Wednesday, June 29th, 2011 (Day 13)
Super epic marathon finale day
Today when we woke up Levi and his sisters brought us pancakes, eggs & sausage. It was so nice to be served right when we woke up! We took some group pictures with the gang, talked to his camera for a bit (really awkward) then headed to the grocery store to fill up on water since today was supposed to be DAMN hot out, we heard it was going to break 100 F (38 C).
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Once we got to the grocery store Levi pulled up in his car and told us he was really impressed with our speed on the way over (this was the first time he'd seen us riding) and he said he wanted to take some video of us riding, which he later made into a kickass video, which amazingly, you can STILL check out at this link!! Thank you Levi!!! (Link opens new window). Warning - our interview at the beginning is pretty embarassing and cringe-y... I'm not so good on camera! xD
While I was inside filling my water bladder I noticed Becki (Levi's sister) walk in with her friend. I looked back at what I was doing and in a few seconds I heard Becki's voice say "I have something to give you...a going away present." She had a big smile on her face as she said this and she slipped me a note that said to have a safe trip and that she hopes to hear from me, and had her cell number as well. I blushed, thanked her, and gave her a hug goodbye. That interaction certainly gave me some extra pep in my pedaling that day!
Time to get riding. Levi followed us as we got back onto the highway, his sister Rachel was driving and he stood up out of the sun roof to get some riding footage of us. After a bit, they pulled off the highway and waved goodbye to us.
The road was flat. The horizon offered nothing more than skattered farm buildings and the land around us was just grassland and sparse trees. After about 15 miles I found what looked to be like an abandoned town. I took refuge under the awning of an abandoned gas station that had a curved tile roof and broken windows that was falling apart.
While I was inside filling my water bladder I noticed Becki (Levi's sister) walk in with her friend. I looked back at what I was doing and in a few seconds I heard Becki's voice say "I have something to give you...a going away present." She had a big smile on her face as she said this and she slipped me a note that said to have a safe trip and that she hopes to hear from me, and had her cell number as well. I blushed, thanked her, and gave her a hug goodbye. That interaction certainly gave me some extra pep in my pedaling that day!
Time to get riding. Levi followed us as we got back onto the highway, his sister Rachel was driving and he stood up out of the sun roof to get some riding footage of us. After a bit, they pulled off the highway and waved goodbye to us.
The road was flat. The horizon offered nothing more than skattered farm buildings and the land around us was just grassland and sparse trees. After about 15 miles I found what looked to be like an abandoned town. I took refuge under the awning of an abandoned gas station that had a curved tile roof and broken windows that was falling apart.
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the shade from the abandoned gas station (foreground) was SO relieving. We really should have pulled the velomobiles into it...
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The heat was sweltering. I wanted so badly to get to Stirling. After another 5 or so miles I stopped at a gas station. It was one of those old beat up ones with two pumps that had mechanical rolling meters on them. They kept the door open and there was no AC inside. I parked my velo under the comfort of the shade from the awning above the pumps.
In a few minutes Adam pulled up. He popped the hood open and staggered out of his velo to show me something on his computer. 108 degrees F (42.2 degrees C), it read, and that was while riding. After resting for about 20 minutes and getting some cold drinks from inside, we got ready to head off again. Adam checked his computer again, 120 degrees F (49 degrees C) while not riding, and we were about to get back inside these things. The seats were roasting hot and it hurt to lay back in them.
It was a mind-blowing blistering and heavy heat. The kind of heat that makes your eyeballs sweat. We had our shirts off and we were still soaked, yet there was no relief from the wind inside our velos. We still had about 45 miles to go to Stirling.
After about 20 minutes of riding since the gas station, I started to feel funny, it was hard to see straight. I thought I was probably just thirsty, (even though i had just drank two iced tea bottles) so i grabbed my bladder hose and drank a generous amount of gas station bathroom sink water.
