July 19, 2013
Villa Grove - Salida, CO: A quick zip over the pass, done by 9 AM!
I didn't sleep well last night in our lux B & B room. It was a tad hot and I kept waking up to look out the window to see how the weather looked. As if I could see in the pitch black! It was good for riding that the wind had died down, but bad for sleeping as there was no air movement.
Finally I heard someone else stirring about 4:30, so I got up. Oren and I agreed that it looked like a fine morning to ride. The storm had blown through. We had originally planned to eat at the cafe, but they didn't open until 8 AM and the forecast was for another storm by 10 AM.
We dug through our bags to see what there was to eat. I had oatmeal and pecans. No craisins or milk. Darn. Bill kindly put all of his food on the table to share. I noted he was the only one to share his food. Oren had some of Bill's instant oatmeal. Bill ate cold canned Chef Boy-ar-dee and salmon right from the package. His taste buds are tougher than mine! Jacinto had a burrito he'd been carrying for three days. It had been refrigerated occasionally. The rest of us thought it looked questionable - but Jacinto didn't seem to suffer any ill effects.
Cal came over and collected our bags. He would drop the SAG in Salida for us at the motel. The Missouri crew was on the road by 6 AM for the 12 hour ride home.
Bill, Oren, and I were on the road shortly thereafter. We had an annoying headwind and the skies were very overcast. We were hoping to cover the 14 miles to the top of Poncha Pass quickly to beat the rain.
Poncha Pass from this side isn't much of a pass. We should feel ashamed to mark it off in our pass book. What other pass have you climbed easily in your middle chain ring? Personally, I can't think of one.
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I offered to share a granola bar, but everyone was holding out for a real breakfast. We had only 12 miles to the motel. I let the guys know I'd be looking for a bush that needed watered, so would probably fall behind.
It was a great downhill - smooth and swooping. Very little need for the brakes. Traffic was still light. The sun was peaking out. Even the headwind seemed to slack off. What a great finish to our trip!
Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 589 miles (948 km)
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