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Day 3: Spring Creek Hut to Columbine Hut This morning some got sleep last night – unfortunately, I was not one of them – got perhaps 3 hrs – Ray confesses to the same. I was close to sleeping outside, but didn’t. Tonight I will. We decide not to have pancakes two days in a row, so most have cereal – most “like” the powdered, luke warm milk – I can not eat it despite trying, so dry cereal is my breakfast. Paul and Bill have instant cream of wheat – which lays in Bill’s stomach and constricts his breathing. We all agree breakfast wasn’t our best part of the day. The water at this hut is also pretty foul. We were “spoiled” by the relatively good tasting water at Hut #1, so now we are mixing this with Gatorade mix, tang, and anything else we can to “stomach” it for the ride. I end up using too much Gatorade, and can’t wait to find a new water source. We leave about 8am, and 7 miles into the ride, Todd realizes he left his watch/heart rate monitor back at #2. He and Jim stash their gear, and “high tail” it back to the hut, while the rest of us carry on. When they get back to the hut, they realize that we didn’t put the hide a key back where it belonged, and it was locked INSIDE the cabin. This was intervention #2 – it was the ONLY hut where they were able to take the windows apart to get in – all others had steel plates over them. They spend 45 minutes or so getting in, with a variety of “other snafus” they may be too embarrassed for me to relay here, and finally are on their way back. They also put the key back where it belongs – another reason we NEEDED them to go back. Paul is particularly hurting today – we are pumping him up with Advil and anything else that might help. He is not only new to the sport, but he did not train in the mountains (like I so VERY much emphasized J.) In effect, he is cramming his training into this trip…real time…OUCH!! Bill and I leave he and Ray to “take their time”, rest as often as Paul needs to, etc. We each have radios, so we are in touch with each other from time to time. As Bill and I progress into the ride, and one climb after another, we begin to realize how hard this must be for Paul, and outside of the first day, the “worst” of the climbing is yet to come. We are afraid he will need to “abandon the tour” as they say in the Tour De France, so we commence to praying earnestly for him together, as we ride. We also have a little praise and worship session for the next 10 miles or so – but it’s pretty hard to sing and pedal…especially on the hills…we enjoy it nonetheless. Yesterday, we had lots of open spaces, huge vistas, and long somewhat flat sections. Today’s ride is completely different. We start the ride in beautiful aspen lined roads, and then we have miles and miles of wild flower fields on our right, and hundreds of miles of valley views to our left. It’s like we are traveling on the side of a huge mountain range, where they cut away the left side so we could marvel at the expansive valley bellow – for miles and miles. We are in awe. This ride finishes near the Columbine campground. There is an old fashion water pump there, and the water is COLD and GREAT tasting! This was one of the places I was waiting for – in fact, it’s the reason I brought shampoo. We shampoo our hair, the water is so cold it “takes our breath away”, but it feels fantastic. After we arrive at the hut, Paul and Ray are only about 20 minutes behind us. Paul is feeling much better, and Bill and I know that we have had yet another “intervention”. God answers prayer, and we know He did on this day. This hut is officially designated “the worst” so far (it would continue to hold that position for the duration of the tour). Layout was more cramped, and the water was bad once again. Not wanting to have another “nasty water day”, I strip everything off my bike, and strap a 5 gallon container on the back of the bike and ride to the campground (less than 2 miles away) to secure “the good stuff”. There is one climb at the end, but I feel like a conqueror and return to get a 2nd container (I only fill about 3 gallons each time). Todd leads the discussion this night on the subject of the freedom of a relationship with God. Another good day in and out of the saddle. Bill, Paul and I try to sleep outside tonight – I’ve yet to get a good night’s sleep because of the heat. It’s great for a while, but just enough rain came to chase us into the hut – only 15 minutes of rain, but enough to keep us inside. Stats for the day: 33.6 miles, total time about 5.5 hrs, pedal time about 4.03 hrs. Average is between 8 and 9 mph
More pictures for this day can be seen by clicking the button at the top of this page. A sheet of "thumbnails" will be displayed, and you can click on them to see the full size/full picture.
We traveled WEST or Right to Left looking at the map, but the profile below reads left to right.
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