July 8, 2013
Meltdown
Day 15: Fairplay, Colorado to Poncha Springs, Colorado
Was up early to find the coldest morning of this bike tour. Probably any of my bike tours, actually. If you really, really like the cold, I strongly encourage you to consider moving to Fairplay (or Alma, a few miles up the road, and a few hundred feet higher, and presumably even colder.)
My first stop was local cafe The Brown Burro, a charming, friendly place where I had a delicious, enormous breakfast. Then I got back on the road and the day promptly turned to shit.
I was on the last few map panels of Adventure Cycling's Great Parks South route, which had me leaving Fairplay on a state highway which started out as uncomfortably busy, and rapidly became completely unacceptable. This was the busiest, scariest road I have ever ridden a bicycle on. During the descent from Trout Pass, I pulled off the road and had a complete meltdown, and made an embarrassingly emotional phone call to Joy. I did not want to get back on the bike. After 45 minutes I did, though, and at the next little crossroads town I made a left turn, and the road gained an eight foot wide shoulder. It was still incredibly busy, but at least it was safe.
The rest of the day I was still bothered by the morning's scary ride, and I didn't notice much of the interesting scenery. When I reached the small town of Poncha Springs, and the end of the Great Parks South route (and the beginning of the Western Express route, which will take me to San Francisco), I called it quits after only about 60 miles, and checked into a small, well-preserved old mom-and-pop motel. Next door was an interesting cafe that featured "Eastern and Western" food. I had Pad Thai and ice cream for lunch, then went back to my tiny room (in which the bike would not fit) and slept for three hours. Later I walked back to the cafe and had "Western" food: A cheeseburger and fries.
Later that evening, I talked to Joy for a long while, then ended the failed beard experiment by shaving it off, a task that proved slightly painful, since I had given my shaving cream to a guy in a campground the other day.
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Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 1,257 miles (2,023 km)
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