Diary

Mileage:  91 miles

Elevation Change:  4150 feet

Weather: rain, rain, rain

Morale: getting very tired

Incidents:  Raymond is the second best climber of all of us

Daily Summary:

The elevation profile is for real today as we start the first of four days of big climbs through Colorado.  Only one climb today, but it was long and steep and topped out at over 8000 feet.  Raymond moved his way all the way through the field on the way up until there was only one guy—Marc the Belgian racer—ahead of him.  As Ray was moving up on Marc, Marc took one look over his shoulder, dropped  down a few gears, and rode away from Ray.  We all laughed about it later, but Marc wasn’t about to let this young kid beat him up that big mountain! 

 

The descent was fun for a while, until we rode into the big storm on the other side.  We were wet for the rest of the day as it rained pretty steadily.  It’s apparently very unusual to get that much rain here, and there are flash flood warnings still in effect. 

 

We were both pretty tired upon arrival.  I think the accumulated fatigue is starting to set in.  We finally have a hotel with an outdoor pool so we can work on our horrible cyclist tan lines, but with all the rain this afternoon no tanning was possible.  We inhaled another monstrous Italian meal for dinner. 

 

Not many pictures today, as we didn’t want to get the cameras wet.  Below you can see a few shots of the storm as we rode into it, then some scenery.  A big climbing day tomorrow so early to bed!