August 7, Rangely to Grand Junction

And just a little taste it ended up being. The early part of the ride was through sort of scrubland, with sandstone rocks and old riverbeds. Right after the first sag I was delayed for nearly 45 minutes by road constuction, and mostly the entire back half of the group was collected until we were finally able to follow a pilot car nearly five miles through the construction zone. as it happened, he dropped us off right a the foot of our only climb of the day, 8240 foot Douglas pass; probably a categort 3 for the tour de France riders-- fairly short and not real steep. However, it was made a bit more exciting by our first rain of the trip, which started right at the top of the pass.So I put on jacket, cap, leg warmers, toe covers and gloves, and set off. It was a long, fun descent, not very curvy, so it was real easy to do in the rain. The bike stays comfortably upright on the straights, you start braking a bit sooner for the curves, and don't lean too heavily in the turns so you don't slip out. Near the bottom of the climb, the sun came out, so I doffed the rain gear, stuffed it back into my seat bag and pockets, and got back on the bike. I was tooling along quite comfortably when up a hill, the tandem train caught me. There is one tandem on this trip, being ridden on alternate days by Don and Carol Friedlander. The other days, Carol works crew and Don rides his single. So, I'm jamming along happily behind the tandem when it starts to rain again, and I am faced with a dilemma. Do I drop off, when we're so close to lunch and put my rain coat back on, or do I gut it out, taking nlt only the rain but the spray from the rest of the group. I chose to stay on, and a as a result go rewarded with regular facefuls of road spray. Not too disgusting, but at the end of the day my legs and the bike were covered with mud. Lunch was in Loma; we then turned off of rte 139 onto US6 for a while then rode a series of side roads through Fruita to Grand JUnction. THe crowning indignity of the day is that our room wasn't ready for nearly two hours after our arrival in town. I got my laundry done and played some guitar, but didn't get my shower until long after I was really ready for it.

That eveniong, Joel and I took a cab into downtown Grand Junction to haver dinner at a nice Italian place, whiel the dinner was good and definitely a step up from what we had been eating, more fun was that the main street downtown was closed for a produce/art/music fair, as it is every Thursday evening during the summer. Tne streets were full of people, and it was really nice to be away from the freeway hotel ambience of most of the places we stay. Joel and I are enjoyng each other; we have similar tastes and sensibilities He has a background similar to anne's, and we spent a good bit of dinner discussing our families.

The next two days are in the high mountains, with huge climbs and screaming descents-- Stay tuned! After Sunday, our big days are over and I hope to a little more commentary and a little less reportage.