Month: September 2017

9/18/17

Eads, CO > Scott City

Miles Ridden – 104.8

Mileage to date – 1,816.8

Yesterday’s destination was Scott City.  So many possibilities for blog titles and I came up with “Beam me up Scotty”?!  Just call it blog fatigue on my part.

Unlike many of the other small towns, John has ridden through the Wikipedia entry for Scott City is quite thorough.  Perhaps folks have a little more time on their hands there?  I leave for you to be the judge.  Among the many tidbits on Scott City from Wikipedia –

“Scott City was founded in 1885  Like Scott County, the city is named in recognition of a United States General, Winfield Scott Before developing into a city, Scott City was in a land ruled by Pueblo Indians. In October 1884, two women from Chicago, Illinois claimed the land that Scott City is on and built a cabin. The following February, two men from Chicago came to the cabin and settled. Soon after, many people started arriving in the county and Scott City was then founded in 1885.”

There seems to be no shortage of things to do there –

·         “Beefiesta is held yearly to celebrate the beef industry in Scott County, one of the largest cattle feeding counties in the state. The Beefiesta BBQ is held on the opening day of the Scott County Free Fair immediately following the parade.”

·         “Every July 4, fireworks are provided on the south side of town.”

·         “One weekend every fall, the Sunflower Futurity and Derby is held at the Scott City Indoor Arena. Barrel Racers compete against a few hundred others. Open Barrel Race, Seniors Barrel Race, and Juniors & Pee-Wee Barrel Races are put on as well as the actual barrel races.”

Beefiesta and barrel races what could be more fun?

The mascot for the local high school is the beaver.  A giant welded beaver is on display at the football field and Wikipedia describes it as “a true destination”. Upon learning about the welded beaver I urgently texted John to let him know what was in store for him.  Sadly he did not share my excitement.

I guess when you ride your bicycle 105 miles the last thing you want to do is ride around looking for a giant welded beaver!

Or perhaps he was tired from the night before?

Per John –

“Last night we camped in the Eads town park. Around 2:30 in the morning the sprinklers turned on for about 30 minutes raining on both tents. We all learned that are tents are, in fact, waterproof. I was sleepy all day because of that.”

The other big news for the day is that they are in a new state and a new time timezone. John said the riding was good today but there was not too much to look at it. He also said they sky was amazing because it seemed so huge.

Pictures from today-

9/17/17

Pueblo, CO > Eads, CO

Miles Ridden – 116.4

Mileage to date – 1,712

Perhaps this should have titled “Egads he is in Eads”?  Too rhymey I think.  In any case, John was back in action yesterday with Jaime and Heather after a well deserved rest day.  The terrain is flatter for the coming days so John and team decided to celebrate by riding 116 miles!  The made good time, but that is still a lot of riding in one day.

Speaking of trains, Eads (population 609) per wikipedia “was established in 1887 as a railroad town and was named after James Buchanan Eads, a structural engineer with the Missouri Pacific Railroad, who designed and built the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis in 1874″.  That is pretty much all Wikipedia has to say on Eads.  Not a lot going on there as you can tell by the photos.

John spent the night camping in the town park.  He should be in Kansas tomorrow and apparently many of the towns in Kansas on the route also allow camping in the town park by cyclists.

John’s account of the day –

“The day started cool and overcast and the skies cleared as the ride unfolded.  All in all, a great weather day for a bike ride thru eastern Colorado.  While the terrain was flat we still managed to climb 1650 vertical feet over the course of the day.  We were all a bit surprised to discover 2 of the towns did not have convenience stores as the map suggested making all of our water supplies a bit tight for the end of  the ride into Eads.”

Yesterday was the first day in quite a while without the services of Ethan the friendly sag wagon driver.   John and team are back to carrying their own gear on the bikes.  Hopefully as they get further east the towns with services will be closer together.

Photos from yesterday –

 

 

 

Westcliffe, CO > Pueblo, CO

Miles Ridden – 51.1

Mileage to date – 1,595.6

Per John, today was an easy day and a well deserved one at that.  He dropped nearly 3,000 feet in elevation day on the ride to Pueblo.  I am sure it was nice to have an easy day after so much climbing and long days of riding in the past few weeks.  Tomorrow is a rest day.  By my count, John has ridden the past 23 days straight without a break.  I think a rest day is long overdue.

This was the view to the west that greeted John and crew this morning –

Yep, that is snow up there.  They got over Monarch Pass in the nick of time.

My apologies to John, I did jinx him yesterday by talking about how he had not gotten a flat on the new tires.  At the end today when he reached Pueblo he had a flat tire….sorry.

John did manage to stop by the Pueblo Post Office to pick up the maps for the next section of the trip that Cindy and I had mailed out.

Here are some photos from the last couple of days –

I have no idea what this is, but I think it is an example of the stuff you are willing to eat when bicycling all day –

I am not sure if this is a real fire department or not, but the “closed” sign does not give me a warm fuzzy –