Rocky Mountain High

The cheerleaders were cheering and handing out cold water, the dj was spinning great music including John Denver's "Rocky Mtn High" and welcoming incoming cyclists. There were bags of goodies for the cyclists, homemade cookies, a free haircut (beautifully done by Karen), an ice cream social after dinner and access to Denver Christian High's computer lab where I am right now. I also received your welcomed mail, Mom and Gael. It is a beautiful school, as most of them have been, and we had a tremendous welcome from the local churches.

I decided this morning to take a SAG wagon to the top of the Berthoud Pass as I have just been feeling on the weak side and knew I couldn't make the whole ride in the alloted time. So I hopped in Julie's truck with Bill and Mary Dracht. Bill has been experiencing some altitude sickness. Unfortunately we came across a cyclist's accident. Tyler, who is one of the faster ones, had hit the ditch and broke his clavicle badly in two places. We stayed with him until Betsy, who is our lead SAG driver and head nurse arrived to take him into a clinic. He will be heading home tomorrow.

Our SAG drivers are amazing. We are constantly cheered on by the passing drivers and given endless encouragement at the rest stops. Cory drives the Port-a-Potty around. He and his little yellow house are always a welcome sight. There is a joke that one day the potty trailer came loose and ended up in the middle of the road (well, that part's true) but several of the guys were seen drafting behind it as they will draft behind anything. Bill, who rides a Harley Fat Boy, constantly patrols the trickier sections of road checking on each of us as he passes. Walter parks his RV at the halfway point and always has a smile and usually a little treat. Betsy takes care of everyone and usually shuttles bikes and people who just can't finish. Then, of course, we are passed by the cooks and other support staff in the gear truck, the kitchen truck, the pantry truck, Alida (the night nurse) in her RV, and Diane Slofstra hanging out of the jeep window cheering us on. It's great fun to see them approaching in the rearview mirror and appreciated greatly. We have also had a lot of oncoming truckers honk and wave, and we think these are guys who have seen us on the road since Washington as they drive their routes back and forth.

Today was a blast as the downhill from the summit went forever, mostly on good shoulders with not a lot of traffic. I had to stop a few times to give my hands a rest from braking. Braking is an art as constant pressure on the rim can heat it up too much and explode the tire - not something you want to do at speed. For the most part I let my bike go, but some curves were very tight and there was some sand on the road here and there. A bike becomes unstable at speeds greater than 68 kph, though holding the top tube between your knees can help. It's a position that I can't comfortably manage though. The scenery was spectacular and the little towns like Empire that we passed through, quaint and clean. There were a few more uphills, one of them a four-mile 10% (I'm guessing) grade monster that all said was worse than the pass, but mostly we followed a river along with some whitewater rafters. My legs were burning on all the climbs, so I know I made the right decision to do just part of the route.

I think I had better sign off tonight. Thanks for all the emails. I'm sorry I haven't had a lot of time to answer them, but maybe next week will be better. I would recommend our head chaplain Len Riersema's blog for photos - not too much writing, lots of pictures. He's a great person, cheerful, encouraging and humourous. One of the guys has a photo of him hanging onto a semi as we climbed a pass. Now that's drafting in style!!