First Day Of My Ride!

I made it to Byers, Colorado today. I'm 40 miles short of my goal; the terrain and weather conspired against me to limit my mileage. It rained all morning which slowed me down. Not to mention some confusion about the route and riding against a headwind. It's not a terrible headwind, but it slows me down.

After arriving in Denver, Richard picks me up. Rich and Anita are two of my skydiving buddies. We go out to dinner at a fondue restaurant. They are vegetarians and fondue enthusiasts. It's my first fondue experience; I doubt I'd go back without a good reason.

The next morning I get up at seven. Anita wants to go out for breakfast. I'm feeling antsy, my gear and bike is still packed, but we go out for pancakes. Back home I finally assemble my bike and pack my gear. A friend made me promise to find a pebble to take along as a good luck charm. I find a red and black granite chip and pop it in my pocket. Even though it's raining, Anita wants to ride with me for a little bit. I'm happy for the company.

We ride about 25 miles together with me to the freeway and say good bye. I'd been hoping to avoid the freeway all together, but I have to ride on it a short distance; about 9 miles. Soon after I got off and back on to a secondary road, I met Lisa. Lisa is from the United Kingdom and she's riding from Houston to the West coast. Her bike is heavily loaded: front and rear panniers. She tells me she never camps and only stays at motels. She says she had to ride 110 miles one day in order to get to a town with a motel. That's a hard ride out here, I'd rather just camp.

I give her some tips to get across the Rocky Mountains. She only has one knee cap and has some difficulty putting a lot of force on the pedals. She's planning on walking the bike up the passes. I wonder if she realizes the magnitude of that task. Walking nine miles while pushing a heavily loaded bike is not my idea of a good time.

As we talk, I glance down at my front tire and see a piece of wire sticking out of it. It's a bit of the wire used to reinforce tires. Evidently it became stuck in the bikes tire when I was on the freeway. I thank my lucky stars that I saw it before I got a flat and pull it out.

I tell Lisa about my ride and she promises to think of me on August 9, the day everyone plans to celebrate with me in Boston. Boston seems impossibly far off.

Lisa tells me that after the town of Byers there's not much ahead for the next 100 miles or so. We chat a little longer, wish each other good luck, and push off. After a few miles I mentally kick myself for not giving Lisa Anita's phone number. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now.

A few miles ahead in the town of Bennett, a road crew is grinding up the road to resurface it. I decided to get out of the dust and heat and stop at a bar for lunch. Inside, I meet Philip. Philip works for a car rental company and is in charge of getting broken down cars back on the road. His buddy at the bar has Parkinson's too. The buddy is a lot worse off than I am; his speech and gait are both pretty bad. Of course, I exhibit some symptoms myself: Phillips buddy tells me he knew I had Parkinson's when he saw me walk in. I always deny, to myself, that I have it.

The three of us talk for a while, and I have a sandwich and a Coke. When I go to pay my bill the barmaid says it's already been taken care of: Philip paid it. I sincerely thank him. He says he admires me and that I have helped cheer his buddy. You meet the nicest people on a bike. It's so hot outside I don't want to leave the bar's oasis. But leave I must, and I do.

I'll try to make up some time tomorrow. Hopefully it won't rain!