04 July 2012

Pueblo to Royal Gorge CO 60 miles (TransAm 2,303)

“I’ve never been a fan of Canon City – it’s home to several correctional facilities.” And so begins another day in the life of Gina and her bicycle as they cross this great nation.

It’s hot, there’s lots of traffic, and it’s loud. Sounds about right for the Fourth of July holiday. But in the good news department, the Rockies are now in view. Finally, something to look at on the horizon besides more horizon. Gina thinks the approach to the Rockies looks like the Otago Region in New Zealand, which now means we could have skipped both Southwest Australia and the South Island and just holidayed in the Ozarks and Colorado. Who knew?

Something I do know is that Team TransAm has added a couple of new recruits:

Sadly, these guys look like they might be slowing our girls down. I hear there’s some little race going on in France right now, something about a yellow jersey, that might be more their speed. They should probably think about enlisting Ubald and Simon for their team. I hear they’re kinda slow too.

These new boys are Wendy’s boys, and not in the Peter Pan sense as that would be just plain wrong, seeing how one of these boys is Wendy’s brother and the other, not a Lost Boy at all, just one of her three nephews that has joined our TransAmmers in Colorado, intent on experiencing a taste of what their sister/aunt has been up to over the past few months. Cute, aren’t they? If I’m interpreting the clues in this photo correctly, not only are they getting a good taste of what the riding is like but also of the desserts along the way. You know what they say about nuts and trees.

On this Fourth of July holiday, I was being treated to sweet things too, like a day off from work, a long bicycle ride of my own under sunny skies, and an evening watching fireworks exploding over Lake Union from a vantage point mere feet away. No need to sprinkle me with pixie dust – just pass me another one of those Corona Margaritas while I watch the full moon rise and the sparkly embers fall and that’s magical enough for me.