That worked for about 5 minutes before it started again. As I sat back in my seat, pedaling away, I stared at the back of Adam's velo for miles. I began daydreaming. My vision would blur momentarily as my eyes started to close. Realizing what was happening, I jolted myself back to reality. I checked my speedo - 18mph. What the hell is going on?
I took another swig of water and shook my head around trying to keep focused. We kept riding along and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. The harsh sun provided plenty of electricity to pump Radiohead out of my speakers as loud as they could go, but even that didn't help.
*THUBTHUBTHUBTHUB*
The bumps at the side of the highway rattled the velo violently, waking me up, and I swerved sharply back onto the shoulder. Luckily, now that I had some adreniline, I stayed awake for a few minutes in a row.
We kept on going and I noticed a car with two girls in it at an intersection. They were in awe and pointing at us from inside the car. I smiled and waved to them as we passed by. It was the first car we had seen in miles.
Seconds later, I saw their sedan speeding up in my rear view, and I moved over a bit. They passed us and went about 100 yards ahead of us and pulled onto the shoulder. The driver, a really cute blonde girl, practically jumped out of the car, waving her arms like mad, trying to motion us to stop.
Adam blew straight past them, which made me laugh out loud, but I thought I would humor them, so i pulled over in front of their car. Adam soon noticed I had stopped and circled around to meet back up with us.
I sat inside my velo and watched the two girls approach me in my rearview. I heard them laughing like crazy and I unstrapped my hood latches and opened the top so I could talk to them. They were absolutely fascinated. They kept giggling and couldn't stop smiling, explaining to me that this was 'the coolest thing they had ever seen' and that we had awesome lives, after Adam and I told them what we were doing and that we met on Youtube. After that, they took turns taking pictures of eachother with me. I felt awkward sitting inside as they took pictures, so I got out. When I did this they giggled again, and started taking pictures of eachother with both Adam and I this time, not at all afraid to get in really close, even though we were covered in sweat.
They asked us, "Does it get hot in there?" which seemed like a dumb question, given that we were literally drenched. "Yes." I answered. And they said "Oh my god hold on, I'm gonna give you guys my fan!" I told them no thank you, that we'd be fine, we don't want the extra weight, etc., but they were already back at their car searching.
In a few minutes they came back holding a small pink handheld fan. We tried again to refuse it, but when we realized we couldnt, accpeted it and thanked them. Then Kelli handed me a picture of her, her friend, and another guy, who's face they had scribbled out half-assed with pen. She smiled and said, "Here's a picture for you guys to remember us! That's our German exchange student, just nevermind him."
We finally all introduced ourselves. I shook their hands awkwardly, and afterwards I laughed as I started to say jokingly to Kelli, "I would give you a hu.." she cut me off saying, "okay!" and hugged me as I continued my sentence, "...if I wasn't all sweaty." She apparently didn't mind at all. After that we said our goodbyes as they walked back to their car. Adam and I took a look at the picture they gave us. We flipped it over, yep - digits!! We laughed and walked back to our velos to continue our slog through heatwave hell.
In a few minutes Adam pulled up. He popped the hood open and staggered out of his velo to show me something on his computer. 108 degrees F (42.2 degrees C), it read, and that was while riding. After resting for about 20 minutes and getting some cold drinks from inside, we got ready to head off again. Adam checked his computer again, 120 degrees F (49 degrees C) while not riding, and we were about to get back inside these things. The seats were roasting hot and it hurt to lay back in them.
It was a mind-blowing blistering and heavy heat. The kind of heat that makes your eyeballs sweat. We had our shirts off and we were still soaked, yet there was no relief from the wind inside our velos. We still had about 45 miles to go to Stirling.
After about 20 minutes of riding since the gas station, I started to feel funny, it was hard to see straight. I thought I was probably just thirsty, (even though i had just drank two iced tea bottles) so i grabbed my bladder hose and drank a generous amount of gas station bathroom sink water.
That worked for about 5 minutes before it started again. As I sat back in my seat, pedaling away, I stared at the back of Adam's velo for miles. I began daydreaming. My vision would blur momentarily as my eyes started to close. Realizing what was happening, I jolted myself back to reality. I checked my speedo - 18mph. What the hell is going on?
