Monday, 21Jun10, Grand Junction, CO
Today was a wonderful ride of 102 + miles, and the weather was beautiful.
The morning started out a little chilly and the wind Gods were nice to us for most of the day … some tailwinds and some downhills.
Adella decided to ride by herself and gave me permission to ride with some of the other riders … so I rode with other groups, sometimes by myself and finished up riding with Scott, Lester and Robb as we finished the day. (see Facebook photos)
The terrain was lots of desert with some amazing vistas of the Colorado river and the upcoming mountains … by the time I finished today I was exhausted … because a great day of riding will do that to you … you keep trying to take advantage of the tailwind or you want do you best to enjoy the downhill … which means you must work harder to keep up the heightened pace that you’ve selected for yourself or provided by those you are riding with … in a paceline!
Either way … you are expending a lot more energy to finish that 102 miles before the winds change, and make your beautiful day of cycling turn into a “day of torture”.
Once we arrived at the hotel … Adella and I walked over to Denny’s to order a Western Burger and a large chocolate and strawberry milkshake.
As soon as we walked in … we met a very interesting local couple John and Virginia Trujillo … Virginia was very friendly and wanted to know all about our nation-wide blood drive and why we would even want to do such a crazy thing as ride across America on bicycles. So I was able to share my blood recipient story and give her one of our Life Across America business cards.
By the time we had finished dinner, another couple, Frank and Helen came up and introduced themselves and after hearing the story and what we were doing … Helen offered to pray for our safety and to help us finish the trip still in good health.
Grand Junction seems to have a lot amount of retirement age “seniors” in the area and it really is a beautiful to visit or take a vacation.
Because I was riding so hard today … I didn’t take as many pictures … so check them out on our “Give Blood” account on Facebook.
Talk to you soon.