Telluride and Montrose

Hi Everyone! We just finished up a great couple of days in Telluride, Colorado. The ride into Telluride included a climb to 10,200 ft, but at this point in our journey didn't feel too bad. Our accommodation hook-up in Telluride was unbelievable. Scott Elkins, a real-estate developer in Telluride and cycling enthusiast, opened three vacant condos for us. We were incredibly thankful for his generosity and for the fact that it is off season in Telluride. The pic is of the condo that I stayed in. Don't let the small size fool you though. This 1100 sq ft. is on the market for a cool $1.2 million. Scott did then tell us that the rich people don't live down here in the valley anyway as he pointed to the mansions up in the mountains along the ski resort. While it did feel like luxury to sleep in a pillow top mattress for a night opposed to my sleeping bag on a gym floor, I kept thinking about the living conditions of the people benefited by our fundraising. Nearly half the world lives in poverty (less than $2 a day).

Today (4/21), we road off to Montros, CO. The ride, again, included some great scenery as we descended along with the melting snow down through some beautiful Colorado ranches, including those of Ralph Lauren, Jack Nicholas, the founder of ebay, etc... Too bad they couldn't spend some more money on the roads though because my head was too fixed on dodging potholes and the buzzes of passing cars to fully acknowledge everything that I was seeing. Colorado certainly will not be receiving an award for bicycle friendly driving (and thanks to the old Betty driving the Cadillac who stopped to cuss more than 1 of us out while cruising down hill, the semi driver with a horn louder than a train that he would honk while passing, and a few more). I thought that returning the gesture with a sign of passivism was more in line with our mission rather than the standard return. All and all though, another great day on our trip.

Once we got into Montros, we rejoiced over the stoplights and signs for Walmart and fast food- signs of civilization that we haven't seen for several days. Many of us are at that stage that protein powder in water as a supplement for dinner sounds pretty good (opposed to Ryan's famous sandwiches at lunch, which include a combination of bread, lettuce, pickles, cookies, peanut butter, cheese, mayonnaise, humus, jelly all on one sandwich).

I spent some time tonight to catch up on some bicycle maintenance and learned a few tips from the gurus on how to de-"Fred" my bike ("Fred" is the nickname of a novice rider who gets grease all over his/her leg from the chain (done), falls over while standing still on the bike (done) and has extraneous accessories on his/her bike (now removed). I am on support team tomorrow so my legs should be better rested for Friday's 113 mile ride across the Continental Divide.