I took another swig of water and shook my head around trying to keep focused. We kept riding along and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. The harsh sun provided plenty of electricity to pump Radiohead out of my speakers as loud as they could go, but even that didn't help.
*THUBTHUBTHUBTHUB*
The bumps at the side of the highway rattled the velo violently, waking me up, and I swerved sharply back onto the shoulder. Luckily, now that I had some adreniline, I stayed awake for a few minutes in a row.
We kept on going and I noticed a car with two girls in it at an intersection. They were in awe and pointing at us from inside the car. I smiled and waved to them as we passed by. It was the first car we had seen in miles.
Seconds later, I saw their sedan speeding up in my rear view, and I moved over a bit. They passed us and went about 100 yards ahead of us and pulled onto the shoulder. The driver, a really cute blonde girl, practically jumped out of the car, waving her arms like mad, trying to motion us to stop.
Adam blew straight past them, which made me laugh out loud, but I thought I would humor them, so i pulled over in front of their car. Adam soon noticed I had stopped and circled around to meet back up with us.
I sat inside my velo and watched the two girls approach me in my rearview. I heard them laughing like crazy and I unstrapped my hood latches and opened the top so I could talk to them. They were absolutely fascinated. They kept giggling and couldn't stop smiling, explaining to me that this was 'the coolest thing they had ever seen' and that we had awesome lives, after Adam and I told them what we were doing and that we met on Youtube. After that, they took turns taking pictures of eachother with me. I felt awkward sitting inside as they took pictures, so I got out. When I did this they giggled again, and started taking pictures of eachother with both Adam and I this time, not at all afraid to get in really close, even though we were covered in sweat.
They asked us, "Does it get hot in there?" which seemed like a dumb question, given that we were literally drenched. "Yes." I answered. And they said "Oh my god hold on, I'm gonna give you guys my fan!" I told them no thank you, that we'd be fine, we don't want the extra weight, etc., but they were already back at their car searching.
In a few minutes they came back holding a small pink handheld fan. We tried again to refuse it, but when we realized we couldnt, accpeted it and thanked them. Then Kelli handed me a picture of her, her friend, and another guy, who's face they had scribbled out half-assed with pen. She smiled and said, "Here's a picture for you guys to remember us! That's our German exchange student, just nevermind him."
We finally all introduced ourselves. I shook their hands awkwardly, and afterwards I laughed as I started to say jokingly to Kelli, "I would give you a hu.." she cut me off saying, "okay!" and hugged me as I continued my sentence, "...if I wasn't all sweaty." She apparently didn't mind at all. After that we said our goodbyes as they walked back to their car. Adam and I took a look at the picture they gave us. We flipped it over, yep - digits!! We laughed and walked back to our velos to continue our slog through heatwave hell.
High noon in a heat wave - Adam snapped this as the girls were getting something for us from their car
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Us with Kelli! Her friend got some pictures with us too, but I couldn't find them online
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The girls had mentioned to us that they were headed to the mall in Stirling, and that it was just up the road. Good. Adam and I pressed onward, after suffering through sitting back down on our scorchingly hot seats. I actually had to pour water over it to cool it down before I could sit on it.
After about 5 more miles since we stopped I began to feel fatigued. My head hurt so bad and my vision was getting bad again, this time not from falling asleep. My limbs were tingling, my heart was beating alarmingly fast, and my skin felt like it was melting off my bones.
I felt extremely weak. We passed the sign for Stirling, 13 miles more. Another sign, 8 miles. The road widened just outside town. It ran alongside some train tracks with some idle storage cars sitting on the tracks. I struggled to hold 16mph, the road was rough and every bump aggravated me. The heat was so draining. The road curved and I saw a Sinclair gas station and headed straight for it. The transition was almost just as steep as a curb and there was a huge pothole right at it. It did some damage to the underside of the velo and I cursed pretty loudly from inside the velo as I shifted down to make it up the rest of the way to the spots in front.
