Today we once again got an early start – 6:40 AM. The temperature was expected to top 90 degrees (and it did by late afternoon) for the first time in a while and we want to be able to finish in the early afternoon before that happened. The first 26 miles were on Interstate 25. The shoulder on the interstate was approximately 12 feet wide and for the most part clear. There was very limited traffic on I25 – at least during the time we were on it.
Our revised schedule had today as an 82 mile ride, but since we still have a 160 mile day ahead of us on July 4th, we decided to get an additional 25 miles in. If the weather holds, and we can get a few extra miles in over the next 3 days, we should not ride over 120 miles on the 4th. The additional miles put in took us out of Wyoming and into the state of Nebraska.
The maximum elevation today was 5,356 feet with a total climb of 2,336. We ended the day at approximately 4,800 feet of elevation. Tomorrow we will have a 1,200 foot descent, with about 1,000 feet of this over a 5-6 mile distance less than 20 miles into the ride. My legs have steadily recovered over the last few days, ever since we put the big climbs behind us. Occasionally we hit a small climb that slows me down, but the recovery is quick and since I know there are no big climbs ahead, I can push through these for the most part.
The terrain for most of the day was better than yesterday. We were surrounded by grassland or hay fields – both which were green. Some areas had Pondera pines. Bob has picked up where Larry left off – the support has been great. We now have two full weeks of riding behind us – covering just over 1,400 miles. We hope to put in almost 700 miles over the next 6 days before we take a day off to rest - that is if the weather continues to cooperate. We seem to have hit a good pocket in the weather so far. According to a couple of the local residents, a few days ago, the temperatures were in the 90s with winds around 60 mph. And no – it would not have been a tail wind. I hope our luck continues to hold with the weather. The forecast for the next 6 days has the temperatures in the 80s with a chance of rain Wednesday through Friday.
