Ride the Rockies - Day 3 to Pagosa Springs ~ Kenny Lucas Adventures

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Ride the Rockies - Day 3 to Pagosa Springs

Kenny Lucas

Ride the Rockies - Day 3 to Pagosa Springs

I really have no explanation for how good I feel after today's ride. Yesterday's ride made me feel really bad, tired, sore and generally overwhelmed. In hindsight, it was an extremely hard ride with all that climbing. I was stressing big time last night in the tent about this long ride (86 miles) today and I was stressing even more this morning on the early climbs.

Out of the gate was a long 14 mile climb that wasn't all that taxing. I was taking it pretty slow because I didn't want my knee to blow up and then hail the SAG wagon. Getting to the top was a big victory for me because I had no pain. That was some foreshadowing for the rest of the ride.

Lots of open road in Colorado.

I didn't take it too fast for awhile but that changed later on as I was feeling better and better. To be honest, later in the ride I had the attitude of "ride fast until I bonk". To my infinite surprise, it never happened. I really was pushing the ride since it was gradual declines/inclines and flat segments. I got in a couple pace lines going 30+ and loved every minute of it. I also tagged up with a tandem.

Go Michael Go!

A word about tandems. All bikers love them on flats. They are so fast and you get behind them and cruise without a lot of effort. I got several miles out of one tandem until they pulled into the aid station. Highly recommend you try it sometime because it's a true joy of riding.

Around mile 70 I sat down for a protein laced smoothie. Most incredible smoothie I've ever had. I even got a seat in the smoothie tent. Check out the video below.

We rolled into Pagosa Springs and I couldn't be happier. Still, I couldn't believe how well I felt. This place is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. I got a few videos of the scenes and one of them shows how happy arriving today made me.

Does anyone ever look good in biking clothes?

Parked the bike and for the first time I felt well enough to go straight to the shower truck. A word about the shower truck, Awesome! Showers on wheels. I didn't use much hot water and came out with the best shiver I've ever had. Now into the high school for some charging and typing!

Video Time!