I wrenched my feet out of my cleats and threw the hood open. As soon as I got out, I nearly passed out from the headrush I got. Extremely dizzy, I shook my head and got my bearings as Adam pulled up. We walked inside and they had a fan going by the window, one of those industrial sized ones that moves a shit ton of air at you. I bought a drink and stood in front of it. My entire body felt queasy. my heart rate was skyrocketing and was not going down. Even drinking the ice cold drink in front of the fan on full blast, I couldn't cool down. I was scared for my life.
We asked the old indian man at the counter if there was a pool nearby and he said yes, and he also creepily explained that there were a bunch of hot girls there for us. At that point I didn't give a damn about the girls, I thought I was dying and needed to cool down.
Adam and I walked outside and stood next to our velos while we finished our drinks. My heart rate was still crazy high. As we talked about how nice the pool will be, I jumped. *PFFFFFFFFFFFFF*
I thought it was a semi truck's air brake release valve going off at first, but then it hit me. I peeked inside my velo at my front right tire, the only one that was in direct sunlight. "You've got to be effing kidding me..." I thought. It was as if I was being punished by the gods for trying to not use a car today. The tire popped because it heated up too much from the sunlight. THAT'S how hot it was outside.
So we pushed our velos 2 miles to the pool, which sucked. It was overcrowded, the water was a yellow-green color inside and was warm, and outside it was clear and somehow too cold. The dial thermometer outside read 112 degrees F (44.4 C) while we were in the pool.
We left the pool and I changed my tube. We rode around the town and asked someone in a car at a stop light how to get to the nearest Walmart. Once we were there we got some food and chowed down. i bought a 1.5 foot sub. We couldn't decide what to do. We had only made it about 60 miles so far and we felt like that wasn't enough, but it was getting dark and we knew we needed to find a place to sleep tonight. We stayed at Walmart for about 3 hours total. I decided I wanted a camera so I could take pictures in addition to Adam (nearly all of the pictures you've seen so far have been taken by Adam)
We bought a 6 pack of "5-hour energy" shots and went outside. It had just finished raining. A guy came up to us as we were deciding what to do and talked to us about the velos. He told us all the farmland around there was his and he said we could camp on it, and if police gave us trouble to give them his card. We thanked him thoroughly and packed our things into the velos.
After about 5 more miles since we stopped I began to feel fatigued. My head hurt so bad and my vision was getting bad again, this time not from falling asleep. My limbs were tingling, my heart was beating alarmingly fast, and my skin felt like it was melting off my bones.
I felt extremely weak. We passed the sign for Stirling, 13 miles more. Another sign, 8 miles. The road widened just outside town. It ran alongside some train tracks with some idle storage cars sitting on the tracks. I struggled to hold 16mph, the road was rough and every bump aggravated me. The heat was so draining. The road curved and I saw a Sinclair gas station and headed straight for it. The transition was almost just as steep as a curb and there was a huge pothole right at it. It did some damage to the underside of the velo and I cursed pretty loudly from inside the velo as I shifted down to make it up the rest of the way to the spots in front.
I wrenched my feet out of my cleats and threw the hood open. As soon as I got out, I nearly passed out from the headrush I got. Extremely dizzy, I shook my head and got my bearings as Adam pulled up. We walked inside and they had a fan going by the window, one of those industrial sized ones that moves a shit ton of air at you. I bought a drink and stood in front of it. My entire body felt queasy. my heart rate was skyrocketing and was not going down. Even drinking the ice cold drink in front of the fan on full blast, I couldn't cool down. I was scared for my life.
We asked the old indian man at the counter if there was a pool nearby and he said yes, and he also creepily explained that there were a bunch of hot girls there for us. At that point I didn't give a damn about the girls, I thought I was dying and needed to cool down.
