Pat and I read about a guy who had his personal best 100 mile ride on this stretch. The route is flat with a gradual loss of 300 feet. The guy said he had an 8 mph wind at his back. We had been thinking about this day well before we started in San Francisco.
We rode to the edge of Pueblo to avoid any stop lights. When we were clear, we put the hammer down. For the first 50 miles we averaged almost 23 mph. Then we slowed for a wrong turn, picked up the pace again and ran into stiff crosswinds. Not enough to stop us but enough to slow our pace considerably. We both finished in a little over five hours. It was hot and we really appreciated the support from Rod and Sal.
Pat's back caused him a lot of misery and I had to switch from my regular riding shoes to riding sandals to alleviate the hot foot I was getting. Hot foot is really swelling feet that press the metatarsal nerve at the point the shoes clips into the pedal. It's almost always a problem for me on long rides. It's a good thing I brought the sandals.
At the 102 mile mark we loaded up the bikes to find a motel in Eads, Colorado. Unfortunately, the only motel had a no vacancy sign. We had to go 30 miles off the route to Lamar, Co. to find a motel. Fortunately, the motel had an indoor pool and a spa that was refreshing.
Not much scenery today as we rode through the high Prairie. The highlight sight of the day was a big Sign announcing,"Snack Shop". Underneath, "Snack Shop" was another sign, "Fresh Bait".
Strangely, our wrong turn today could have been a right turn. Had we followed the wrong route we would have ridden directly into Lamar.
We rode to the edge of Pueblo to avoid any stop lights. When we were clear, we put the hammer down. For the first 50 miles we averaged almost 23 mph. Then we slowed for a wrong turn, picked up the pace again and ran into stiff crosswinds. Not enough to stop us but enough to slow our pace considerably. We both finished in a little over five hours. It was hot and we really appreciated the support from Rod and Sal.
Pat's back caused him a lot of misery and I had to switch from my regular riding shoes to riding sandals to alleviate the hot foot I was getting. Hot foot is really swelling feet that press the metatarsal nerve at the point the shoes clips into the pedal. It's almost always a problem for me on long rides. It's a good thing I brought the sandals.
At the 102 mile mark we loaded up the bikes to find a motel in Eads, Colorado. Unfortunately, the only motel had a no vacancy sign. We had to go 30 miles off the route to Lamar, Co. to find a motel. Fortunately, the motel had an indoor pool and a spa that was refreshing.
Not much scenery today as we rode through the high Prairie. The highlight sight of the day was a big Sign announcing,"Snack Shop". Underneath, "Snack Shop" was another sign, "Fresh Bait".
Strangely, our wrong turn today could have been a right turn. Had we followed the wrong route we would have ridden directly into Lamar.