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Colorado Epic: Day Seven

 


Creede to Pagosa Springs 

Day seven.  I can’t believe it’s already been one week.  The week has gone by unbelievably fast.  Every day has been more than I ever could have imagined.  The scenery, the roads, the company, the food, and, of course, getting to ride my bike for hours and hours each day, have all been spectacular.  

I woke up this morning feeling really good.  That all changed when I got on my bike.  My legs felt like they were full of mud.  Pedaling felt awkward and clunky.  I shifted around, flexed and relaxed my feet, stood, sat, changed gears.  Nothing worked.  Thankfully, we had a long downhill to get started.  Lead out Leslie set a good pace, and we cruised along easily.  I hoped my legs would start to feel better.

We stopped for snacks, stopped again for lunch, then started climbing.  Suddenly, my legs felt good.  They settled into a comfortable rhythm almost immediately.  The higher I climbed, the better I felt, passing 10,000 feet, then 10,500.  Higher and higher I went, my legs feeling better and better.  After ten miles, I reached the summit, feeling great.  Tom and I rode back and forth on the summit to get our extra miles.  


Then it was all downhill, down, down, down, and then more down.  After a ripping descent, we finally reached the town of Pagosa Springs.  We piled in the van and drove to our home for tonight, Durango.

Overall, I am feeling really good.  We have three big passes to climb tomorrow, so we will see how the legs feel in the morning.  

Today: 80 miles and 3,583 feet of climbing

Week total: 525 miles and 27,851 feet of climbing

Whew.  Yep.  I feel every inch of that.

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