DAY 20: JUNE 20: SALIDA (CO) TO PUEBLO (CO)

Time Zone : Mountain (GMT -7)
Todays Distance: 102 miles
Cycling time: 8hrs 17 mins
Average Speed: 11.9 mph

Today’s cumulative ascent: 3435 ft

Average Heart rate: 99 bpm

Distance so far: 1451 miles
Ascent so far: 58,268 ft.
Centuries so far: 3
Punctures so far: 2

Today’s Profile:
Today’s Route:

Dedication: Today is for all those children in Providence including Skhembor and Khrawbok who keep me going even when the going gets tough. If you can do it……then I can do it.

With certain relief that Monarch Pass was behind us I expected that to-day should be easier. The profile looked favourable and we all assumed (see Heard Today below) that the cycling would be a doddle. Dangerous to assume anything. But it was a game of two halves.

An early departure was called for as there were thunder storms predicted for the Pueblo for the late afternoon and it would be advisable to be in prior to those breaking. My alarm was off at 4.45 am with loading at 5.30, and departure shortly after 6. I reckoned that we’d see Pueblo by noon. It was colder than usual, especially when we cycled into the shadow of the mountains ….a difference of 5 degrees between shade and sunlight. We knew that it would warm up as the morning wore on and that heat could be an issue before the end of day.
I wore my Xilinx shirt today (see Thursday May 29) as I was passing through Colorado. A few looked at me twice at breakfast not recognising me without the Providence shirt. But they did admire it, it being a unique issue.
The early hours of today’s cycle saw us cycling along Highway 50 accompanying the Arkansas River as it raced downwards towards the Mississipi over 1200 miles away. As we cycled along the headwaters of this main tributary of the Mississippi-Missouri system it was a torrent as a result of the melting snows.
Every few miles there were slipways and advertisements for white-water rafting but we were iut a bit early to see the action. As we approached the first SAG stop the busses were bringing rafts and rafters well upstream for an adrenaline-filled day. Here as a mountain torrent it drops 4000 feet in 100 miles
The water in the Arkansas seemed to be cascading as fast as we were moving. If I had thrown in a 7-Up bottle as we left I feel it would have been in Pueblo as fast as us. (as things panned out, it would have been in the Mississippi itself !)

Cycling through the Arkansas canyon was beautiful –every turn and bend brought a new postcard. My head was continuously turning from the river to the rock formations above and the smaller canyons.
We moved along at an effortless 18mph turning the big ring always descending and the day slowly warming up. Pure heaven. Our group of 4 (later to expand to 5) was an international one – Trinidad, Australia, Netherlands and Ireland (the later extra from New Zealand).
An odd stop was made for photos but I regularly snapped from the saddle. I have taken an average of 100 photos per day so far. I could possibly lose a lot of friends when I return home should I ever mention to them in a dull moment in conversation ‘Did I ever show you my holiday snaps?’
First SAG was at mile 37 in a lay-by on the bank of the river. Everything had been in our favour. This was the first half –playing with the wind and the hill. By this stage sunscreen needed to topped up and bottles refilled.
A suggestion had been made at Route Rap yesterday evening that a bit of an optional detour (an extra 8 miles and a bit of a short sharp climb) would bring us to the Royal Gorge (not the Royal George). I was all in favour of doing it; others were easy about it so we went. The reasoning was that this was a downhill day and a Rest Day tomorrow and we could make another century out of the day’s 95 miles. As it turned out the short sharp climb was a taxing one. By the end of the day we may have regretted doing the extra but the Gorge was spectacular. Possibly we just spent too much time there.
The Royal Gorge on the Arkansas River has the highest suspension bridge in the world –1053 feet above the surface. I noted an unnecessary notice as I cycled over ‘No fishing from the bridge’! The bridge itself is surrounded by a veritable theme-park with animal reserve, cable-car, funicular to the bottom etc.
I got to close quarters with buffalo at last – lovely cute animals !!
Today a rally of Prowler cars centered on the bridge – 60 on all from all over the world. All had personalised plates and one with the registration RTE 66 – could it have been Gay or Pat ?
Cycling over the bridge (880 feet and 18 feet wide) I could sense a little swaying but it was something else to look down to the river. ‘That’s 1053 feet – and we have climbed 50 of those since we started ! And we’ll do another 50 before we finish ! Unbelievable.
Spent too much time there looking and having ice-cream and to cap it all I had a flat when it was time to move on – front wheel again. But every cloud has a silver lining, they say. It happened outside a restaurant in the shade and beside a park bench. Couldn’t have happened in a better place. Didn’t take long to replace the tube. Speaking of clouds. Just then large drops began to fall. Prowlers began to cover up and we surmised that these thunderstorms were arriving a bit early. Fortunately, it all passed off without the ground getting seriously wet. It had been a worthwhile detour.
3 more miles brought us back on the days route and we looked forward to continue our course down by the Arkansas as far as Pueblo in no time at all.
Stopped off in Cañon City for a bite of lunch. Resuming the journey and all started to change. Still had 40 miles to cover. Outside Cañon we were into rolling hills – no problem in that– but then the headwind started to strengthen and strengthen. We had to pedal hard to maintain 10 mph on the downslope even and dig deep on the rise. The miles moved very slowly on the cyclocomputers. And still over 30 miles to go.
The crests of hills just kept coming at us. Never-ending. It took effort to just remain positive. Jeff who was visibly finding it hardest was the one to keep spirits up with constant good humour in the face of adversity.
Second SAG at 70 miles and the wind was still as strong as ever. No easing but it did switch into a vicious sidewind coming in from the left.
The heavy storm-clouds were off to our right so we had missed that. This was the first less-than; friendly cloudscape we had seen since leaving San Francisco three weeks ago. Those who were in the motel earlier had escaped the worst of this wind.
Eventually the beginning of the Pueblo sprawl appeared and spirits lifted. We knew that we were almost there even though we had more than likely missed Route Rap for Monday. Route Rap at the end of a section (today is the end of the Rockies Tour) is special as we bid farewell to those who are about to leave us. Sorry to have missed that.
Our motel, Days Inn, finally appeared at 6.15. We had been on the road for 12 hours with just over 8 hours cycling. But we had prevailed. High fives all round. A phone call to Margaret and a shower worked wonders (remember www) and by 7.00 it was off down to the Golden Corral for dinner. Had a steak from the buffet and it was delicious. Felt that I had earned it.
It certainly was a tough day but then the heart-rate was under 100 principally on account of the easy first half. The upcoming Rest Day was something to look forward to. Hard going; long hours; plenty of pedalling but for you kids in Providence if it all means that we raise funds for your school, it is all well worthwhile. Hang in there, man.
Thank God for the health and thank God for the energy.

Heard today: “Never just assume; it often makes an ASS out of U and ME”.