Rawlins Update

Hello from Rawlins, WY! Right now Trevor, Claire, Calum and I are in the Carbon County library trying to figure out a way to get from here to Yellowstone quickly and at a reasonable cost. Some may think that we aren't 'riding' across the country if we do that, but I don't really care because this will allow us to ride down the OR/CA coast, plus it's all part of the adventure. Rawlins isn't the place to find good public transportation, but we'll see what we can do.

I forgot to say in my post from Fort Collins that I need to send great thansk to Alice for keeping up with all of our adventures, and to her Mom and step-Dad for letting us crash at their house for a couple days. All of us appreciate the food, shelter and warm showers! A special thanks to Alice for her daily reports to the rest of the world. I know many people are watching our next move and really appreciate what you do. Thanks!

Saratoga, WY

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This morning Michael, Claire, Calum, and Trevor set out to cross Snowy Creek Pass at 10,847ft. near Medicine Bow Peak in Wyoming. It was a twelve mile climb that took Michael two hours, C&C three hours, and Trevor 5 minutes by hitchhiking (I hear he's getting good at hobbling around and looking in desperate need of a ride). There was an 18 mile descent with lots of views of lakes, snowy mountains, and general pretty mountain scenery. At the summit they ran into a cyclist from Ft. Collins who'd built his bicycle and a motorcyclist from Vermont to whom they talked for a bit.

Michael said today was a relief after the difficulty of yesterday. Though the wind was at their fronts it seemed easier. The winds don't look to be helpful for the next couple of days, so I think it will be some battling to get through Wyoming. Tonight they are in Saratoga, WY. Apparently it has hot springs that C&C went to, but Michael thought they looked sufficiently sketchy to avoid them. Tomorrow it's on to Rawlins!

On a side note, Marsha (Michael's mom) is at a conference in Utah right now. She was hoping to meet up with the crew, but that looks like it might not work with their delays. But she DID get third place out of 350 in classical music trivia at the conference. I bet her husband and son might have helped with that ;)

A Layover in Colorado

I greeted Michael last Friday (the 4th) at about noon in Denver, CO. He'd ridden fast (the others arrived about 4.5 hours after he did) and was caked in salt and sweat. He promptly was ushered into the shower and then helped me make food for the rest of the group. We had black bean lasagna, watermelon, salad, and ice cream to celebrate. Then the group rode off to see fireworks at various places around Denver. From a building you could see all along the front range and the various shows going on in different towns.

On Sunday he and I drove up to Ft. Collins so I could go to work the next day and the rest of the crew headed to Boulder to hang out. Colorado is very bike friendly, so I think they all enjoyed the bicycle lanes in the cities and general outdoor culture. At one point riding around Ft. Collins Michael told me that he thought it was cool that there were so many people out riding to downtown, for commuting, and just for fun or to get around, but it made him feel less special for riding his bike. You sure don't stick out riding a bike here, but I think riding across the country is something to make you stick out!

After spending nearly a week in Colorado Michael has started the rest of his journey west. He left today from Fort Collins, CO and is spending the night with Claire, Calum, and Trevor in Laramie, WY in the backyard of a writer for Velo News. Those three had ridden through Ft. Collins a day before in order to get an earlier start and feel less rushed. Today was a hard day due to hills, wind, and some of the hottest weather we've had yet this summer. Plus he was starting a long day after many days' break. I'm sure he'll fall into the rhythm again soon enough. I could tell that he was throughly enjoying himself and by the last night he was itching to be back on the road and complete the trip. The rest of the crew hasn't found the willpower to leave Boulder yet, so hopefully they will follow tomorrow or the next day and they won't fall too far behind.

Yesterday Michael and I, along with the rest of my fellow summer interns, went to New Belgium Brewery here in Fort Collins. They do brewery tours and give free sampling of their beers and I think they give you around 1.5 pints of legitimately good beer in total (I'm not a huge beer fan and I liked them quite a lot). They are also a very sustainable company and have invested in renewable energy, very good recycling of their products and waste in processing, they build energy efficient buildings, and they encourage bicycling. Their emblem and most popular beer is Fat Tire (a bicycle theme) and each employee gets a free New Belgium cruiser bicycle on their first anniversary of working for the company. The company is employee owned and the employees all get a free case of beer each week. With that much beer I think they just end up bartering it with friends for other things. Anyway, Michael enjoyed it a lot and I've added a slide show of the few pictures from there below.

Dan's Nederland Carnage

So here is one tale to tell from the Boulder visit... hopefully details will come shortly from the man himself.

Update from the Front Range

Here is a slide show of the last round of pictures between Hutchinson, KS and Fort Collins, CO.

It's been a nice break from the ride for me and I think the others have also enjoyed the time too. They spent a couple days in Boulder after leaving Denver. Last night Claire, Calum, and Trevor rode into Fort Collins and are planning on heading out later today. While Stavros, Dan, and Nathan are still livin' it up in Boulder. I hear of some great happenings down there; maybe you can read about them from Claire.

That's all for now I guess. There will be more from the road.

Storms

I didn't want to worry anyone last night with a post (including myself), but the gang was sidelined in Wild Horses, CO for the night due to severe storms. As Michael was talking to me he said he could see the northern sky just filled with storms and lightning. They'd hoped to get to Hugo, CO but due to a late start in the morning, road construction delays, and a reported tornado in between them and the destination they decided to stay in Wild Horses.

All day they had nice tail winds which helped them along the way towards Denver. These tail winds from the south east were probably what helped contribute to the severe storms and copious moisture in this system. We had a big storm in Fort Collins and the streets literally turned into rivers for a short while. Of course, it being Colorado, within and hour they were back to normal. We did get continuous smaller showers all evening though, and that is not usual for CO.

Below is a radar image of last night from NCAR. Pueblo is the PUX station at center of the map and Wild Horses is north of the triangle shape on the far right of the map and near the intersection of the two red lines (highways). You can see that the most severe weather is purple and red and it is headed right toward them.



On a NOAA radar (that I was unable to capture) I saw something that looked remarkably like a hook echo. This radar pattern is indicative of tornadoes and would explain the warnings. Anyway, I just told Michael to make sure they had somewhere nearby that was underground, but the likelihood of any tornado actually reaching them was pretty low. They probably just got soaked with rain and possibly hail as well.

Today is a cooler day and they are making their way toward Denver. Tonight will hopefully be spent in Kiowa, just 40 miles south of my house in Denver. Then they'll either ride into the city and get to my house or stop at a reservoir in south Denver where I can go pick them up. They're staying in the backyard of my mom's house in Denver for a night or maybe two and will be able to enjoy the 4th where they are sure to see fireworks!

COLORADO

Michael is now officially in Mountain Time; do I need to say more? eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Maybe in a few days he'll actually write on this blog himself, gasp!