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Day #43

I'm in Pueblo, CO. 2 days ago I decided to bike ahead of the MS group 60 miles for a total of 110 miles--my second century+ on this trip. As it turned out, the potentially terrible weather gave us a fantastic tail wind, so they all decided to stick it out and make it to Pueblo for the 4th. Fortunately, we still caught a fireworks celebration. Yesterday, we took the 5th off in Pueblo.

We also passed the ACA group riding from Yorktown to Astoria during our 110 to Pueblo. I biked with a guy for a while who did the Race Across America with 3 other guys in under 8 days--pretty impressive. Although, I have to say, there's nothing like the satisfaction of passing that guy on his 19 lb custom bicycle on my 90 lb Sojourn.

It took me 10 states and >2,000 miles, but I finally decided to ship some unnecessary weight home. I'm now 12 lb lighter! Also, these guys have sold me on the SPD cleats, so I'm going to hit up the bike shop when they open at 9:30 before my ride up the Rockies today. According to the other cyclists, I'm pretty much guaranteed to fall at least a few times, so I'm expecting to be cut and bruised on my legs, knees, ribs, shoulders, and elbows for the greater part of Colorado...

I've been traveling most of this trip using self-made Google Maps turn-by-turn directions. When I met Rocco in Ash Grove, Missouri, he generously gave me the ACA TransAm maps through Kansas and up to Pueblo. Now that I'm about to hop off the TransAm onto the Western Express, I'm back to Google Maps--which, at this point, is like riding with a blindfold. I think I'm going to suck it up and buy the maps, but ACA was closed yesterday for Independence Day weekend.

I'm a bit sad about breaking off from the TransAm. I probably won't be seeing many cyclists anymore (with the exception of the MS group, of course), and Pepper & Kirk are breaking off heading to Oregon.

Here's the photos I took through Kansas:

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