Category: The motivation to move

Colorado 2010 – Day 37

Colorado 2010 – Day 37

E Sharp

Falcon to Colorado Springs: Meeting up with Mom

Friday June 11, 2010, 15 miles (24 km) – Total so far: 1,553 miles (2,499 km)

I have 15 miles to ride to downtown Colorado Springs. It’s all downhill and it is in the morning rush. But I lived here for a couple summers in the mid-1990s and rode my bike all over town then, so I’m hoping I’ll recognize the streets I need to get me to downtown without too much traffic. I also have the fear that today will be the day I will get a flat. I haven’t had one all trip, so it would be such cruel irony to get one in the last 15 miles. Read more →

Nebraska 2010 – Day 27

Nebraska 2010 – Day 27

E Sharp

Gothenburg to Fort McPherson: Well, that was scary

Tuesday June 1, 2010, 30 miles (48 km) – Total so far: 1,137 miles (1,829 km)

Security, section 6. Security, section 6. Yet again, the store wanderings of a chick in lycra wearing a Camelback and carrying a handlebar bag are making some people nervous in a local supermarket. Any moment now, a staff member will approach me and ask if I need help finding something. When I gather food for a day or two at a time, I often wander around a supermarket backtracking and going in circles, trying to overcome indecision. Unfamiliar floor layouts, my reliance on my stomach to guide me, and the quest to find something on sale, all lead to what is apparently suspicious activity. Today, the little supermarket is in Gothenburg and I’m gathering food for lunch and dinner. Read more →

Nebraska 2010 – Day 28

Nebraska 2010 – Day 28

E Sharp

Ft McPherson to North Platte: Checking out the world’s largest railyard

Wednesday June 2, 2010, 37 miles (60 km) – Total so far: 1,174 miles (1,889 km)

I’m taking a back road – State Farm Road – south of I-80 into North Platte. I’m again on the Oregon Trail and there’s a marker denoting the location of a former Pony Express station site along this road. The area is composed of cultivated fields and some houses. The road zig zags west and north, turning north each time it runs back into the loess hills. These loess hills are not as extensive as the ones in western Iowa, but they are geologically important in their own right. The area around Bignell Hill, just off to the left, may be the thickest (> 150 feet) late Quaternary loess deposits in North America. Read more →

Nebraska 2010 – Day 29

Nebraska 2010 – Day 29

E Sharp

North Platte to Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area: Those frisky Nebraskan men

Thursday June 3, 2010, 74 miles (119 km) – Total so far: 1,248 miles (2,008 km)

An early start once again and I have to ride all the way back through North Platte again to pick up Hwy 30 on the northwest edge of town. One of the interesting things about North Platte is that many of the neighbourhoods look like they are composed of cookie cutter, cheapo housing blocks from different decades – sorta like ‘National Homes’ subdivisions from the 1960s. There are also several trailer parks in town, as well as the ubiquitous ones on the edge of town. It sorta gives the place an odd and rough feel. Read more →

Colorado 2010 – Day 39

Colorado 2010 – Day 39

E Sharp

Manitou Springs to Lake George: The first Pass

Sunday June 13, 2010, 23 miles (38 km) – Total so far: 1,576 miles (2,537 km)

Today is my first day of riding in the mountains and the weather is still crap. If I didn’t have Mom along, I would just sit this out. 42 degrees and intermittent rain is no fun. But with her along, I can always get in the car and warm up, or just toss it in for the day. We do have to stick to a schedule, though. Because Mom is not into camping, we need to stay in motels. We were worried about these getting booked out, so I figured out a route and the distance I thought I could do each day, and then she booked motels for each night. Read more →

Colorado 2010 – Day 40

Colorado 2010 – Day 40

E Sharp

Lake George to Buena Vista: A couple more Passes to get warmed up

Monday June 14, 2010, 56 miles (90 km) – Total so far: 1,632 miles (2,627 km)

We’re up early and Mom drives me back out the dirt road to start the day on Hwy 24. We’re going to meet at the top of my next pass – Wilkerson. I’ve only been this way once, in a car in 1995, and I remember the view over South Park from the top of the pass as being spectacular, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s a gentle, continuous climb through meadows and forest for about 8.5 miles from Lake George. Then there’s 1.5 miles of a 5 to 6 percent grade to the top. Read more →

Colorado 2010 – Day 41

Colorado 2010 – Day 41

E Sharp

Buena Vista to Twin Lakes: Now that’s a good view!

Tuesday June 15, 2010, 27 miles (43 km) – Total so far: 1,659 miles (2,670 km)

It’s a short ride today to set me up to climb Independence Pass tomorrow. As you leave Buena Vista, the view of the Collegiate Peaks range to the left shows snow-capped peaks rising steeply out of the flat valley against a clear blue sky. It’s cool and crisp and dry this morning – my favourite type of weather. Read more →

Nebraska 2010 – Day 30

E Sharp

Lake Ogallala State Recreation Area: Lying on a picnic table all day

Friday June 4, 2010

It’s just as well that today’s a rest day. My chest is tight and wheezy all morning. I suspect it’s the cottonwoods setting my asthma off, since they are releasing all their ‘cotton’ when the wind blows. I spend the day snacking and lying on my Ridgerest in the dappled shade of the picnic table. I entertain the thought at one point of riding over to the powered campground for a shower, but because it’s so warm, I figure I’d be just as sweaty after the ride back. I don’t want to deal with that corrugated road either. Instead, I do some bike cleaning and maintenance and nap on the table.

Late in the afternoon, a park ranger comes by and stops at my table. He says, ‘I drove by this morning and you were lying on that picnic table. I drive by now and you are lying on the table. Have you moved at all today’? I laugh and say, ‘No, not really. Today was a rest day. So that’s what I did’. He laughs and then asks the usual questions – he says he doesn’t see many bike tourists out this way.

Colorado 2010 – Day 42

Colorado 2010 – Day 42

E Sharp

Twin Lakes to Aspen: The best morning of my life

Wednesday June 16, 2010, 38 miles (61 km) – Total so far: 1,697 miles (2,731 km)

I’m a bit nervous about the ride today. Independence Pass is 12,095 feet and I am untested on alpine climbs. The three little passes I’ve already done are just a warm-up. And I am doing this pass from the ‘easy’ side. But I’m still worried it’s going to take me a long time to get to the top. We get up in the pre-dawn light and Mom drives me back to the town parking area. She is to meet me at 10:30am on top. I figure if I average 5 mph, and allow for some rests, the 17 miles might take me 4 hours. Then it’s off I go at 5:45am. Read more →