Boulder, CO #2

So... time to write about yesterday's ride.

July 14th - Timber Creek Campground, Rocky Mountain National Park, to Boulder, CO - 80 miles, 6:45 riding time

On this day I hit a few milestones:

• Reached 2000 miles elapsed
• Rode at above 12000+ of elevation, peak height was 12183 ft.

These are pretty big ones... at least for me. I rode through Rocky Mountain National Park, along Trail Ridge Road. This road blew my mind. Once we got to the top, it was like riding along the top of the world. The few miles at the top actually take you through tundra, which is usually only found in Canada and Russia. We were above the treeline, looking at the peaks of all the other mountains. The computer I'm on won't let me upload pictures yet, but I'll put some up as soon as I can. I wish I could have taken some sort of 360 view photo... it's hard to describe what it was like up there. The air was thin, I felt like I was panting like a dog, trying to get my breath, and it was cold. Quite cold and windy. The visitors center said that the wind gusts up above 150 mph at times. If it had done that while I was on the road, I would have been blown off the cliff never to be seen again.

After going through the park, we descended down to about 8000 ft to the town of Estes Park. It was really touristy there, flooded with people. It was shocking, nearly appalling, how many people there were. I wanted to get out, but was pretty hungry, and ended up waiting about half an hour for a tasty, but small, calzone. From there, we rode to Boulder.

So, Boulder is at around 5300' altitude. Trail Ridge road was above 12000' for a good bit. We descended 7000' in one day. That's like going down Diablo, twice (not that I've ever ridden down Diablo). We descended for maybe 30 miles? It was amazing. There were a few rollers once we got to Lyon, CO, and my legs were totally dead... but Boulder was within sight, so I just kept pedaling.

Michael and I arrived in town around 4:00pm, and just slowly made our way in. We found a Safeway to stock up and buy some more food, because we were both hungry. After that, we split up. It was great riding with him, I certainly got further ahead of schedule by pushing 100 miles/day. Not only that, but he was a great riding partner--waited for me at the top of all the climbs, and was good company all the time. I'm really glad to have had someone to ride with. Especially since of the whole way eastward, I've only passed three others going east? The chance of meeting up with someone and being able to ride 1000 miles with them is incredibly small...

I got to Rob's mom's place around 5:00, and pretty much sat around all evening and read.

July 15th - Boulder CO - Rest Day

Today, I walked around the Pearl Street area of Boulder, visited the city library, and relaxed. I started out the morning with a coffee, muffin, and NY Times. It took me most of the day to read all of of it, but it kept me busy. I searched for some good food, and got a burrito--but it was nowhere close to Gordos. Sometimes I miss Berkeley a lot--Berkeley Bowl, good places to eat, and everyone back home. A lot of the time I see people riding by on mountain bikes or road bikes and that makes me jealous too--I wish I could ditch the BOB and just go on a sweet ride through all these places I've been.

Lets see... I have about 2500 miles to go, probably a bit more? I haven't figured out how to get to Ocean City from the Adventure Cycling route, but I'll probably take some ferries or something to get across to the eastern shore. After that, I need to ride back to Columbia, MD....

I miss Alia a lot. I try to call as often as I can, but some things definitely limit how often. The route takes me through a lot of remote areas, where I don't get signal. Also, I only can charge the phone so often. I miss her a lot. Only...five weeks till I get to see her again! My flight back is August 22nd, I'm supposed to get in at 10:35pm. I can't wait to see her.