Day 14: Las Animas to Pueblo
Breakfast wasn't until 6:30 back at the church, so we "slept in" until 6 AM. But with the recent time change and the bright sun at 5 AM I couldn't sleep well after about 5:15. Talking with the rest of my teamates, it seems that just about everybody had the same problem. At any rate, we took our time getting ready then Lane drove us over. Took a picture with him and once again was very sincerely grateful for his hospitality and told him as much.
Breakfast was more eggs, some wonderful sweet potato pancakes, ham slices and so much more. So delicious. And once again it took every one a good while to get moving in the morning. But with a 90 mile ride we couldn't afford to procrastinate for too long. So we headed out in a big group, back tracking a little to take the back roads to Pueblo as much as possible. One of the church members led the way in his truck, leading us down the good roads and providing a very helpful service. At one point we might have taken a dirt road, but he pointed us down a good paved road, making a good difference in time and effort.
At one point along the road, we encountered "Junkrassic" park. One of the farmers had collected junk for years and used it to make very creative sculptures and monuments with a comedic twist. For instance he made a very tall tower and called it the "Awful Tower" (Eiffel Tower). He made large animals such as alligators, camels, and pigs.
I started down the road and pulled away from my teamates to start catching up to the leaders for the day. Hit a dirt road, but it wasn't too bad. What was worse was the number of dogs along the way. I watched as one of the dogs managed to nip at Brett's heels. Another time a big dog came at me head on. I feinted right to which he went and then dove to the left. We passed each other at high speeds with him barking and slobbering all over the place. Caught up to Brett and Channing and took it easy for a little bit, biking just a little bit faster each time another dog jumped out of the bushes.
Got into one of the small towns and found BJ at the rest stop. He had been approached by a local Hispanic tamale vendor and he bought all he could get for six bucks. Quite tasty. Goofed off, went to the gas station and posed with a life size version of Yoda and his light saber with a bike helmet on.
A small group of us pace lined to the lunch stop and with a tail wind we made great time. After the lunch stop, though, Channing wanted to drop the hammer and put the pedal to the medal. We were doing a quick pace at about 26 mph and it wasn,t too long before we left the group behind us. For the record, Mario could have kept up I think, but he volunteered to stay with the slower group. I kept up with Channing for a few miles, but I suddenly realized how much work I was doing and I really didn't feel like working for the next 30 miles with another long ride the next day and the day after and such. So I slowed down to about 23 and settled down for a comfortable ride all the way to the end. In fact, it was so comfortable that it was downright pleasant. I counted the cars of passing coal trains, sat up in my seat and stretched my arms and generally looked everywhere at everything.
Coming into the end I thought I was lost, but the University of Colorado (our hosts for the night) had set up a helpful sign welcoming us in. Very nice. Went along and found more signs, some of them quite humorous. Made it in after a long climb up the hill and found some very friendly staff to welcome me. They set us up with an all you can eat banquet, some great rooms and even carried my things for me.
After dinner I checked my e-mail and found some disturbing news from my dad. He let me know that my mother went in for a physical and one of the tests came back with a possible indication of cancer. I was floored.
How could this happen now? I mean, I'm riding for cancer and now it's a possibility that my own mother has it. I didn't know how to react. I still don't know. I can't get too excited about it since it was just a preliminary result. More tests will be taken and it's likely that it could be something else entirely. I will wait eagerly for any news. In the meantime, my teamates were very supportive and just about everybody offered to listen if I felt like talking.
At 8:30 the university hosted an out door movie on the big screen. We gave another presentation with myself, Sam, and Mercedes speaking again. Didn't feel like doing anything so I watched the movie (Coach Carter). The movie ended late and I went to bed very tired, and a little bit dazed and confused.