Originally Posted by jppe

Great day today! We did 90 miles from Steamboat Springs to Gypsum in Sunny blue skies. Were supposed to ride to Glenwood Springs but the historic high water levels have washed out parts of the Glenwood Canyon bike trail. So we left our bikes at Gypsum High School and they bused us to Glenwood Springs.

There were miles of 1-2 percent grades, long fast descents and we finished with a slight downhill of 15 miles. We also had a steady 6-7 percent climb of 4 miles at the 60 mile mark. I lead another fella up that one and talking with him helped the time pass quickly. He is from Tucson, Az and I'm familiar enough with the city to share some things in common.

I realized somewhere along the way it was pretty much the same road we did last week from Edwards to Steamboat but were going in the opposite direction. Remember me talking about the climb that never ended last week? I got to ride down it today!

While we were doing the long gradual climb we had a nice headwind. One of these days we've got to get a tailwind.

The best part of today was a Coca Cola. I stopped at a convenience store about 2 hrs into the ride and bought one. I drank most of it at the store and put the rest in one of my bottles. It gave me a real good burst of energy that lasted the rest of the ride.

I was worried about the lack of energy during yesterday's ride and never really recovered last night. The Coke did the trick! In fact I'm going to carry one in my jersey pocket the last couple days.

Some terrific vistas today and I took a number of pictures easing down the hills at 40 mph. I'll be curious to see how they turn out.

Tomorrow is an off day. I gave myself a gift and have a hotel room for my brother and me for 2 nights. It's good timing as it's pretty hot here-too hot for a tent.

We plan to play 9 holes of golf in the morning and then take the tram to the Cavern after lunch. My sleeping mattress flatted last night so I replaced it this evening.

I think I'm now over 700 miles with 2 days of riding to go!