There are very few easy days on tbis ride and today was going to be no exception. We are ascending from 6000' up to 9933' over a distance of 66 miles and most of it will be uphill. For a change the elements have been kind to us, moderate temperature, blue skies, and best of all a tailwind for most of the steeper first half of the ascent. Once we had hauled ourselves up onto the plateau at 9000' the riding was exhilerating with panoramic vistas all round. Sweeping plains, hanging valleys and snow capped peaks . I am on the set of 'High Plains Drifter'. Clint must have rode in tbese parts.
Of course the fun couldn't last and the wind kicked in to try and spoil our fun. But today we were the masters and we kicked it's ass. (see picture of Greg and Don below ) At 9.8 miles we lost Ellen tthe unstoppable hill climbing machine so she's either laying in a ditch somewhere or having a hot bubble bath at the hotel.
After a day without any services we were deliriously happy to find a newly opened cafe at the 50 mile point not mentioned in our q sheets. After spendiing far too much time eating and drinking when we should have been riding we finally hit the road and within a few hundred yards Greg and Don decided they could ride no more and hitched a lift. Of course I cannot do such things so I was left to slug out the last 20 miles. The increasingly strong headwind meant that I finally arrived in Fairplay at the rather unrespectable time of 7 35 PM.
It was a tough day.
Miles Today 70
Total 2539
