Day 33 - Leoti, KS to Eads, CO - 80 mi

Today was a streamlined trip for me. I awoke around 5:30 am and hit the road by 6:15 am (after demolishing some of Don's french toast) to try and beat some of the nasty winds we have been experiencing. The wind definitely gets worse over the coarse of the day so riding early is a good bet. Also, riding early allowed me to beat some of the truck traffic and heat from the sun. I was able to down some important Mountain Dew and Mountain Lightning to get me through the day and I rode with Slightly Stoopid and Queen for almost all 80 miles...

Two rather important things happened today - first of all we entered the Mountain Time Zone, meaning it is currenty 7:45 pm rather than 9:45 in Blacksburg (8:45 in my future home of St. Paul). Secondly, we hit our sixth state of the trip as we entered the dry, desert part of Colorado where it basically looks like Kansas but slightly more dry and arid. Speaking of which, I have definitely been hit with two dryness related bloody nose episodes as we lose all humidity - I will have to work on that!


Unfortunately, my camera died today when I hit the sign that marked the Mountain Time Zone so I was unable to capture a lot of the Colorado countryside (the pic above is courtesy of Don and BUS4MS on Twitter). I felt like I was straight out of Lonesome Dove - possibly guiding a carriage along the winding roads. A highly recommended movie if you have never seen it (although I have only seen DVD 1 of 2) - Salli would disagree.

Arriving in Eads, CO today I felt like we were entering a bike ruled town. BUS4MS is currently staying the night here (25 people minimum) along with the Adventure Cycling crew I spoke of yesterday (15 people minimum) - there are also 5-6 solo riders staying at our campsite heading West to East. Craziness!

Tomorrow the debate is whether we should ride 110 miles to Pueblo and have a rest day there or take our time and meander to Pueblo for a hotel night (no rest day).