Distance: 61 avg: 10.6
Coloradoooo~~~!!
Yep, Another state! Woohoo! Pretty nice. Today I woke up and said goodbye to Ben and Summer and headed out towards Walden. The scenery was very Wyoming, rolling hills, and the weather was good. I reached the Colorado border right after lunch. I also started watching the pretty spectacular weather boiling away on the horizon. Lightning and thunder would light up pitch black clouds. But they weren’t coming near me so I kept biking.
I started approaching Walden and noticed that now indeed I was heading into the maelstrom. I stopped at the well-decorated River Rock Cafe and checked the weather. Lightning. Thunder. Hail. 40 mph winds.
At this point I should’ve said ‘fuck that, room with a view, please.’ but no, I thought I’d wait a bit and keep going when things look better. Things were definitely clearing up, but I learned an important lesson about what to risk and what not.
The clouds/lightning dissipated fine, but the wind, my god. Forget about it. And so I risked it and lost. I made about 8 miles in an hour and a half and called it quits( it is also uphill). If I kept going I would have made my destination in 2 hours, minimum. That would’ve put me at over 8 hours of biking, and my right quad is not going to heal hammering like that.
So important lesson: if the weather says 40mph winds, there is no ‘clearing up’. Take to ground and enjoy your evening.
I have found a beautiful camping spot tho. I’m in a wildlife refuge and it’s just serene. Big open plains and lush, smooth, mountains in the distance. I’m reminded of Boards of Canada’s ‘A Beautiful Place In The Country’.
