Day 13 (6/4/09)

True to form, today was an easy day. "Easy" and "flat" have become relative terms; we knocked off 81.7 miles on "flat" terrain, staying generally at the 7,000' elevation; with only 5,124' of total climbing. In my prior life, those numbers would have been great numbers for a weekend of riding. We left Blanding, Ut. at the late hour of 9:00 a.m. M.T. and unceremoniously crossed into Colorado about 35 miles into the ride and completing about 1/3 of the journey across the U.S. After the spectacular scenery of the past three days, today's ride was rather boring. The sky was overcast and the terrain was nondescript (except for the Rockies looming on the horizon). Now that we were off the "Scenic Byways" of Utah, the volume of traffic, especially trucks, increased, making the ride stressful and noisy. Even the winds were mediocre, not a headwind, not a tailwind, just straight across the starboard beam. Tonight we are resting in Dolores, Co. Later tonight we will gather at a highly recommended Brew Pub to plan tomorrow's attack on Lizard Head Pass at 10,222'; our second highest summit. The same gentleman that recommended the Brew Pub, said the wind generally blows up the mountain, but the weather changes rapidly. This time we will have our support team on a short leash and our winter gear prepositioned for rapid donning. Tomorrow's destination is Montrose, Co., 121 miles away. The support team is eagerly anticipating a Friday night in a different state and anxious to see what kind of women come out of the mountains for lady's night in Montrose.
No slide show of pictures from today; hopefully, Friday's attack on the western Rockies will be picturesque.