June 18, 2024
Day 2 - Loveland to Cheyenne
Well it was certainly cooler this morning - 59 degrees to start. I had to wear a jacket for several miles.
I passed Lake Loveland just a mile into my ride. This is a pretty large lake for being right in the middle of town.
Getting from Loveland to Fort Collins is mostly trails - some are quite pretty. This is the (aptly named) Longview Trail:
And the Fossil Creek Trail (with noisy, unafraid bird):
On the south side of Fort Collins I passed a transit center, and had to take some pictures. It was a park-n-ride with a beautiful bus depot, lots of new apartments being built nearby, and even a bike locker for commuters. I wish we could get this sort of infrastructure in Denver! Denver does have some bike lockers near train stations but there aren't enough and they are always full.
Once out of Fort Collins there was a lot of empty land to get through. This pair of nesting ospreys DID NOT like me being nearby and kept screaming at me. You can't see the one in the nest but the other one kept circling above me and I got worried he would swoop down and attack!
This is a meadowlark (I think). In some spots there seemed to be one on every telephone pole.
This underpass was the only shade I got for many miles - no trees anywhere!
About 14 miles of my ride today was on I-25. Both Colorado and Wyoming allow bicycles on interstates where there are no alternate paved roads. Yes, traffic was moving at 75mph, but with an eight-foot wide shoulder it didn't feel unsafe to me.
At last I reached the Wyoming border. Just a few more miles to Cheyenne.
I don't remember seeing a small herd of buffalo last time I came through here. It can't be pleasant being next to non-stop freeway noise.
Shortly after this, Google really screwed me up map-wise. It told me the quickest way to my hotel was this gravel road over a mesa and back down towards the freeway. At the bottom, it said "turn right". Only there wasn't a road there. Just a barbed-wire fence with a parking lot (and road) behind it. I kept going but the gravel road dead-ended with no options. Backtracking would have added 3 miles and been mostly uphill on gravel, so I decided to jump the fence. I took the bags off the bike, and (carefully) dropped the bike over the fence followed by the bags and (even more carefully) me. The whole ordeal added 20 minutes of indecision, sweating and cursing to my day, but once over, it was indeed a quick (downhill) trip to my hotel.
I did find a nice cajun establishment and had a huge platter of jambalaya (which I could not finish!)
Tomorrow looks like a long slog with a nasty 20mph southerly crosswind. Temps should be in the high 40s to start. Destination Kimball, NE. Wish me luck!
Today's ride: 66 miles (106 km)
Total: 131 miles (211 km)
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