Based on the number of photos I just uploaded, I know I'm about to write a lot (get ready :P), but I also have a sense that everything that I write could be paraphrased into "Spokes loves(!) Colorado." We've had so many adventures here, met incredible people, had some great team discussions around our educational goals and methods, and we're all starting to feel much stronger on the bikes. I dare say I might even fathom calling myself a cyclist at some point in the near(ish) future!
After leaving Telluride, our team headed to Montrose, where we spent the night of the 4th of July. This was our first time biking after dark, and it was pretty cool riding into town with fireworks in the foreground :) We were all way too excited to see places like Target, Denny's, Starbucks, etc. lining the street - makes me think a lot about how a sense of rarity can drastically enhance my impression of something. Immediately upon getting into town, Phillip mentioned the word IHOP and all of a sudden, finding the house where we were staying was no longer a priority :P We didn't end up finding one, but the next morning, we did go to a Starbucks to redeem our gift card from Nancy in Cedar City. The people at Starbucks were also excited about Spokes, so we ended up getting half off all of our drinks, leaving us with enough money for another team Starbucks morning! Though the 6 mile detour to get there ended up making for a 106 mile day, I think it was totally worth it :)
At the end of that day (July 5th), we found ourselves at Sargent, CO, which is at the very base of Monarch Pass. That pass is the highest point on our route at 11,312 feet, and is found along the continental divide:
The divide is marked by a mountain range that runs from Alaska to the tip of South America, and on either side of which water runs in opposing directions (in the picture above, water on the left flows to the Pacific, and on the right to the Atlantic).
After the very long day of riding the day before, the climb up to Monarch Pass didn't seem so bad since we knew that we just had 30 miles of mostly downhill afterwards. We even convinced ourselves that we had enough energy to climb higher than our bikes could take us when we saw a trail ascending to 12,000 feet. The views were amazing, but I think I could feel the effects of being at high altitude for the first time when I tried to run up the mountain. I'm very curious about how other physical activity will feel when this is all said and done - Ethan and I are thinking about experimenting and running for a couple of miles to see what that's like.
When we came down from the pass, we ended up staying at a KOA (Kampgrounds of America), a cross-country chain which a couple of us have dubbed "camping without the nature" :P This one was gorgeous, but our team's ability to consume incredible amount of the complimentary coffee didn't seem too appreciated. We thought of our friend Pat when we saw the volleyball nets - we've officially parted ways with Pat and Dan, and we miss them already! It is nice to have their blog to read as a preview of what's to come, though. The headwinds in Kansas sound joyful.
The KOA did have horses on the property, so despite the fact that they were a little frugal with their coffee, they earned a few redemption points there from me :)
After leaving, we headed to Fairplay, a little town outside of Breckridge (I was really wishing it was winter that day - the skiing looks amazing!). Fairplay is also in South Park county, which I thought must be related to the show. I learned that there is a little shop with South Park show souvenirs, but otherwise, it apparently is pretty separate from the show. I still needed a picture though :P
Fairplay had an awesome little coffee shop called the Java Moose, and when I arrived there and saw the wifi network, certificates for "best coffee/espresso" in the country, AND chai almonds(!), right when it was starting to rain, I felt like we'd stumbled (/biked...) upon a heaven of some sort. We had our only scare with altitude sickness in that cafe - Jeff was feeling a bit funny, so we took a trip with one of the baristas to an EMT to check his vitals. Turns out, Jeff had an awesome Oxygen saturation, higher than that of most people at sea level. Mine, on the other hand...not great.
Later, we left the Java Moose to head onward to Bailey, a town about 40 miles out where we had our fingers crossed that we would find some camping. We've been having to navigate and find sleeping places on route for the past few days, as we deviated from the Adventure Cycling Association's route to head north for a couple of Spokes events and meetings.
8 miles of hills into the route to Bailey, my gear started giving me lots of trouble, and soon was totally off. Turns out my derailer was loose, and had fallen below the chain, and I unfortunately didn't have the right tool (or the expertise) to fix it. Long story short, I learned a bit about hitch hiking (which is legal in CO, so Spokes still has a clean record ;)).
This day was also our first with nutella sandwiches, but Ethan somehow didn't get one! Nathan was quite insistent about sharing - whatta team :)
That night, when we got to Bailey, we got the incredible offer to sleep inside the Cutthroat cafe, and Chip, the cafe owner with a true heart of gold, made us breakfast. His hot cakes were out of this world! Jeff announced his carefully planned directions to us as we ate. World's best direction-man :)
The next morning, we began the long route up through Denver and Boulder to Loveland, CO, where we were scheduled to hold our next Learning Festival in the local library. We had such an awesome experience, and got to stay with a wonderful family.
At this event, we each had small group of students who had elected to take specific classes, and they were phenomenal to work with. We had a big age range (3rd grade 3D printing pros to recent high school grads), and though the younger kids were a bit hard to work with in the mechanical engineering classes, it was fun to see how the classes all seemed to appeal to a wide range of ages.
Jeff teaching his awesome class on psychology of music! I had a ton of fun listening in :)
We were all very happy (although tiredddd) after the festival. Titiaan didn't let the long day get to him though ;)
After Loveland, we had a great break day in Boulder. More details to come once I manage to scounge some photos from people (I was in vacay mode and forgot to get any. Ooppsss).
We're in CO Springs now, just taught at another school today, and pulled off a >100 day again to get here. It was a cool challenge, but I'm definitely not complaining that tomorrow's a chill, downhill 70 :)
