welcome to colorful colorado!

I shocked myself when we finally pedaled over the Mighty Mississippi River. A week or so later, we stayed in Lebanon, Kansas, famous for being the geographical center of the 48 contiguous United States. Yesterday, we crossed into Colorado. Sometimes, I can't quite figure out just how I got to where I am. I don't mean to praise myself, but I just can't quite figure out how I, and these new friends of mine, have actually biked this far.

Yesterday we had 100 miles to ride, so we were up at 4:30 and on our bikes by 6:00. I can't lie, I did not think I was going to make it. My seat (the one on me, not on my bike) has been really bothering me lately, and I was envisioning riding all 100 miles standing in my pedals. Fortunately, (or unfortunately), after 20 miles of riding near tears, my butt actually went numb. It was also about this time that we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone, enabling us to arrive at our first lunch of the day at 8:30 in the morning. This is a perfect example of how I think Bike and Build has shocked us out of all kinds of normalcy. Waking up at 4:00 sounds far more normal than 7:00; having less than five meals a day sounds ludicrous; getting dressed up means putting on jeans; and the most important part of the day is applying diaper rash cream. So, at 8:30 yesterday morning - I had two sandwiches, tortilla chips and apple pie without batting an eye.

I, for one, had been dreading this century ride. People kept talking about the winds, the heat, and the stench of slaughterhouses. However, I think most riders would agree that yesterday's was one of our easiest rides yet. We woke up and it was chilly outside (an unexpected surprise). There were storms brewing that had caused the headwinds to turn. In June, there were days that I'd ride 65 miles in over seven hours. Yesterday we went 100 in five! We arrived at the church with plenty of time to take showers, read our mail (an enormous thank you to all of you who sent love and encouragement), nap, eat dinner, nap and then hit the town.

Today is our second of four REAL days off. So last night, we decided to check out all that Holyoke, Colorado had to offer. I haven't ever experienced night life quite like this. We walked into the only bar in town, and were the only customers. Some of us played pool, some break-danced to country music, at one point we brought out a broom for an official Bike and Build Limbo competition, and we even had wheelbarrow races on the dance floor. We each celebrated, in our individual ways, the fact that we would not be sitting on a bicycle a short six hours later.

Without much that we need to do, today has been delightfully uneventful. We sat at a coffee shop this morning and labored over a kid's crossword puzzle. Then most of us went uptown to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. Right now we have projected High School Musical onto the wall of the church, later we are going to do a little bit of tye-dying and, who knows, maybe even de-grease our bike chains! So far, Colorado has been very good to us, but all too soon we will be at the base of those Rocky Mountains - putting our hiking boots back on.