Day 42 Still in Pueblo - Rest Day

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A much needed rest day after 17 days of riding covering 1027 miles.

I spent all day in the hotel room, working on the blog. Rob went into town, we have not been able to contact Simon, who is 'couch surfing' in the south of the town, that is a network of people who advertise on the internet that they are willing to offer a bed (or couch) for the night to other members. He is not planning to leave until after friday, as he is waiting for a package containing his cold weather gear, and the rest of his maps.

Texas Road House - Pueblo
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I called Rob, and we went to eat at the Texas Road House, he told me that he was not looking forward to the next stage of the ride. He is already feeling the cold, and his muscles are hurting for only the second time on the ride, due to the last couple of days. He describes his self as not really a rider, and  when i asked him why did he attempt this then, he replied that the charity needed something 'big' to help get the message across, and he thought this would do it. But he wasn't happy, i told him that this was like the end of one trip, and the start of another, that everything was going to be different, from what we have experienced so far, we got back to his hotel, and looked at the map to decide on a target for tomorrow, it was then that i really started to look at the elevations we have in front of us. We are now at 4662 feet, some of the roads we have got to ride are at over 10,000.

In spite of Simon's positive attitude yesterday, i have come to realize, that even if we wait for him to collect his gear, it is unlikely that he will be able to keep up, and i am starting to worry about time running out. One small problem is the fact that i wasn't able to get a full set of maps from the cycle association for this section, it wasn't something, i was worried about, not with the experiences i have had with them so far, and in any case, when i meet with the others last week, Simon said he would have his by the time we were here, but i think the fact we covered 477 miles in a week threw his timing out, and that is why he is now waiting.

When i got back to my room, Robs concerns, and the elevations on the map, began to gnaw away at my resolve, so i spent some time trying to find out more about what lays ahead. From the association web site, i was able to pull off the towns the route passes through, but no other information, a search found the blog of a guy that did it east to west a couple of years back. All along i have been told ''you know, they can get snow in the Rocky's in September'', and i never really thought about it, now i am reading about this crossing and his battle with, the climbs, the rain, the cold, and the snow, and he was doing it in September,  and now  i'm worried, worried about, do i have the right gear to keep warm, am i carrying to much weight, if there is snow there could be ice, my road slicks suddenly don't look very reassuring, and i don't have a proper working pump, since i lost part of it a couple of days ago and it is now held together with, you guessed it, Duct Tape, i must track a new one down tomorrow, before we leave town.

My attitude to riding is, 'Just get on the bike and ride', given enough time no obstacle is to hard, but that is based on rides, when the biggest danger, is traffic, with wind, rain and hills just effecting my 'comfort' zone, i am not used to riding and having to worry about survival as well.

I don't think i will get much sleep tonight.