June 10, 2014

6/10/14 Cuchara to Walsenburg - 30 miles

Woke up after a great night's sleep to another stunning day in Colorado. The temps overnight were supposed to be in the 30's - low 40's and Alison already had the fire going when I got up. The coffee wasn't far behind. Goody (Alison's Dad), LaDonna and I chatted in front of the fire while Alison fixed breakfast. Goody and Joyce met in Canada while he was working the oilfields and she was a teacher. They have been married 63 years, both have a great sense of humor, and both have many wonderful stories to share. 

After breakfast, LaDonna and I walked to Cuchara "proper" to find some free wi-fi at the Dog Bar and catch up on emails and the blog. It was another beautiful, clear blue sky, and perfect temperature with little or no wind. I pulled up Google maps to plan the next several days of riding and checked the weather forecast. We decided to take advantage of the perfect riding conditions and ride 30 short miles to Walsenburg to better position ourselves for the next leg to Pueblo West on Wednesday. As we were leaving the Dog Bar, Pam was arriving to do some work of her own.  We told her of our plans to bike to Walsenburg and promised to see her before we left.

Before leaving, we had lunch at the cabin and visited  a few minutes with Alison and her parents before loading up the bikes and heading out. I took a few pictures of the cabin and surroundings, but there is just no way to really capture how beautiful and serene it is there. Plus, there are so many trees you just can't get a clear view of the cabin - which is a lot of the charm. I was kicking myself for not getting any pictures the night before of the whole group. But, then again, it was nice to just enjoy the time without any "posing" disruptions. 

A special thanks to Pam & Alison for their warm hospitality. Our visit to Cuchara was a definite highlight of the Colorado bike ride.

LaDonna and I got off just around 1 pm and stopped off at the Dog Bar to tell Pam goodbye. Then, we coasted all the way to La Veta at 15-20 mph where we picked up HWY 160 again for the remaining 15 miles to Walsenburg. Had a terrific tailwind and were cruising along when I realized that my front tire was going flat - which was funny since I had just had this conversation with Alison about how few flats I had had on these bike rides. After fixing the flat, we proceeded to Walsenburg and found a motel for the night. The plan is to get out early in the morning and ride approximately 70 miles to Pueblo West. Hopefully, the weather will hold.