June 24, 2020
Clifton - Rifle, CO
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1,986 Elevation gain
No oatmeal for me this morning! We get a hot breakfast. It's either biscuits and gravy or green chili. I'm hoping for green chili. I slept until 4 AM, which is pretty good. I tried to coax myself back to sleep, but I don't feel like it happened. I was at breakfast shortly after it opened. There was one person in line in front of me, so I got to see how things worked. The employee filled our plates for us. Of course, she didn't know about hungry cyclist servings, so I had to ask for extras! I sat outside in the attractive courtyard area to eat. Back in the room, I wasted no time getting on the road. We are at low elevation again, it's going to be hot today. I was off by 7:01.
I took the direct route, down F Road all the way through Palisade to the interstate. Jacinto tried to talk me into ten extra miles around Debeque cutoff. Nope! I'm ready to be home. Plus, it was extra climbing. I was hoping to get home before it got too hot. Direct is the way for me.
I rode straight through Palisade to the interstate, 8 miles. Then I had a total of 18 miles on the interstate to the Debeque exit. The first section through the canyon had a narrower shoulder than typical on the interstate. I was happy when the road opened up a little. There was broken glass at various areas all through this point of the ride. I was really, really hoping not to have a flat tire on the interstate. So far, so good.
I appreciated riding in the shade going through the canyon. I was keeping a good average speed - partially my enthusiasm to get home and partly from riding in vehicles slip stream. Once I got off the interstate at Debeque, I took a Spiz break. After that, I had some climbing and my average speed started to drop. The downslope morning headwind was slightly annoying to begin with. When I came out of the canyon, it had shifted to a side, south wind. That was to be expected.
I was trying not to stop often. I had a goal of getting home by noon. I made it by 12:30. Which, was pretty good for taking breaks and all.
Later - we took my bike over to Steve's. He identified the hop in the rim straight away. He pointed out a chipped spot where I had probably gone through a pot hole. He switched the cassette out to the wheel from my other bike. I test rode it up and down the street a couple of times. I'm good to go for the second half of the tour.
We are taking two days off here and home and then we continue north.
Today's ride: 58 miles (93 km)
Total: 1,102 miles (1,773 km)
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