Adam and I walked outside and stood next to our velos while we finished our drinks. My heart rate was still crazy high. As we talked about how nice the pool will be, I jumped. *PFFFFFFFFFFFFF*
I thought it was a semi truck's air brake release valve going off at first, but then it hit me. I peeked inside my velo at my front right tire, the only one that was in direct sunlight. "You've got to be effing kidding me..." I thought. It was as if I was being punished by the gods for trying to not use a car today. The tire popped because it heated up too much from the sunlight. THAT'S how hot it was outside.
So we pushed our velos 2 miles to the pool, which sucked. It was overcrowded, the water was a yellow-green color inside and was warm, and outside it was clear and somehow too cold. The dial thermometer outside read 112 degrees F (44.4 C) while we were in the pool.
We left the pool and I changed my tube. We rode around the town and asked someone in a car at a stop light how to get to the nearest Walmart. Once we were there we got some food and chowed down. i bought a 1.5 foot sub. We couldn't decide what to do. We had only made it about 60 miles so far and we felt like that wasn't enough, but it was getting dark and we knew we needed to find a place to sleep tonight. We stayed at Walmart for about 3 hours total. I decided I wanted a camera so I could take pictures in addition to Adam (nearly all of the pictures you've seen so far have been taken by Adam)
We bought a 6 pack of "5-hour energy" shots and went outside. It had just finished raining. A guy came up to us as we were deciding what to do and talked to us about the velos. He told us all the farmland around there was his and he said we could camp on it, and if police gave us trouble to give them his card. We thanked him thoroughly and packed our things into the velos.
another distorted panoramic of the walmart parking lot we deliberated at, about an hour before we decided to hit the road
As we sat resting outside the walmart, we weren't really sure what to do. This was our dilemma: Stay there (by the walmart), and have nowhere to sleep unless we find a stealth spot in a bush nearby. It's gonna be hot as shit tomorrow with an 80-mile stretch of absolutely nothing though, so on the upside, if we stay here we can be well prepared in the morning because of the Walmart.
If we DON'T stay here, we have to bring everything we need for tomorrow morning, and we'd have to set up camp in the dark somewhere on that dude's farmland. On the upside there, we wouldn't have to go as far tomorrow if we made more progress before setting up camp.
Given the impending heatwave on the forecast for tomorrow, we decided we'd go a bit further. The temperature had dropped substantially after the rain and after the sun went down, so we'd leave the tops down and cruise for another 10 miles maybe, then plop down and call it a night.
That didn't happen, because after cruising for about 20 minutes, we were feeling good. One of us commented on how effortless the ride was at the time. (we were cruising between 8-12mph, a breeze. We thought, hey, we just bought a four pack of 5 hour energy and Adam had just bought a gallon of water... We passed by a road sign:
Fort Collins 99
Adam and I started talking:
"If we cruise slow through the night, we could be there by morning!" "You're right... no way I want to ride through the heat tomorrow, we'll die." "We would need more water to ride during the day too..." Adam crunched some numbers... "If we continue at this pace, we should be there by about 930am tomorrow." So we agreed, we would not be stopping tonight. We had already ridden over 65 miles before we left Walmart, and we were about to do 100 more.
Only this wouldn't be considered your average century ride. The stretch of highway we were about to cross is not lit, by any means. The moonlight is all it got. This path has only ONE inhabited town over the whole 100 mile stretch, Raymer, CO. The 2000 census recorded its population at 91. This town has no gas station or convenience store, so it means nothing to us.
So, we had 100 miles of pitch dark, virtually uninhabited highway to cover through the plains of eastern Colorado.
We put our lights on intermittent blinking mode. It was the first and only time we had to use them in order to see the road ahead of us. My lights blink out of sync with one another (i have three identical lights in the housing) since the batteries all have slightly different charges maybe? I discovered this night that I could see the blinking lights from inside the velo as they would illuminate the white coroplast. This made it a bit harder to see the road ahead - like having bright lights on inside the cabin of your car. We both used Sigma Cube Rider safety rear tail lights. They have 5 LED's inside with a very wide view angle for increased visibility.
The night was beautiful. There was a storm headed east that we got out of when we left Walmart, we could see the heat lightning behind us in the distance. Every so often we could see a brilliant flash of yellow in our rearview mirrors during the first couple miles before it died down.
