146 miles (7500 ft climbing), 11:24 hours 15.9mph
Half way done!
Crazy day today leaving Colorado on the first day of summer. We started with strong headwinds and then shifting to freezing rain as we got closer to our main climb of the day up Douglas Pass. People were abandoning for the day by the second sag stop (only 7 people ended up completing the whole day in the end) and the support vans were getting full of bikes and wet people.
I borrowed and extra jacket from Susan before the climb started and then had to ride at my own tempo to try to stay warm going up it. The wind eased a bit as I got higher but then the sleet and snow started. It’s rarely a good sign when a snow plough passes you going the other direction from were your heading towards. Lon, Susan and the rest of the support crew took excellent care of us today making sure that everyone who wanted to keep riding were properly monitored and finding extra gear when needed.
Once I reached the top it was straight into the van for some warming up with hot coffee. Bob and Greg soon joined me and we braced ourselves to head back out for the descent to hopefully warmer levels. Had to ride the brakes going down as with wet wheels I didn’t want to risk picking up too much speed. We got down below the snow level relatively quickly but in wet gear the headwind descending kept me shivering.
Hot tomato soup at the bottom of the main descent helped a bit but I stayed pretty cold until we finally got to our lunch stop and was able to dry out some of my gear in the sun.
Then it was off to Utah in sunnier weather though still battling a strong sidewind until we turned left and had a glorious tailwind for the last 40 miles to Vernal, rolling at 25-32mph for long stretches. A fine way to end an epic day.
