Day 35

Behind rock pile
As I was packing up, a couple bikers peddled by. Awesome, I'm not the only crazy person going up this mountain! None of them had the kind of gear I had, though. The air was cold, but peddling uphill kept me plenty warm. It seemed to take forever. I had to stop to eat every so often- eating while biking uphill is too difficult. I finally got to the top- almost 12,000 feet! I thought wolf creek pass was going to be the highest, but this took the cake. It really made me feel that those days where I would get a few 6,000 foot summits were just jokes. I met a lady at the top, Kathy, who had been to every state except for Alaska. She have me her number and told me to call if I need anything once I get over to the east coast. It's great how people want to help out once they hear about what I am doing. I had a long downhill next, and it was even more cloudy and cold at the top than the previous summits, so I put on an extra shirt, raincoat and gloves. It wasn't enough. I shivered the whole way down. I screamed into the air at random times too- I really hate being cold. I knew that the lower I got, the warmer it would get though, so I kept peddling. I quickly got to the freeway. I was a bit nervous, especially after what happened yesterday. However, soon I relaxed and enjoyed the speed I was getting by slowly losing elevation. I expected to be on i70 for a while, but I found a bike path, so I was like heck yes! However, it turned completely away from the freeway after a bit. I checked Google. I could continue on the freeway, but there were two construction zones along the way, so I decided to take the slightly longer suggested bike way. By now it had started raining pretty good, so when I got into the little city that the bike path lead to, I found a post office that acted as great cover. I needed to send a postcard anyways. There was a lady her- she had been to every state. She doesn't have a favorite state- she says that each once has something different to offer. The rain had slowed, and I had stayed there a while, so I decided to press on. I restocked at a gas station- the hot burrito was a great weapon against the cold rain. I got to pass under the highway a few times until I finally got to a city that had a park with a nice bathroom. Once I was done, I opened the door and found out it was raining worse than ever. I pulled my bike inside. It was actually pretty convenient-  I filled up my water, made a protein shake and figured out where I wanted to go next. I could continue down i70, then head northwest. This would be all paved. However, there was a shorter path, but it was dirt for part of it. I figured a few miles wouldn't be too bad, even though it was raining so much. Boy, was I wrong. The paved part of the road was crazy steep, but doable. This should have been a warning about what was to come, but I ignored it. Less than a mile in, it was too sleep and slick to ride my bike, so I started pushing it. After a mile or so, I checked google again to see if turning back now would be so bad. It would have been three times as far- not worth it. A few miles later I realized I really should have turned back. I was probably only going 2 miles an hour by pushing. I could easily average 6mph going the other way. But it was too late now- going down would have been scary. I was feeling pretty mad when a truck pulled up and offered me a ride to the top. I thanked them but declined the offer. They said it was only about a half mile to the top- great, only 15 more minutes! It ended up taking longer than that, but there was a neat little building at the top. I finally got to parent again, only to have it taken away from me after a few hundred feet. It was downhill, so I wasn't too upset. I finally got to the city. I was mad again. It was so steep that I had to use my brakes often, wasting potential energy. Also, if I had come the other way, I wouldn't have had to go as high. I just kept peddling. I peddled through some light showers. Toward the end of the day, there was a gas station. I decided to skip it. It was finally getting dark, and because of the rain, I decided to stop early. The woods were creepy. I knew that bears were possible with these woods, but I had to stop somewhere. I was exhausted, so I just laid there and tried to sleep.