Thursday, July 10, 2008

Day 30, Definately not in Kansas anymore!

Day 30, Pueblo, CO – Guffey, CO 72 miles (2157 total)

Time on bike: 6:31:23

Avg: 11.1

Daily Ascent: 5374 ft (75 ft/mi)

Max: 42 mph

Not in Kansas any more! The hills have begun! Though they’re not as steep as they were in Virginia.

We got off to a bit of a late start this morning. Mark and I headed to Canon (pronounced Canyon) City on a relatively flat road. It’s so arid and desert like here and I really wasn’t ready for Colorado to be like that. We had a very wide shoulder to ride on which was good because traffic was buzzing by. We stopped off in Canon City at the Waffle Wagon for lunch. Pat was supposed to meet us half way or along the way but we never saw him. We figured he was updating his blog or sleeping in. We progressed on to Royal Gorge which is a foot bridge which spans over a 1,000 foot gorge. When we went to buy a ticket we were a little sticker shocked to see that it cost $23 to get in… So… we turned around and headed back to our trail. No way were we paying $23 to walk across a bridge.

The mountains started right up. Mark and I climbed as Pat drove Mark’s car to where we would spend the night. Pat parked and cycled back to meet us and bike along with us. You could see the snow covered mountains off in the distance as we cycled along. There were times when we were slowed to 4 mph, but it really wasn’t all that bad. We finally made it into Guffey which is a small town of a hundred people or so. As we talked to the locals we found out that they have an interesting 4th of July celebration that goes on here. They do something called the Chicken Poop where they take a checker board and put a coin to mark where they think a chicken will poop on the checker board and if they’re right they win. They also have a “Mailbox Chicken” contest where the put a chicken in a velvet covered mailbox and a grade school kid takes a plunger and pushes the chicken out of one end of the mailbox (it’s open on both ends) and whichever chicken/kid combo goes the farthest, wins. This is real American entertainment at it’s best, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you! Ah, the tales from the road!

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