Breathtaking! Wednesday's route from Durago to Ridgway was the most spectacular day of cycling that Love Shack Dave and I have ever experienced!! No lie. Sure, the climbs were challenging for this Florida Flatlander, but the scenery! Dave and I were awestruck as each bend in the road revealed more incredible views! Heck, even the Aid Station locations, like the lunch stop at Molas Pass, were out of this world. The views were a perfect excuse to take many breaks along the way for photo ops, and allowed us to execute our Tortoise Plan of slow and steady. Maybe that's why climbs went better than expected? Dave also got the boombox working on the bike, and the tunes helped take the edge off the climbs too.
We were doing so well that Love Shack Dave insisted that we stop at Ouray Brewery 15 miles from the finish. We were joined by a fellow RtR participant, Longhorn Jan, who we met through a Team Love Shack connection. Nice finish to a great day!
In other news, we enjoyed our couple of days in Durango, which gave us a chance to rest a little and explore the town. What a great place! Aside from the sheer beauty of the area, I think it must have the highest ratio of brewpubs per resident in the country! It's really helped Love Shack Dave to make use of his new phone app to track his visits/drinks at craft breweries around the country! He also liked the High Rollers country band so much he bought three of their CDs!
I'd also like to give a shout out to Passionate Spirits Specialists Bridget and Ashley at the "Bookcase and Barber." Marle at Mountain Stir Fry clued us into this outrageous 32-seat speakeasy hidden behind the bookcase in the barber shop. PS, the code to get in is "19."
BTW, Gators don't like cold weather and it's been friggin' freezing in the mornings up here! We've had to scrape frost off our bikes! It looks like a little warmer weather is ahead of us, and we're hopeful we'll finally have tailwinds for a change. But it's also been all sunshine and no rain, which has been great!
We have a few more tough climbs ahead of us, but we're gaining more confidence and having a blast. If you see us, please stop and say "hi." Not surprisingly, you're most likely to find us in a brewpub in one of the upcoming host towns!
L8R G8R!