Happy Birthday America

As someone who has spent a good portion of my teenage years idealizing Colorado, I have been pleased that my very high expectations have been met. The Rocky Mountains have been spectacular. We have had very long days. Many of which consist of over 6 hours in the saddle and up to 10 hours on the road. However, I have been pleasantly surprised to notice that I have been getting used to these long days. The climbs in the Rockies were very tough, but really rewarding. We reached our highest peak at Monarch Pass, 11,312 feet above seal level. Only a few days later, on our ride into Durango, we climbed three passes, each one over 10,500. This is dramatically different than what the 500 miles of training I did.

We have had two days off in the last 6 days. Our day off in Gunnison was spent white water rafting on the Taylor River. It is amazing how a group of young, adventurous people can ruin a perfectly good rest day by battling rocks, water,and the cold for two hours. Today's day off was spent in a much more relaxing manor. Durango seems to be a very quaint mountain town. Everyone seems to be very outdoor oriented and active. Plus this is an extremely cycling friendly town.

On our ride into Durango we had, arguable, the most scenic ride of our trip. Leaving Ridgway for Durango we rode on the Million Dollar Highway. Immediately out of the church we started to climb and continued for the next 25 miles. The climb seemed to be never ending and it is amazing how cold the mountains can be in July. After a morning spent freezing and cursing myself for not buying full fingered gloves, we finally rode into the sun and I began to defrost. The views from the switchbacks and the small mountains towns that we rode through made the day incredible. The 30 mile descent that we were promised from past riders was corrupted by a strong headwind for the last third of the day. However, the headwind was not enough to put a damper on one of the best ride days of the trip.