Diary

Mileage:  53 miles

Elevation Change:  1827 feet

Weather:  light rain and cool

Morale:  Great!

Incidents:  drafted ultra cycling legend Lon Haldeman into town

Daily Summary:

A well needed rest day!  Everything is relative, and I don’t usually consider 50 miles a rest, but it was.  We got to sleep in until 8 today, then eat breakfast in a real restaurant (we usually eat in the parking lot from the kitchen trailer).  We rolled out at 9 to a very flat (be sure and look at the scale on the elevation profile above) ride with favorable light winds.  We did have a bit of rain for an hour.  It was just enough to cause us to dig out our rain jackets, but the farmers were all still irrigating so it wasn’t much.  The mood was light today and everyone was happy.  The final stretch was downhill with a tailwind, and we got behind Lon Haldeman and roared into town at over 30 mph.  Lon is the company owner, tour leader, and ultra cycling legend.  Check him out at http://www.ultracycling.com/about/hof_haldeman.html. 

 

We had lunch in the city park in our destination town, Rangely.  There is not much going on here, but we did our laundry, patched our inner tubes, maintained our bikes, and relaxed.  You know it’s a good vacation when you have no idea what day of the week it is!  Hunger drove us to the grocery store at 4:30 for some chicken wings.  (If you eat dinner too early you get ravenous again before bedtime!)  The Italian restaurant at the end of town was good, but we left hungry so stopped to buy an ice cream afterwards.

 

Below you see Raymond’s tricky over-the-shoulder shot which actually turned out.  Then, we cross the Colorado State Line.   Finally, some of today’s scenery.