resting. The build site on Thursday was on a hill that had an amazing
view of Pike's Peak, and the weather was extremely pleasant, so we all
had a great day. I unfortunately discovered at lunch that my sunscreen
had exploded all over my cell phone and wallet, but I decided that
this was in fact quite fortunate, since it gave a nice luster to my
wallet and no doubt improved the battery life of my phone thanks to
all those metals. We spent the off day pretty much doing nothing, but
we did get a chance to watch the fireworks from atop a hill that
overlooked the city with Pike's Peak towering above, so that was a
definitely memorable experience.
On Saturday, we left Colorado Springs and headed towards the mountains
with Buena Vista as our destination. Before leaving the city, we
stopped at Garden of the Gods, an absolutely beautiful series of rock
formations that rise up from the ground at the base of the mountains.
Needless to say, it was awesome. From there, we started up the
Rockies. Surprisingly, the ascents weren't anywhere near as
challenging as those of the Appalachians. Apparently, the road
engineers in Colorado had this thing called "planning," where they
decided that it would be a good idea to build a road with a gradual
slope that went through "passes," instead of just laying pavement up
the side of a mountain. In any case, we made our way up the roqd,
pausing every now and then for photos or for a quick trip to the
McDonalds playplace for some fun. We reached our highest elevation for
the day around mile 60 and then descended a bit into this huge field,
which was so strange to see at 9000 feet, but also breathtaking. We
then encountered some rough headwind which is so much worse than any
mountain, before heading down into Buena Vista. Michelle had the
brilliant idea to stop for hot chocolate at the bottom of the
mountain, and it was probably one of my favorite stops for food yet. I
never though that I would want hot chocolate to warm me up on the
fifth of July, but nothing could have been more perfect. The host site
was the Church of Christ in Buena Vista, who were so excited to have
us and gave us an amazing lasagna dinner.
The next morning, the church got us invites to the local Optimist Club
pancake breakfast, and we stared out our morning enjoying delicious
pancakes and syrup before heqding out to hit our highest elevation of
the trip. The first twenty miles were pretty enjoyable and passed
wothout much effort, except for one small hill where Dan, Claire, and
I realized that singing while climbing at 8000 feet may or may not
cause you to black out, but you have to finish the line. The climb to
the top of Monarch Pass started around mile 25 and was quite deceiving
for the next 10 or so miles because it looked as if you were going
downhill when in fact you were going up at a rather steep grade, so
you just felt like you were trying hard without much reward.
Forunately, this deception could be easily conquered by turning around
and seeing the road below you. The top seemed like it would never
come, but we finally made it and rejoiced in reaching an elevation of
11,312 feet. Sadly, we rejoiced for a bit too long, and a storm rolled
in, which made for a freezing cold downhill run. We stopped at the
bottom and essentially took over a gas station for the next half-hour,
purchasing every hot chocolate and apple cider packet we could find,
standing by the exhaust of the ice machine for warmth, and throwing
our jackets in the dryer in back. The storm soon cleared up and was
replaced with a quite pleasant tailwind that carried us all the way to
Gunnison, with only a stop to repair two flat tires. Riding my bicycle
truly becomes more pleasant every day. Even when I'm miserable, I love
it.
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