Breckenridge, CO (Day Off)

Today was a nice break.

We slept in until 7:30 AM. Sure that may sound early, but its a couple more hours of sleep than I’m used to, so it was real nice.

We got dressed in our cycling jerseys and we headed over to Main Street of Breckenridge, where we participated in the 4th of July parade. The parade was pretty cool, there was almost the entire town, at least five thousand in attendance. It was really cool, because we the 4th float/group in the parade, so all the children and townspeople were really into it. It has been a long time since I was in a 4th of July parade. When I was little, I cycled along with all the other Carmel boyscouts in the Carmel, Indiana 4th of July parade. Long story short, I had a few spills year after year, which led to a little fear of riding bikes. Look at me now world.

After the parade, we headed back to the cabin, got dressed in our street clothes, and were basically given the day off. A few of us went to the downtown and walked around. To my surprise, Breckenridge, is actually a cool little down. I guess theres a lot of great places to ski, so there was a ton of great outdoor shops. Not exactly cheap, and a little out of my budget, but it was cool to see the town.

After walking through downtown, we headed to the outlet shops at Silvertone, about 10 minutes away from lodging. Cycling is very huge in Colorado, so theres a lot of great cycling shops at Breck. There was even a Izumi outlet store at Silvertone. I got some much needed arm warmers.

We came back to get ready for dinner. Like yesterday, we were again sponsored by Bruce Rogers. He provided us a complete and delicious spagetti and meatballs from a local restaurant, a much needed carb-loading dinner for tomorrow.
We topped it off with a couple scoops of Coldstone. It’s an unwritten rule on Journey of Hope that for each century ride, the Project Manager buys the team a cold treat like icecream or milkshakes. Was it worth the 110 miles, probably not. Was it delicious, yes!

We headed back to the lodging where we just relaxed. Unfortunately, it started raining. By the time 10 or 11 rolled around, it was pouring, so I wasn’t too keen on walking a mile and getting soaked, so I past on seeing the fireworks show, along with everyone else.

Tomorrow is going to be tough. Its 40 miles, but we climb over 3000 feet in roughly a 9 mile stretch...steep. Its going to be tough, but after this, its all downhill.