Greetings From Steamboat Springs

Yesterday we had no internet connection which will happen along the way since we're staying in many small towns. Last night we were in a small town called Walden which if you blinked you'd probably miss it. They do however have a very nice hotel called the Antler Hotel - nice rooms and good food.

After leaving Grand Lake yesterday morning we rode 72 miles to Walden. It was generally a pretty ride though lots of climbing but the last 23 miles had little to see, just a lot of wind coming at our face and a tough way to end the ride. This morning we left Walden thinking we were going to get into rain but it turned out to be a nice cool and dry day.

Today was 60 miles 2900 feet of elevation ending with a steep 7 mile drop into Steamboat Springs. The ride was gorgeous. Lots of wildlowers along the way. Steamboat is very pretty with lots of big mountain homes around. The day didn't get off to a very good start however, as Bob broke a spoke about 15 miles into into the ride. Fortunately Dick, the owner of the tour company, is a seasoned repair guy and fixed the spoke.....then as he was checking the spokes, another spoke broke so they had to take the cassette apart again and fix another. At that point I went on ahead. After fixing the second spoke Dick put Bob and his bike in the van until they caught up with me 8 miles later, Bob got out and we went on our merry way.

Tomorrow is a big day - 112 miles. That's when I use my IPod! Music will bring me in the last 20 miles, hopefully.

All in all we're still having a great time and the challenge of each day is exhilarating. Some pictures attached. One picture of Rabbit Ears Pass is from a distance and the other is at the summit-Continental Divide. The other pictures should be self explanatory from the titles.

Finally Checking in...

Sorry I haven't written sooner but had no time while at Martha and Jays or in Boulder before we began our trip. Then I tried to work on my blog and the hotel's server wouldn't allow a MAC on it for some reason. I could get connected but it wouldn't recognize the server (of course I heard all about how much better a PC is than a MAC from Bob but I ignored it since I love my MAC).

So, here's the scoop. We had a wonderful visit with Martha and Jay, Kristen & Robert and Canyon and Cole. Canyon and Cole couldn't be nicer kids.

We also got lucky and coincided with Kim's visit home. She's as sweet as ever. Martha and Jay's new home is absolutely gorgeous. It sits above the Broadmoor Hotel and has a 180 view of Colorado Springs from the entire back of the house. They also have a little lake/reservoir in their back yard. Their back yard is also the playground for a couple of local bears, tons of squirrels and numerous beautiful birds.

Deer come by often as well. All in all we had a great visit and probably in part because we didn't talk politics once. They didn't even say anything when Bob came up from downstairs the morning we were leaving wearing an Obama T-shirt.

From Colorado Springs we drove to Boulder on Wednesday and did a little riding around on their wonderful bike paths. We frequented 3 of their 15 (yes,, 15) bike shops and had a fabulous dinner at Frasca with Lucy and Beau.

Lucy looks great and definitely has a profile. They are such a cute couple and great fun to be with.

All of our group gathered Thursday night where we had dinner at a cool lodge tucked up in the mountains in Boulder. Friday morning we hit the road riding going from Boulder to Estes Park. It was a nice ride but not as pretty as today. Boulder to Estes Park was 53 miles with 5200 feet of elevation... a long slog. Saw fireworks over the lake in Estes Park along with the hundreds of other tourists who have gathered for the weekend. Lots of traffic and lots of people.

Today we hit the road following an early breakfast and rode 48 miles again with 5200 feet of elevation gain. We rode Trail Ridge Road which is the longest contiguous road in the country. Our summit was at 12, 183 feet. We lucked out with pretty good weather, wasn't too cold and no rain. Today's ride for me was 4 hrs and 50 minutes on the bike. Again, a long slog and that cold beer at the end of the ride sure tasted good. Our destination today was Grand Lake which has a grand lake and also filled with tons of cars and tourists. Tomorrow we should be leaving the busy and going into the small town of Walden which we actually stayed at last year on the Continental Divide trip. It will be a 73 miler but not as much elevation gain.

We have 22 folks riding though we'll lose around 3 of them at the 9 day mark. Our good friends and riding buddies Myron and John are with us. Myron is one leaving early but John will be riding he whole thing. Dick and Carol run a terrific program and we love them as much as anyone. They take turns riding and driving the shuttle and we all still marvel at what great riders they are. Dick is 69 and I think Carol is close. We have folks from all across the country and one from England. I think the average age is around 60. No younguns on this one but strong riders even if some are slower than others.

Since I've given up on my blog I've pasted the link for Tom Fortman's website which is far better than anything I can do. He's an excellent photographer and journalist on these trips and he loves doing it. You can see the profile of everyone on the ride, view lots of pictures and get a commentary from each days of riding.

Hope you all are well and I love you all. Periodically I'll send some of my pictures and of course check in along the way. (Just copy and paste in your browser the whole link below) I've also attached some pictures. The one looking across the mountain where you see the road winding around, is in fact what we rode today.