Cross Country Recumbent
Sunday August 10, 2003. Delilah Peak CO to Pueblo CO
Start time
|
8:11 am
|
End time
|
1:00 pm
|
Miles
|
71.3
|
Time pedaling
|
4:32
|
Average speed
|
15.7
|
| Odometer |
2049
|
Walt and Ida's place was so nice that I stayed an extra day.
Saturday was a day dedicated to sloth. The only things I did were
bike maintenance and a visit to the Royal Gorge. The Royal Gorge
is a 1000' canyon cut by the Arkansas river. Over the gorge is
the highest suspension bridge in the US.
Today was a pretty easy ride. The first ten miles dropped 2000'
and made it a fast ride. After Canon city I deviated from the
route and took highway 50 into Pueblo. There was a 1000' pass on
the route, and after all the climbing I've done I just felt like I
wanted a break. 50 was actually pretty nice, with light
traffic. After the rest day today was just a cruise.
I did have a flat tire about ten miles out of Pueblo. I've gone
so long without one that it took me a while to figure out what was
wrong with the handling. This time it was the front tire.
The flat was your conventional piece of metal wire, easy to find and
fix.
The mileage reported is actually about 10 miles too high. Once I
got to Pueblo I tooled around a bit, looking at the town. Maybe
it was just Sunday, but downtown Pueblo is dead. Really
dead. I'm going to ride up to the North end later to take in a
movie, maybe the life has moved up there.
Although you can't tell by looking at a map, Pueblo is basically
halfway. The route from here goes almost directly East. It
feels weird. From one point of view I'm almost done: each mile
from here just increases how much I've done compared to how much is
left. On the other hand being halfway means that I know very well
how much further there is to go.
This will be the last journal entry for a while; the next week will be
for some work as well as non-cycling recreation. I plan to get
riding again on the 18th or 19th.