If we DON'T stay here, we have to bring everything we need for tomorrow morning, and we'd have to set up camp in the dark somewhere on that dude's farmland. On the upside there, we wouldn't have to go as far tomorrow if we made more progress before setting up camp.
Given the impending heatwave on the forecast for tomorrow, we decided we'd go a bit further. The temperature had dropped substantially after the rain and after the sun went down, so we'd leave the tops down and cruise for another 10 miles maybe, then plop down and call it a night.
That didn't happen, because after cruising for about 20 minutes, we were feeling good. One of us commented on how effortless the ride was at the time. (we were cruising between 8-12mph, a breeze. We thought, hey, we just bought a four pack of 5 hour energy and Adam had just bought a gallon of water... We passed by a road sign:
Fort Collins 99
Adam and I started talking:
"If we cruise slow through the night, we could be there by morning!" "You're right... no way I want to ride through the heat tomorrow, we'll die." "We would need more water to ride during the day too..." Adam crunched some numbers... "If we continue at this pace, we should be there by about 930am tomorrow." So we agreed, we would not be stopping tonight. We had already ridden over 65 miles before we left Walmart, and we were about to do 100 more.
Only this wouldn't be considered your average century ride. The stretch of highway we were about to cross is not lit, by any means. The moonlight is all it got. This path has only ONE inhabited town over the whole 100 mile stretch, Raymer, CO. The 2000 census recorded its population at 91. This town has no gas station or convenience store, so it means nothing to us.
So, we had 100 miles of pitch dark, virtually uninhabited highway to cover through the plains of eastern Colorado.
We put our lights on intermittent blinking mode. It was the first and only time we had to use them in order to see the road ahead of us. My lights blink out of sync with one another (i have three identical lights in the housing) since the batteries all have slightly different charges maybe? I discovered this night that I could see the blinking lights from inside the velo as they would illuminate the white coroplast. This made it a bit harder to see the road ahead - like having bright lights on inside the cabin of your car. We both used Sigma Cube Rider safety rear tail lights. They have 5 LED's inside with a very wide view angle for increased visibility.
The night was beautiful. There was a storm headed east that we got out of when we left Walmart, we could see the heat lightning behind us in the distance. Every so often we could see a brilliant flash of yellow in our rearview mirrors during the first couple miles before it died down.
Adam played some calming Coldplay for us as we rode side by side through the night. About every 3 or 4 minutes we would have to pull over onto the shoulder to let a car pass, then head back on the road, which was empty. Keeping a steady pace proved difficult, as there was no way to tell how fast we were going unless we watched our speedos. There were no landmarks. No real buildings, almost no trees, and the land was for the most part, completely and utterly flat. We watched the white lines go by over and over and over and over again...
No idea how Adam managed to snap a pic of the lightning, but here's what it looked like! the red glow next to the lightning is my velomobile, parked behind adam's as we put on bug spray. (our tail lights were on)
the ENTIRE night was like this.
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little semi-POV from adam's velo as we cruised through the night
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Pedaling while not being able to see the earth move around you does some crazy stuff. It makes you focus on the physical effort of it all. The physical effort of climbing a measly 10.64 feet on average per mile, for a total of 1,064 feet climbed between Stirling and Fort Collins.
For the first hour or so, we were optimistic, happily pedaling along, jamming out to coldplay. The night air was mild enough to ride with a shirt off, which we did for comfort. The clouds from the previous storm were almost all gone now, and the stars were out. And when they're out over eastern colorado, where theres ZERO light pollution, boy are they out. You could see everything. I saw 2 shooting stars while riding.
Even with the stars, music, and comfort of riding shirtless and top down, it was hard not to focus on how much further we had to go. Both of us had already put in a full day's work making it to Stirling and we were exhausted, which is why we were only cruising. Neither of us could sustain a normal pace (about 18) even though the conditions were absolutely perfect.
I found myself asking Adam how far we'd ridden since Walmart about every 5 miles. And I was disappointed and surprised every time, wondering how we covered so little ground in so long of time.
