Day 51: Weds 9/3, Picturesque Colorado! Big Miles! 90 miles

Oh man, I tried to ride a century (100 miles), I ran out of daylight! Bummer. Lol! Plus the last 10 miles I rode today i had a headwind. That kinda threw a wrench in things 😦

Today was an absolutely beaaaaautiful day of riding!! Oh my gosh my heart is happy 🙂 I’d say, overall it was the most beautiful day of riding on my trip thus far, as far as continuity of beautiful scenery goes. The first climb I had was pretty mellow, so that wasn’t too bad. Still tiring though. Haha. I think that week in Steamboat of riding all those carbon fiber demo bikes ruined me, now my bike feels so heavy. Lol!

As soon as I got off the paved highway, in was gifted with beautiful views of rolling hills with bigass mountains in the background. This seems to be the pattern in Colorado. Either you’re ON a bigass mountain, or you see them in the distance. Lol!

I rode past a large gap in the earth, there is a river valley canyon down there. I forgot the name, it starts with a “C”. Very pretty 🙂

In my multiple ascents and decents through the valley, I had pretty amazing views. Here’s one, where I’m dropping into a basin filled with farms and ranches.

One of the greatest things about today was, not only was my ride incredibly picturesque, but I also passed through many different types of environments. I went through farmlands, as well as beautiful rocky/forested areas:

And then back into canyons and rolling valleys:

My climb up to my 2nd pass, Carnero Pass, was a bit tougher than the first one. But I eventually got to the top. And the best thing is, I know that what follows the crest of a summit, is a massive descent! 😀

The descent was absolutely glorious, as descents usually go. 🙂 I went through beautiful groves of aspen trees:

Followed by a section of road where I was flanked by rocks and trees (my two favorite things!!) 🙂

And then I went through some beautiful canyons:

All in all it was an absolutely beautiful day. I guess you can say, it was the quintessential Colorado scenery. 🙂 I decided to stop after 90 miles. I had a headwind for the last 10 miles and that’s just not fun.

Tomorrow, I hit the small town of Del Norte (there’s a brewery there!!), and then I tackle the highest pass on the entire route: Indiana pass at almost 12,000′! Brewery + bigass climb is usually not a good combination. Lol! It’s all good, I shall make the best of it 🙂