Finally, the mountains! After downing some coffee and a load of donuts and cake at the hotel it was time for action. The first 20 or so miles lead through a relative flat part between Pueblo and the mountain ridges. The scenery got ridiculously beautiful directly. I couldn't help myself stopping every few miles to take a picture along the way. After the first 20 miles there was a steep climb over a low ridge (+10%, whoever said the grades in the Rockies would be easy?).
After this ridge was a sort of narrow plain between the first lower ridge and the higher mountain ridges behind it. Via this plain I made a nice descent into Florence, after which I had a relatively flat ride into Cañon City. Here I was directed to a sports bar named Chili's, where I could watch the soccer world cup quarter final Netherlands versus Costa Rica. The personnel didn't mind putting the match on the big screen with the sound on, so everyone in the bar had to watch the match with me :). Whilst enjoying a club sandwich and some refreshing coke, I saw the Dutch team win after penalty kicks and a very exciting game. Lots of people congratulated me afterwards and said they were hoping The Netherlands to win the cup, nice!
After the match I did some groceries only to discover afterwards that I had my first puncture of this trip. Not bad after some 2200 miles I'd say. Due to the long match and having to put one a new tube, it had gotten a bit late, but I decided to put in a few more miles as planned. The climbing for the next 10 miles was indeed over gentle grades and due to the time of the day the temperatures had also dropped a bit already. The low sun did again give some amazing views. As I stopped at a campground near Royal Gorge the campground guy greeted me and told me they had cheap spaces for cyclists for only 10 bucks. He also offered me a refreshing sno-cone and directly drove me around in his truck to show me my spot... best campground reception so far! Elevation at the end of the day (and by far highest thus far): 6300 ft.
No comments:
Post a Comment