Just Another Fun Day In The Saddle

Today was 92.3 miles with 4,900 feet of climbing, which we got out of the way in the first 16 miles.  We passed through probably the most beautiful section of forest before lunch.  The pictures below will give you an idea of how pretty the day was.  The last 40 followed the historic Santa Fe Trail.  When I was a kid, I used to love reading about the covered wagons rolling west.  We also had quite the traffic jam when a couple cowboys (and two dogs) moved some cattle across the road.

Sally likes to find treasures along side the road.  Sorry, I didn't get a photo, but Rustin passed her on his bike only to discover she had two goat skulls (complete with horns) stuffed inside her bike jacket.  She gave him one which he plans to turn it into an art project.  He looked like some kind of Trek witch doctor holding the handlebar with one hand, while he positioned the skull as hood ornament with the other.

I found a scale this morning and weighed in at 182, down 8 from Santa Barbara.  My resting pulse was 56, which is still about 9 bpm up, but 1 less than a couple days ago.

The day was pretty easy.  I'm much more relaxed now that the 140-miler with 8,100 feet of climb is in the rear view mirror.  On the other hand, we've been riding almost three weeks and we're not yet halfway.  It's turning into a job.  A fun one, but still a job.

There's a shot of me descending out of the mountains and a couple photos of the mountains.  Finally, Denis and I are taking a van break and looking at the endless prairie.