June 13, 2014

LAST DAY OF RIDE!

6/13/14 Colorado Springs to Castle Rock - 53 miles

Awoke to a beautiful clear cool morning. Not a cloud in the sky. We decided to forego the somewhat "iffy" breakfast at the Rodeway Inn and return to Smiley's, where we ate the first time through Colorado Springs. This is a little cafe on one of the main streets downtown that is cute in a rustic sort of way. Excellent home cooked breakfasts. But what I will remember most is the waitress that served us both times. Today, she was the only one there, taking orders, serving, and refilling coffee. The restaurant had quite a few patrons, but she calmly and efficiently took care of everyone - and with a pleasant and friendly attitude. I got the impression that she was centered in a way that enabled her to be present and address whatever came her way. This is much of the state of mind I have been trying to work towards the past couple of years. At any rate, she was a blessing to our day and got us off to a great start. And, oh yes, the breakfast was terrific again, especially the cheese grits.

We headed out on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail, retracing our previous route to Colorado Springs. Rode alongside the River behind homes and past Colorado College. There were quite a few joggers, bikers and dog walkers on the trail.  

On the outskirts of Colorado Springs, we came up on a fully - and I do mean fully - loaded touring bike. It reminded me of the early days of my first cross-country ride when I came up on Andrew who was loaded to the gills. And McKinley. This gentleman was dressed all in black with a large shade hat, and looked something like Grissly Adams. A former construction worker, he started this current ride on April 1 from Asheville, NC. As he described it, he was "paper clipping " across the US. He rode south to St. Augustine, then west along the southern route, now up through Colorado and presently headed towards Durango. We discussed bike touring in general, routing, etc. What we like about bike touring and how so many people always tell us how they wish they could follow this dream. I gave him my Colorado DOT bike map, since I didn't need it anymore, and a few observations on the Colorado roads we had ridden. As we parted, I again felt exhilarated by the chance meeting, and reminisced again about my cross-country ride. Randy has been sending periodic emails and comments on the blog, and I miss not riding with him. He is currently on a very challenging ride out west - he never did like the mountain climbs. But sounds like the scenery is stunning. 

We kept on the trail, with a few minor mishaps in missing a turn or two, and eventually connected with the Santa Fe Regional Trail. Since it had just rained, we found that the gravel was even musher than before and washed out a little in places. We had to really pay attention to where we were riding. As the trail entered the US Air Force installation portion, we started hearing a roar overhead, and stopped to look. Apparently, there was some sort of exercise in glider training going on as we saw little planes towing gliders, releasing the gliders and then the gliders flying around and back in to land. We must have seen 6-8 of these. I found this fascinating, and struggled to get a good picture or two - difficult because of the angle of the sun and small size of the planes. One of those "you had to be there" moments. As we rode along, I kept looking for the baby bears we had been told about previously without success.  At another point, we came across three men dressed in full camouflage and toting these blue military rifles (the color was striking). One of the men had a German shepherd in tow and was hiking down into the creek. They looked like they were up to something, but hard to tell. LaDonna said that as she went by, one of them said "have a good day, mam," as if to say "keep moving along." An odd sight.

Off in the distance, we could see the Air Force Academy stadium. Just outside the US Air Force portion of the trail, we again came upon a resting shed we had stopped at previously and had a snack. It was getting quite warm at this point. 

At Monument, CO, we picked up a few lunch items, then continued on the Santa Fe Regional Trail to the end point at Palmer Lake. This portion of the trail was in good condition and we made up some of the time from the earlier poor trail conditions. We stopped at a picnic pavilion at Palmer Lake and had our standard peanut butter sandwiches and chips.

From Palmer Lake, we got on Hwy 105, and after an initial short, pretty steep climb (which LaDonna now easily negotiated), we fairly soared for 8 miles. A combination of downhill on a beautiful road plus a lovely tailwind. It was a blast and a biker's dream. We cruised along at 15-20 mph past the site of my bear siting, alongside lush green pastures full of healthy and happy looking horses and cows. At one point, there was this horse joyfully rolling in the grass, who then hopped up and started playfully chasing a calf standing nearby. It was fun to watch. At another pasture, there were 8-10 black and white llamas, with the most beautiful coats. Further on we saw a pasture of camels. They were really big, brown camels. I would have liked to have gotten some pictures of all this, but the animals were generally too far away, and instead I just savored the moment as I cruised with the tailwind. 

The coasting came to an end when we turned onto Tomah Road and started a 2.1 long, steep incline ride. For some reason, it didn't seem that bad - probably because I was still giddy from riding Hwy 105. I waited for LaDonna at the top and savored the view of the valley below. She approached - still pedaling - and smiled broadly. The fact that she now rides these inclines without having to get off and push is a significant milestone in her development as a touring biker. She told me that at one point she was about to stop and get off, when a gust of wind happened along from behind and gave her just enough of a push to keep going. We laughed and attributed it to another one of those "weather miracles" that seem to have accompanied us on the ride. From the top of the hill, we coasted down approximately 4 miles to reach the feeder road running alongside I-25 towards Castle Rock. I reached 37 mph at one point, with this unbelievably vast beautiful scenery stretched wide open in front of me.

We continued on through downtown Castle Rock and north of town to the Days Inn where we spent the last night on the bike trip. As usual, we were starving and found a nearby Outback, where we downed a delicious dinner. Our waitress was a biker and we had some fun sharing experiences with her.

Tomorrow, we complete the Colorado bike ride by riding 27 miles back to Dawne's home in Aurora. By any measure, the ride has been a success.