Today, Kristian wakes Ali at 5:00am.
They are preparing for the longest cycling day yet.
Getting organized, by the time breakfast is over, it is 7:30am.
Now, it is time to take pictures for another hour.
Eventually saying good-bye to the team, Ali and Kristian hit the road, and arrive at Wednesday’s stopping point at 9:30.
Kristian begins cycling first, riding down into the Red Rock Canyon, just outside Mariposa, a community south west of Denver, CO. The beauty of these rocks that balance on each other is amazing. Kristian cycles on Colfax, the longest street in America. It passes from West to East through Denver. A long 80 mile ride from the starting point, he eventually makes his way to Bryers.
Kristian drives up to meet Ali who has been on the road for multiple hours. Before catching up to Ali, the gas tank is near empty, and he finds the gas station is closed. Kristian goes down the street to the local bed and breakfast to ask how to fill up Casper (our 1990 Honda Civic DX support vehicle). The owner, Jill, drives down the street and we both fill up our vehicles using her electronic key card. We begin talking and she tells me that she has been a foster mother for many years. Kristian tells her about the Unleash Americas Passion project, and gives her a Passion Test book and a scholarship application to Supercamp for one of her foster children.
Eventually catching up to Ali after cycling over 70 miles, we switch back and forth for the next 50 miles to Idalia. When we arrive, we take almost a hundred pictures of each other posing in front of the sunset.
We feel great having had such a great day of cycling. We check in to the $40 hotel room and go for dinner at the local bar. It is the only bar for over 80 miles (Bryers is closest). We finish a great dinner, head back to the room and fall asleep pretty quickly after such a long day of cycling, over 11 hours today with 8 hours of cycling.
