Day 44 / August 12, 2015

Once in a while, I'll think something along the lines of "Wait- I'm on a bike in freaking Kansas."  We're constantly focused on getting to our next point, so the distractions will sometimes prevent me from really recognizing what we've done so far.  Besides those temporary "What the hell am I doing?" moments, each day tends to feel pretty routine.  The last time I was overwhelmed by what we've accomplished was when we crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri.  About 15 miles in today, I had another very proud moment of realization about what we've done: we crossed into Colorado.

The ride was as straightforward as it's been for the past week or two.  We had 60 miles on the same highway that we've been on for a few days.  There were a few slight rolling hills, which made it at least a little more interesting.  I've found that the mind gets tired long before the body.  There's not too much else to report from today.  The weather was getting pretty hot and the park didn't seem to have showers, so we decided to make use of the cyclist rate at the motel in town.  It's probably the biggest building we've stayed in, but also the most empty: we are literally the only guests staying here. Although the outside was fairly disheveled, the room is clean, cold, and comfortable.  We have another 60 miles tomorrow to our next town.  We will be in Pueblo on Friday and Colorado Springs, our finish line, Saturday.  We have three days of riding left.  Two nights ago, we were talking with our host and his coworkers about prisoners that become institutionalized and don't know how to live outside of the gates.  We've been on the ride for 6 weeks and I kind of forget what it's like to not have to ride a bike everyday.  I think I'll be able to re-assimilate right back into society just fine, though.  I'll have a few days in Denver and another few in Houston before arriving back to NYC, so I'll use those as practice days.

Day 45 / August 13, 2015

I'm sure my mother will love hearing this, but when I was younger and had dreams of being a writer, one place I often envisioned working from was a bar.  It wasn't because I thought alcohol would help me churn out best sellers; it was because I prefer the setting.  Coffee houses are too quiet and clean; the people are boring and fake.  In a good dive bar, there's a little noise and plenty of grit.  The people are real and interesting.  

I'm sitting in a saloon that's been around for over 100 years in a town that I don't know the name of.  I think it's something along the lines of Ordly or Ordwy- I've gotten pretty bad at remembering the names of the little towns we've been passing through lately.  If I took a photo of the bartender in black and white, you'd have believed he were here when the bar opened.  He has a worn in leather cowboy hat to match his weathered black button down.  His beard is as long as his stories.  He talks slowly and knowingly with a smokers voice that he's probably had since he was 13.  The Pats-Packers preseason game is on and all of the patrons are complaining that Brady isn't suspended for a full season.  I've been talking across the bar with one man who says he used to do some work in New York.  He was in Farmington on Long Island and was talking about how he saw the most beautiful women.  When he was describing them, "permanent tan" was the first thing he said, so I got a nice laugh out of that.  

Up until yesterday morning I thought I was in the Midwest, but I definitely feel like we're just in the West now.  The towns have wide streets, dusty air, and wooden store fronts.  The towns in Colorado have been fairly far apart thus far, but at least they're usually made up of more than just a church, gas station, and an auto body shop.  

We will be in Pueblo tomorrow, which is a little bittersweet.  Pueblo is where we were planning to defect from our trail and head to San Francisco.  Although I will admit I'm a little disappointed that we aren't making it to the west coast, I'm content.  We've enjoyed this trip more since we decided to cut off the CO-CA portion.  The west coast isn't going anywhere, so I'll be able to finish this trip at any point.  I've heard that you can begin to see the Rockies once you leave whatever town we're in, so I'm looking forward to that.

Day 46 / August 14, 2015

The town that we stayed in last night was apparently compromised of some late starters, because nothing opened before 8am.  That was too late for us, so we had to backtrack a little to a previous town to fill our water jugs and stomachs.  After departing, we had a routine 50 mile ride.  This city has a different meaning for us than when we set out over a month and a half ago, but we have arrived in Pueblo, Colorado.  

When we got to the outskirts of Pueblo, it felt a bit like a mix between a level from an old Tony Hawk game and a neighborhood from Grand Theft Auto.  There were alcohol shops on every corner, low riders in the streets, and an auto body shop named "Reasonably Priced Auto Body."  We made our way through the streets to a local brewery.  After a few rounds and I'm not sure how much time, we decided to head to a motel.  It was too hot for camping and no WarmShowers hosts got back to us, so we had no other choice.  About a block away from the motel, I heard a slight woosh followed by a "ffttt fftt ffftt" sound with each revolution of my wheels.  I had my first flat of the trip.  I've gone somewhere around two thousand miles and haven't had any issues with my tires yet, so I knew it was coming.  Like Icarus, I had flown too close to the sun I suppose.  It might sound backwards, but I think situations like this give more reason to believe that a higher being exists; it's just too scripted.  Of course I got a flat on the second to last day.  I had seen Chris fix his tires so many times that I had learned how to do it, as well.  

Tomorrow is our last day of riding.  We will be heading up to Colorado Springs, which is somewhere around 50 miles away.  It hasn't hit me yet that we won't be riding beyond tomorrow.  I'll have to start to slow my eating down so that I don't gain 10 lbs back immediately.  Although I am looking forward to eating well, I will miss the ability to eat anything without remorse.  Well, all good things must come to an end; any other cliches I can throw in here?

Day 47 / August 15, 2015

Well, we're done with our bikes.  Now what?  I'm going to devote a post tomorrow to recapping the whole trip, so I'll just keep this one about today.  

As we were getting ready to leave this morning, Chris noticed that he also had a flat.  I was able to watch some Fresh Prince from when Will Smith was still cool, so I didn't mind the later check out.  We filled our tires at an auto body shop next door to our motel and set out.  Our last day of riding actually had a handful of similarities to our first day.  Today and Day 1 were the only times that we we were able to ride on bicycle trails for an extended period of time.  We came across portions of the trails on both days that were damaged by the weather and barricaded off.  On the first day, I was a bit reluctant to go under the caution tape.  Today, I just shrugged and went with it.  We didn't turn back previously and we weren't going to start today (Disclaimer: the trail was safe despite the warnings and if it were dangerous, we probably would not have proceeded).  Both the first and the last day felt incredibly long.  On Day 1, the longevity was compounded by having no idea how many days this trip would take.  Today dragged on, but it didn't bother me.  My finish line was in sight.    We've had so many bumps in the road that we've learned to just go with whatever comes our way.  

The cycling was fine, but the views were incredible.  Being in the downtown of a large city yet being surrounded by a view of the mountains is very inspiring.  It also just feels so damn good to be back in a big city.  One of the biggest takeaways from this trip for me was that I would never be able to live outside of a big city.  

I'm going to do a more in depth write up about the trip tomorrow.  I'm still coming to the realization that I don't have to wake up to Chris' alarm clock (Ray Charles- America the Beautiful) or ride a bike tomorrow.  Actually- we dumped our bikes today, so we couldn't even ride our bikes if we were going through withdrawal (doubtful).  We're going to take a tour of the Airforce Academy and then head up to Denver for a few days.  

Day 48 / August 16, 2015

We got to Denver today and arrived via 4 wheels- not 2.  It definitely hasn't sunk in that I'm no longer on a bicycle trip.  I'm sure that it will, but for now, I'm very content.  I've definitely become more easy going and less stressed because of this trip.

It's kind of confusing thinking back on the summer.  47 days doesn't sound very long to me, but I have trouble recalling the details of what happened on Day 1.  I remember that it was my first time riding on the bike with all of my gear on it.  As I hopped on and started to set out, the back wheel sort of wiggled and I stumbled.  I immediately imagined that Mrs. Lyver probably saw that and thought, "Oh man- Kevin has no idea what he's doing."  I'm not sure if she actually did, but I definitely had no idea what I was doing.  

The first day was only a month and a half ago, but so much has happened since then that it's hard to believe.  Each day felt so long that they could have each been turned into a movie.  The movies would probably be pretty boring overall, but they could exist.  The Virginia-Kentucky series would be pretty depressing ones.  The riding was more challenging than I had expected.  I only did about 3-4 rides (with a max of 30 miles at one time with few hills) prior to heading down to Virginia, so I thought I'd be using the Appalachians as a training week.  When we passed some Eastbound cyclists that were finishing up their tours, they reassuringly told us that Virginia was the hardest state on the trail.  With that knowledge, it helped us continue on with the rationale that it could only get easier the further West we went.  If we were starting with the hardest part, it was all downhill from there, right?  

I've been writing this sporadically throughout the day, but luckily I haven't been near my phone too much.  I'll continue my final thoughts about my trip tomorrow.  One thing I mostly avoided this summer was coffee, so I'm looking forward to continuing this post with a cup.