Dinosaur, CO to Craig, CO

We woke up at 5:30 today, got ready and headed out for 90 mile ride. For our paceline today, I made sure I didn’t ride with Bob. Instead, I rode with 4 of the fastest cyclists on the team, Trent (Nebraska), Brad (UNC), Matt (Colorado), and Alex (Illinois). Now, the first 30 miles or so were very rough. Really big hills, and they never stopped coming. Actually, they can be considered mountains. Regardless, we destroyed them. By lunch time (the 75 mile mark), we were the first paceline in, making it in at around 11AM. My legs were really tense today, and so I was pretty exhausted throughout the day. Luckily, I had a great paceline that kept me motivated and I just kept pedaling. At the last 30 miles, we were being chased by a cloud or rain. We considered it a race, and after we downed lunch, it was on. We barely missed the rain, but we were cruising through. We looked at our average speed, and were averaged 18.3 mph. That doesn’t seem to fast, but considering that we were climbed some insane hills, let me tell you that its fast. We made it lodging before noon. Considering the terrain, that was truly a feat. Lodging today was at the Boys and Girls Club of Craig. Basically, they serve as a daycare center for low income families. We presented them a puppet show educating them that people with disabilities are no different than ourselves. After a 90 miles ride, I’m truly exhausted. However, these kids were hyped on sugar, and were literally bouncing off walls. I tried to stay focus and play around with the kids, but man

, I could not hang in there any longer, especially on a empty stomach. After paint a few paintings (I guess I shouldn’t quit my day job), we decided to play a little dodgeball. I met this kid, also named Sean, that I guess just adored me. I basically sat it out on the bleachers, and played vicariously through him. I would give him target, and he would sneak around and attack. It was pretty awesome, he literally did everything I told him to do.

By 5:30, all of the kids went home, and we hopped in our vans, and went to a picnic area, where we were greeted by a facility called Horizons, which houses people with disabilities and helps find jobs for them. I met a couple participants, Dan and Joseph, and it was really uplifting talking to them and putting a smile on their face. Its pretty cool that you can tell that you literally made their day, just by your presence.

The dinner was basically turkey sandwiches with potatoes salad on the side, which filled us up completely. We finally had energy, after being wiped from a tough ride, and very energetic kids. After dinner, headed to a carwash to clean out the vans and make them presentable.

We have some big sponsors coming up in Denver, and we didn’t want to embarrass ourselves. Additionally, they began to smell the past couple of days, and did a thorough vacuum job throughout each van. After the carwash, we came back and had a team meeting, a very long team meeting. We basically worked a few safety issues out, as well as a few personality issues out. When you get 35 frat guys living together for a summer, tension is bound to arise, but got through it all, and it worked out in the end. By the time we were done, it was 10:30, basically bed time. A few of decided to head over to go down to the local gas station, and get some a couple snacks. They had some really good burritos. I guess the gas station is a huge chain all over Colorado and Iowa. We headed back to lodging, just before curfew. It was a long day, and I’m glad it was over, cause I was totally exhausted.