Day 23: Back on the Road

Buena Vista, CO to Hartsel, CO to Pueblo, CO- Santa Fe Inn

There were many times in the first 5 days of my journey that I struggled and was seriously apprehensive about the road ahead. I can remember multiple times thinking to myself, “It’s okay, you just have to rethink your goals. You have a month and a half. Just make it to Sophie’s house in Buena Vista and you can figure out another way home from there”. Biking 1,381 miles would already be an impressive journey, but I settled in, kept grinding, learned some lessons, and got to Sophie’s right on schedule. It certainly wasn’t easy, but I overcame those early panics and got here without any major issues.

After 4 days of rest I’m ready to hit the road again. So this morning, Kathy and John drove me back over Trout Creek Pass to the TransAm Trail in Hartsel, CO. I waved goodbye to the Brown’s and continued on my journey home. I still had a little bit of a climb on Highway, Colorado 9, bringing me up over 9,000 feet for one last time. I was either riding through a cloud or it was misting at the top. It was there that I ran into Chris and Arlene, a newly married couple from Kansas, and later I met another rider, Josh – All three going the other way. Finally, I had a big downhill and was making good time despite a constant headwind. Around mile 33, some crazy dude in the opposite lane drove right across the median blasting his horn at me. I think he was trying to intimidate me for some reason. I continued on and found an amazing, scenic, one-lane road in Canon City called “The Skyline Trail.” It had steep cliffs on either side of the road and offered incredible views. At one point I hit a gravel road, it was the first time my new navigation app (Komout) had brought me to one. I had to reroute even though I could see pavement on the other side because it was a crazy gravel hill. I’ve been fighting a headwind all day and without the downhill its really frustrating. I’m just going so slow! Today was much harder than I expected- lots of steep hills combined with the headwind was brutal. I met another young biker Daniel near Pueblo. He’s going to Ithaca College in the Fall. I finally got to Pueblo and decided to stop there. It’s a cool little town but nowhere to camp, so I ended up at a cheap hotel and will make travel plans for the next few days.

Distance: 107.66(1489.15 total miles)
Time: 7:40:48
Ascent: 3934
Descent: 8038

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