Well well well! We are offically in Colorado Springs, CO w/ the Rockies breathing down our necks. I am sitting in a Marriot hotel at 5:53am. We rolled into Colo Springs yesterday around 6:15. Well, a few of us did. Yesterday's ride was a whirlwind of happenings, a day with parts so different you wouldn't believe it was all part of the same ride. The day started normal enough: wake up call at 5am, eating by 6, bike repairs and ride dedications a little late, leaving by 8:15. We rode about 5 miles until we hit a nice patch of dirt road that extended for about 16 miles, leading us through Pueblo's back country. The Rockies lingered in the background, towering in the distance, no visible definition except its commanding outline on the horizon. It was a festive first rest stop, lots of cause for celebration as nobody got a flat tire on the tough terrain. The next leg is when the problems began. Our ride out the rest stop was pleasant. Tons of beautiful green country, winding roads that pick you up and sweep you into the next straight away. Around mile 36 there was a little confusion in the directions, a street name not in its right place, and the day started to go sideways. Eric, Chris, Alex Chang and I managed to find our way to a Sonic for our second rest stop. The rest of the team slowly trickled in. Chris went ahead to find a quicked route to Colo Springs, maybe something that wasn't so dangerous traffic wise for 16 bicycle riders. Chris called us and told us to meet him at this nature trail that would be free of cars. Well, it was indeed free of cars, but the trail was dirt and rocks, which at first wasn't bad, but as we got further and further into the trail the dirt and rocks got deeper, causing many riders to fishtail. With many of us angered with the choice of trail riding, Chris went and found an outlet to the road. Once we exited we realized we didn't know where we were. So at this point a lot of us were feeling defeated, uninspired, and probably the most significant thing was a fear of the road ahead. The route we were being told to take was more like a freeway, with on ramps and off ramps. Simply dangerous when you've got a trail of people on bicycles. After a lengthly wait, the van was finally able to find us and scooped up those who wanted to ride in. Collin, Eric, Usman, Vinaj, Nelson, Alex Schliker, Chris and I decided to finish out the day's ride, even though we were frustrated with the day to this point. It would be another 20 or so miles. We stopped briefly at a Walgreens for water bottle refills and set to the busy streets. Dealing with traffic in a city is a bit more managable than on a freeway, as cars aren't rushing past at 70+ mph. Eventually we hit a fairly intense section of hills, towering inclines that had no curves. Just straight up. We charged the hills with a mix of excitement and hesitation. We haven't seen any hills like this yet, even thru Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas (not surprising, I know). The team destroyed every hills that dared pop up in front of us. At the top of each we regrouped for the big decent and seemingly bigger ascent on the other side. The 20-mile leg took us almost 2 hours. We rolled into the Marriot parking lot hollering victory.

A few members of last year's Rockies team met us at the Marriot and made us dinner. There was BBQ, a whole buffet of sides and other tastey foods. A truely perfect meal for a perfect end to the day.

What inspired me most about yesterday's ride was how we managed to come together at the end, even when exausted, and took on the biggest hills we have seen to this point. I watched Usman Cheema get so siked up that it made me keep pushing. His enthusiam in the face of such intimidating hills was great to see. I look at the end of yesterday as the precursor to what Colorado will be. Only instead of city streets I'm hoping it will be mountain roads.

Well, it is breakfast time! A big update of past journals will be coming soon, I promise. They just need to be uploaded. Thanks for reading!

Shawn