July 4-5 - Ordway, CO to Pueblo, CO and No Ride Day

Mileage: 50 miles
Terrains: Flat
Temperature: 97 degrees
Woke up on the 4th at Ordway’s HS gym, there was no ac but I didn’t mind as I didn’t have to set up my tent and there were no bugs! I slept great! But, for some strange reason every time I moved on my mat, it squeaked on the gym floor. I was worried I was keeping everyone awake but I think they were all too tired to care. It was a rather slow start to the morning as we only had 50 flat miles to go and all day to do it in. Rode about 30 easy miles, took my time and enjoyed my music on my ipod. Then came to the first rest stop. There was a small convenience store where I hydrated on some gatorade. We noticed that the scenery was changing a bit as there was more green in the pastures. The cows blended in with the green as the plants were much taller- in Kansas the cows stood out as the pastures weren’t very tall.
In Kentucky we saw a lot of tobacco fields and corn fields, in Illinois it was more wooded and we didn’t see as many crops, in Missouri there was corn and some beans. In Kansas there was lots of wheat, corn, and beans and we even saw a few fields where they had burned the wheat, we’re not sure why. There were also a lot of the big irrigation arms there; I learned later that some of the riders would get off their bikes and stand under these to cool off; I was concerned that there might be pesticides in them so I never did, but gosh, that would have made riding in the heat so much more tolerable! Kansas also had lot of big open fields of pasture where there were lots of cattle. Also, in Kansas and Colorado (thus far) we saw three or four cattle distribution centers that smelled horrible. There were acres and acres packed full of cattle – about twenty times as big as my dad’s farm all packed full of cows. One of the guys pointed out that all the cows stared at us when we passed them (this was all the cows, not just the distribution centers.)
After the next rest stop we moved on, Brittany and I were riding along just listening to music when this van pulled up making all this noise. I was thinking, what’s going on, who are these people? And then I realized it was my family. So I pulled over and talked to them for a little while, told them how bad my butt hurt, boy do I have some saddle sores going on. Everybody agrees that Kansas wasn’t good on our hinies.
So we got into Pueblo and are staying at Guest House Inn. I am just thrilled to sleep on a real mattress and I have my own bed and air conditioning!
My family brought me a pair of jean shorts and they fit like always, which was really good news. I was worried I was gaining; I’m not sure why I would think that but it might have something to do with the mass amounts of food I consume. My family also brought my heart rate monitor, which tracks calories used, and on one of the long rides I’ll report back on that.
Today (July 5) I took my bike to the bike shop here to have some work done. We also did another project for a woman who has MS. The girls all cleaned the inside of the house, and the guys cleaned out the garage and trimmed the yard up, cleaned out spoutings, etc. We are fortunate that we are able to do these things and it is nice to know that we made someone’s home a little more comfortable for them.
Afterward, my sisters took a bunch of us to Walmart in the rental van; it was a nice treat to be able to go there and get some supplies for our pantries, etc. Also, I got my Mohawk put on my helmet; I was so glad to get this!
We are leaving now to go get Mexican down by the river. Tomorrow they are going to let us sleep in again so the van isn’t leaving until about 10 a.m.