Zeros in Boulder

We have finally made it to Boulder, Colorado! Since leaving Wichita, Kansas on June 27th we have ridden roughly 500 miles and now we are all chilling out in Boulder, resting up, re-supplying, and getting ready for the final 1,800 mile stretch of our trip. A few things of interest since Wichita...

On June 27th we spent the night in Hutchinson, Kansas at Trevor's uncle's house. Bart cooked us a delicious dinner and we had showers and beds and pillows to sleep on, which was amazing. Thanks Bart!

On June 28th it rained all morning and the crew only rode 15 miles and rested up for a big day.

On June 29th we rode close to 90 miles to Rush Center, Kansas, population 170. We camped in the city park there with some other west-bounders that we had met the night before.

On June 30th we had a weak tailwind and were able to cover 88 miles to Scott City, a fairly large town by our standards (meaning there was a grocery store). We slept in the city park and met an east-bounder who had come all the way from Eads - 105 miles - since that morning. He told us about a guy he had passed a ways back who was roller-blading across the country, self-supported, with a push-cart!

July 1st was a very tough day. We had a mild but debilitating headwind all morning and had only made it 25 miles by lunch time. Luckily, the winds shifted a bit after lunch and we were able to make better time the second half of the day. We crossed into Mountain Time and then about 20 miles later we finally left Kansas and found ourselves in Colorado! Throughout the day the terrain went through a gradual but noticeable change from wheat fields to dessert-like expanses of sand and shrubs. At about 7 (Mountain Time) we rode into Towner, Colorado. Our goal for the day was another town 13 miles further east but it was getting late and it looked like it was going to storm so we decided to stop for the night. We got permission to sleep in a church and we enjoyed bathrooms, chairs and tables, and carpeted floors for a night.

We got a late start in the morning because we were so comfortable in the church. But the morning riding was fast and we covered a quick 39 miles to Eads, where we took a long lunch and library break. From Eads we left the TransAmerica trail and began our detour to Denver. Our plan was to ride either to Wild Horse or Aroyo for the night, but we had no idea what was in either town and a quick google search had revealed that there were no gas stations or stores. From Eads we headed North for 20 miles to Kit Carson. The water in Kit Carson tasted really bad and there were no open stores so we filled up our water-bottles anyway because we knew there might not be water where we were going. About a mile out of Kit Carson we ran into some construction where they were laying down a new concrete road. The construction workers wouldn't let us ride through so we had to get shuttled in pick-up trucks 4 miles to the end of the work zone. By then it was getting dark and an ominous storm was looming on the horizon, so we rode a quick 9 miles (with the help of a tailwind) into Wild Horse, probably doubling the town's population as we entered. We got some clean water from a woman and her father and they said it would be OK if we camped next to the abandoned school-house. But when we got on the internet we saw that the storm was going to be a big one and might even become a tornado, so we decided to find better shelter. At Claire's suggestion we moved to an abandoned Kwanset (sp?) and waited for the storm. It hit at around 10:10 pm the rain and wind was intense but we managed to stay pretty dry under the Kwanset and luckily there was no tornado.

Woke up in the Kwanset on July 3rd and realized how filthy the place was. We left feeling pretty dirty and looking forward to showers in Denver, where we were hoping to arrive on July 4th. We had another tailwind and made great time to Limon, about 85 miles East of Denver. We took a break at a Wendy's in Limon and met a really nice motorcyclist from Denver named Bear who gave us $50 and told us to buy dinner on him. From Limon we rode on Interstate 70 for about 7 miles (apparently bikes were allowed on this stretch) and then got off onto scenic highway 87. Once we got on 87 the winds became unfavorable and the road started to get reall hilly so our pace was slowed. After about 10 miles the weather started to turn bad so Mike stopped at a place called "Sunset Ranch" and asked the owner if we could sleep in his barn to avoid the storm. He said it would be OK so we called it a night and rested up for the last 60 miles to Denver.

We woke up early on July 4th eager to get to Denver. The road West was quite hilly and at one point we climbed to around 6,400 feet - over a mile higher than Denver. But despite the hills the riding was beautiful and towards the middle of our day we came up over the crest of a hill and caught our first glimpse of the snow-capped Rocky Mountains. It was strange to think that a few days ago we had been riding through flat Kansas prairie. After about 65 miles we finally arrived in Denver at the Mike's girlfriend Alice's house. Alice and her Mom and step-Dad cooked us an amazing dinner and we were finally able to take much needed showers. That night we rode down to Washinton Park and watched the fireworks explode over the Rockies.

We spent July 5th in Denver running errands. On the morning of July 6th, Alice's step-Dad Lance took us on a tour of a house that he is building for himself and Alice's Mom. It is called a "Passive House", and Lance is hoping that it will use net-zero energy. The idea is that it is extremely well-insulated and the placement of the windows allows natural cooling and heating. The small amount of energy that will be needed to heat the house in the winter will be provided by a heater the size of a blow-dryer coil. Lance also plans on using solar panels if necessary. We were all really excited to see the house and we wish Lance and Kay-Kay the best with the rest of the construction!

On July 6th we cheated and took a bus up to Boulder in order to avoid riding through the sprawl of Denver. So now we're chilling out in Boulder for a while getting ourselves ready for our next stretch of cycling. It looks like some of the group is going to leave Boulder on July 8th and some are going to stay longer, but we all plan on meeting back up again in Yellowstone.