Day 46: Pueblo, CO to Royal Gorge, CO

Wednesday, July 4, 2012,  56 miles - Total so far: 884 miles*
    * Miles ridden on the TransAm route
    Odometer miles - Today - 56.2 Total to date - 923.5 miles  

Rocky Mountain High - Colorado!

Because we had pancakes at Evan and Marcella's house at 7am this morning I didn't start my ride until 7:45am - the latest start yet.  We left Pueblo and started to climb a bit into the foothills.  The scenery was far more beautiful than anything we've seen for days.  The first 25 mile segment this morning was capped off by a rugged climb up and then drop down into Wetmore, CO.  I was riding alone most of the morning but caught up with several of the others and the van doing a service stop for us there.

The mountains in the distance as we head out of Pueblo

Now those are REAL mountains.

The next 11 miles was mostly downhill to Florence, CO.  As we rode we could see Pikes Peak way off in the distance directly in front of us.  Most of us did a lunch stop at a cafe in the center of Florence - a cute little town that seemed to specialize in antiques.  It was a pretty busy place on this 4th of July holiday.

Downtown Florence, CO - some old car buffs were out for a 4th of July drive.

Wendy with her brother Derick and nephew Daniel - our extra riders today.

After lunch in Florence we followed a relatively flat but winding road to Canon City, CO.  We crossed the Arkansas River as we entered town.  It's a much more robust river here than what we saw in Kansas.

Nicole and Judy stopped for a refreshing dip in the Arkansas River at Canon City.

The last 8 miles, from Canon City to our campground on U.S. Hwy 50 near the Royal Gorge bridge was pretty tough.  It was afternoon and the sun was out in full force with a temperature in the mid 90's.  The road was flat for a few miles, but then started a constant climb for the last 5-6 miles.  It was hot, there was sometimes a headwind and it was very slow going.  I was riding near the back and rode with Wendy and Gina for the last 3 miles.  Clouds were building in the afternoon heat and it looked like it might rain, but fortunately all it did was cover the sun and cool things down.  That made the final 3 miles a bit more bearable.

The final eight miles was along U.S. 50, a busy 4-lane highway out of Canon City.

We arrived at our campground at 2:15pm - a 6.5 hour day of riding for me to go 56 miles.  Still it was a good day overall.  Our first climbs in the Rockies.  I managed them very well - slow but steady at my plodding pace.  The views were fantastic everywhere we looked.  It's what everyone in the group endured Kansas to see.

The campground has spaces for RVs, tents and a few cabins.  When Paul and Nicole made the reservation months ago they reserved two private cabins and a 3-bed shared cabin, assuming some people might prefer that to sleeping in their tent.  Last night after map meeting they had a drawing among those interested to see who would get to use these cabins.  Simon got one private cabin, I got the other and Gina, Wendy and Judy got the spots in the shared cabin.

So for these two days I get the "luxury" of a private cabin.  It's not as great as it might sound.  It's not air-conditioned, though it should get pretty cool overnights.  It's just a bare wooden cabin without any bathroom, but it does have a nice queen size bed.  The winners bear the expense of their cabin, but overall I think it's worth it to enjoy a couple of days with a place of my own to spread out and relax. 

My luxury cabin at Echo Canyon campgrounds, Royal Gorge, CO.

Inside the spacious accommodations.

A view from our campground - the shared cabin is in the foreground, our pavilion in the background.

Another view from our campground.  It may not show up on the blog photo, but we can see the tops of the towers for the Royal Gorge suspension bridge in the distance to the left.