Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Rocky Mountain High, Colorado

We crossed in to Colorado on June 19, the thirteenth day of our trip, into a town called Las Animas. From There, we biked 85 miles to Pueblo, traveled 60 miles to Colorado Springs, made a 62-mile trip to Denver, had a short 35-mile bike to Boulder, where we rested for a day, and then crossed into Fort Collins for a relatively short 45-mile trip--the 19th day of our summer.

Colorado was a beautiful place to be: the weather was clear, the air was clean and refreshing, and scenic, paved bike trails carried us safely in to Denver and Boulder. I couldn't help thinking of the website, stuff white people like, everywhere we went: we were surrouned by Subarus, Chaco sandals, New Balance tennis shoes, REI superstores, organic and locally-owned food markets, and recycling centers.

My teammate Scott started a game called, "Sum up the Subarus," in which we counted up all the Subarus we could find within one location. Outside of Ideal Food Mart, we found 11 altogether. I think I saw only three for every two days in Austin.

Colorado was exactly what I expected, and more. Although I didn't take part in a particular adventure during our stay in the state, I think it is expecially noteworthy: 10 of my teammates made a life-changing bike ride to the summit of Mount Evans. Mt. Evans is over 14,000 feet above sea level, and the road to its summit (according to Google search results) is the world's highest paved roadway. Mike Casey made a great blog entry on the Texas 4000 website about his journey.

My teammates and I are becoming closer and closer with each struggle and success. We're becoming a family, and we need to work together as such in order to make it to Anchorage.

No comments: