We’ve hit the halfway point boys!

With how smelly the town had been, I was glad to be awake from my slumber. Surprisingly, I slept well all things considered. Jim had been up making coffee around 5:30 AM, but we still had to wait until 7 AM until the town’s only breakfast joint opened. Jim, Old Timer, and I sat around for a bit and took our time packing up. We were excited knowing only 50 miles away was Pueblo, our destination for our rest day tomorrow.

Eventually, we rolled over to Boomer’s cafe for breakfast where we met back up with Patrick and Alex. I ordered some eggs and pancakes, and enjoyed the surge of energy from some coffee. With entering Colorado comes a large Mexican influence, which fortunately means plenty of delicious menu choices dedicated to cultural favorites. Patrick and Jim enjoyed green chili smothered burritos; these will be in my future. After we finished and walked outside, Jim noticed his front tire was almost flat. Two brand new tires were 50 miles away in Pueblo, so of course his tires were giving out now. He patched up some thin areas on the tire and tube, inflated to a high PSI, and got rolling.

We took our grand old time the first 10 miles, only averaging 10 to 11 mph. Alex and I talked a lot about his home country of Belgium, and others countries surrounding it. I’m hoping one day to visit him (hopefully in Amsterdam) and tour the Netherlands by bike. That conversation made the miles fly by. We reached a quaint, small park with picnics benches, and snacked on some treats. A kind man drove up and offered water, but we had plenty. This gesture happens all the time; it’s amazing how many wonderful people there are out here.

After sharing some spicy Cheetos, we continued our slow pace on the road, admiring the mountains during every peak we had. At this point, you could clearly see the snow caps, and more detailed parts of the Rocky Mountains. So exciting!! The road we biked on was awesome too. A little bit more traffic, but spectacular views. We finally noticed Pike’s Peak to our east, one of Colorados most popular 14,000 foot mountains. Now, I’ve been to Colorado before, but doing it by bike makes it feel like a completely new state. I guess I can say that for every place we’ve biked through. With the ever so slightly increase of elevation into Colorado comes cooler weather as well. The humidity was low, and the temps were cool for the better part of the afternoon.

I noticed during today’s ride my bike wasn’t shifting properly into its lowest gear, but being that Pueblo is a city of 100k+ people I knew of a few bike shops in town. I’ll sure need every gear ready for the mountains to come.

We stopped halfway for lunch in another lovely park. I prepared some peanut butter and jelly banana sandwiches. They’re always on my go-to lunch menu. The afternoon was extremely calming, not having to ride many miles was physically and mentally relaxing. We took our time enjoying each other’s company and food.

After about 30 minutes, we took off again back into views of the mountains. I, like most of us, was excited to reach the city of Pueblo for several reasons. 1) It’s more or less considered the halfway point of the trip 2) bike shop 3) good coffee shops 4) meet all of Jim’s friends he’s been raving about. Jim’s friend offered to host us for a couple days while in town too, so knowing we had a home to stay in was fantastic .

About 5 miles from town Jim ran into tire issues, so he quickly pumped it up and absolutely booked it to town, hoping to not damage his wheels in the process. I mean I was riding at 21-22 mph behind him and couldn’t keep up whatsoever. As we entered Pueblo, I quickly remembered how much I hated large towns. Too many cars and stare downs. I pulled up to the bike shop and could finally relax being off the bike. I pumped up my tires and had the derailer adjusted. Jim and I went over to a coffee shop and split a walnut brownie and sipped on some flavorful coffee. Eventually, the whole gang made it over. A random couple struck up a conversation with us, and ended up offering Alex a place to stay for the night while in Pueblo. They have hosted cyclists before, but they literally met us for 10 minutes and invited him into their home. So unbelievably cool.

Later on, we rolled to Jim’s friends home, and was welcomed by his wife and daughter, along with some friendly pooches. I was so excited to be staying in a house for the next couple nights! We all relaxed outside on the patio, and eventually cracked open some brewskies. Ahhh, so refreshing. The arrival of more friends prompted dinner to begin, so all the BBQ items were underway on the grill. When all was said and done, there was a plethora of meat, corn, and bread scattered on the table waiting to be devoured. Worth mentioning was the corn on the cob. Each piece had mayo, feta, and chili powder drizzle over them. I gladly went for seconds. The memories of their friendships were brought up, and I enjoyed seeing all these guys recount hilarious stories of theirs. Soon enough, two gallons of ice cream arrived, and we all sat around enjoying the cherry on top, if you will, of the day. With a stomach full of delicious, home-cooked food and a day’s worth of laughing, I was ready to hit the sack. This will easily be a night to remember, and I can’t thank Steve and Ina enough for their hospitality. Tomorrow will be a rest day, and we’ll hit the town for some necessary resupply before the infamous Rocky Mountains.

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