divide bike shop (it sits right on the route), where we dropped our bikes off to get a few things tuned up. we then headed 4 blocks down the street to a motel that an eastbound cyclist that we were with last night told us about. we were able to get a really pretty nice room for $50. we cleaned up, and headed out to find a coffee shop that another one of the cyclists told us about. now we are sitting outside the coffee shop just relaxing, enjoying a half-day off of sorts.

before long, we will go back and pick up the bikes and head back to the motel to just relax and get ready to head up into the mountains tomorrow!

as another sidenote: for those of you who have been to el paso, tx...pueblo really reminds me of el paso. with the mountains in the distance, and just the general feel of the town.



a couple of hours after writing what is above...

we have now gone back and picked up our bikes from the great divide bike shop...and man are the amazing. we had heard absolutely great things about them, but they were even better than advertised! it turns out that cailyn right clipless pedal was about to break off of the bike. they seemed to think that she was incredibly lucky that it had not already slipped off of the bike.

basically, the only option was new pedals. to get new pedals like the ones that she had was going to cost us $110...which was, needless to say, not in our budget. i began to ask them if there was any cheaper option that we could put on there. at first it didn't sound promising...but then, before long, they had dug some pedals up that they "just had laying around" from something else...and they said they would just give them to us and all we would have to do was to buy the clips for them. so, all in all, we ended up with new pedals and clips for cailyn and it only cost us $27...it was pretty amazing to say the least!

there is just something about the cycling community that is really unlike any other that i have been a part of. i am still figuring it all out...but i know this for sure...it is pretty awesome!