I hit the road about 7:30 after a good breakfast. Lots of boiled eggs, and oatmeal. Oh, and some french toast.
There was a nice hispanic gentleman in the parking lot, that came over and offered to take my picture, when he saw that I had a camera. Very nice of him.
The weather was sunny, clear, and calm this morning, with the temperature being about 45 degrees. The rather straight road, with compartively featureless terrain was a nice change from all the extreme beauty I've been suffering from the past week or so :). Rather like cleansing your pallette before the next course. About lunchtime, I passed through Craig, and managed to miss the turn. Somehow the highway labled "40" sounded like an interstate. Yeah, I wished. I still had another hundred miles to go before getting to I-70. It only took me about 10 minutes to realize I didn't seem to be on a business route going back to the interstate.
South of Craig, the terrain grew increasingly more interesting, winding gently through some valleys with a bit more vegetation than the morning's ride. I hit a tiny sprinkle just as I reached the city of Rifle, but just enough to put spots in the dust. (This is irony. The bike is currently so caked in rain/dust/must at this point, you couldn't tell.)
As the afternoon wore on, I soon had to ditch the outer exo-portion of my jacket, and somewhat later the adventure pants. I had been holding out removing these, since it's a minor pain, and rain seemed to be on the horizon. About the time it hit 85 degrees or so, enough was enough, though.
I arrived in Glenwood at about 3:30PM
facts:
starting temperature 45 degrees
ending temperature 90 degrees
rain: only a tiny amount
Distance: 400, including minor detour (wrong turn) in Craig, CO.
~r
Addendum: The trafic/pedestrian situation is about 5 times worse than Banff, which was scary for us riding motorcycles in town. People here are driving much faster through town (30-40 mph, perhaps)... crazy. I'm thinking about just making it a one night stay here, and pressing on to Cortez.
I just re-checked my front tread, and have a full 1 mm before getting to the wear bar, so should be good for another 3 thousand miles, let alone the 900 or so I have left.
PPS: This is the "original Plan A" for tomorrow: Click here.
Seems a bit long, and am thinking about shortcutting some. May go through Delta, instead of Sapinero, and Durango, rather than going by Telluride.
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