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Up’s and Down’s

August 19

Day 8

Hanging out in Salida, Colorado possibly the coolest town yet. 


For the numbers people:

Three cups of coffee ( some decaf)

One Full breakfast 

6 city blocks ridden

0 elevation climbed 


Recap:

Go? Or No Go?


How would you play these cards?

  1. Proceed forward down the trail towards New Mexico. At least five more climbs to 10,000 ft elevation. Ten more days minimum. 
  2. Stay in Salida. Go river rafting. The next day, have a local bike shop owner drive you to the top of the mountain and then ride the best single track for hours back down. Fly home a week early. 

The one thing we know for sure on these trips is that we have no idea of what we are getting ourselves into. So making a decision is not easy. Getting five A type personalities to make the same decision even harder. Most decisions are made with a great deal of interpolation looking backwards and assuming forwards yields similar results. 

Looking backwards. if you’ve forgotten or didn’t read all days:  Colorado riding has been tough. the ride started with some real steep ascents. toss in crazy weather every time we summited, we got chased off the mountain by thunder and rain. We’ve been riding a good amount of time near or over 10,000 feet elevation. One of us got sick, another feeling poorly. Next 300 miles are even more remote. 

On the plus side, some amazing times and blessings have come out of the trip. 

There’s only so much “fun” you can have so we’ve decided that we terminate this year’s trip here. This morning everyone reported how well they slept and how they could’ve slept longer. We must be more exhausted than we expected. 

I can only paint a watercolor picture on my phone of all that has happened. Perhaps from my laptop and the perspective of looking back, I can add another dimension. 

All I can say is that it’s been incredible. As I’ve said before, ‘it’s not the ordinary things that define your life, it’s the extraordinary.’

I can assure you that it’s been nothing ordinary at all. 

Thanks for reading. I hope your life’s journey is blessed too. 

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