We stopped to fill our water bottles from the gallon jug Adam bought and to take a piss. As I was going about my business, I hear frustrated mumbles from Adam and yell back to him asking what's wrong."It leaked everywhere!" He was talking about the gallon jug of water he got from Walmart. If we had been riding tomorrow during the day, we could have died or been hospitalized because of that. We ended up losing about a third of the water in the jug on the inside of Adam's velo, all over his clothes. He flipped the jug upside down and kept the cap tight, which seemed to solve the problem as long as it stayed like that. I filled up an old powerade bottle plus an old naked bottle and Adam filled his bottles. We still had over 80 miles to go. There was a bit of water left in the jug after we both filled up our bottles.
We kept going. Side by side still, we no longer saw any passenger cars on the road ever. It was completely empty, other than the occassional Semi-truck, which rushed by us every 20-30 minutes or so. We took up the whole road since it was empty, it was a cool feeling. It was a two lane highway and we both had our own lane.
While riding, when I wasn't staring blankly at the blinking white lines as they passed by me, I was looking at a light source in the distance. It was always either a blinking red light on a radio antennae or a service light on a tiny random service building in the distance. I would stare at these type of lights for about 2 hours before actually reaching them. Once we did pass by them, I would fixate myself on the next one, which was not always in view yet.
It's been about 3 and a half hours of riding now, and we're starting to get hungry. We pull over and we have some trail mix, which we polish off. I also had a piece of this delicious cinnamon raisin bread loaf i bought at Walmart, and before we head off, I open a sleeve of Ritz crackers, and stuff the thing in my clothes bag inside my velo, with the open end sticking out, so I can reach down and grab a cracker whenever I want.
While we're sitting at the side of the road, our lights flashing on our velos, a semi truck passes by going the other way. We notice him pull over and stop about 100 yards away from us on the opposite side of the road. Immediately I stand up and grab my knife and my LED light from my bag. Adam does the same. We stand on guard by our velos as we watch the dark figure step out of the truck and start walking towards us. As he gets closer I clench my knife in my hand, blade out. He starts talking from about 50 feet away, "You guys alright?" he asks. He gets closer and we can see he's in his mid 20's, and we realize he's sincere. We tell him yeah we're just riding to Fort Collins tonight and we got hungry. "Damn, you guys have a long ass way to go... just wanted to make sure you were alright, I know how bad it is to be stranded on the side of the road." We thanked him for his concern and he walked back to his truck and drove away.
We pressed on. We've been riding for about 4 and a half hours now when we see a street light. One single, glowing, yellow street light. We decide to stop under it and take a little break. The street light marks an intersection with another semi-major highway. I really had to crap. This was probably the most awkward place I've ever had to do this sort of thing. Adam gave me our roll of TP and I walked across the ditch at the side of the road and onto the field adjacent to the road. There was a road sign blocking the light from the street light on the patch of ground I was standing on. I dropped my pants and hesitantly squatted down against nothing, certain that some sort of bug was going to bite my cheeks any second. It was the most unpleasant crap I've ever taken.
For the first hour or so, we were optimistic, happily pedaling along, jamming out to coldplay. The night air was mild enough to ride with a shirt off, which we did for comfort. The clouds from the previous storm were almost all gone now, and the stars were out. And when they're out over eastern colorado, where theres ZERO light pollution, boy are they out. You could see everything. I saw 2 shooting stars while riding.
Even with the stars, music, and comfort of riding shirtless and top down, it was hard not to focus on how much further we had to go. Both of us had already put in a full day's work making it to Stirling and we were exhausted, which is why we were only cruising. Neither of us could sustain a normal pace (about 18) even though the conditions were absolutely perfect.
I found myself asking Adam how far we'd ridden since Walmart about every 5 miles. And I was disappointed and surprised every time, wondering how we covered so little ground in so long of time.
We stopped to fill our water bottles from the gallon jug Adam bought and to take a piss. As I was going about my business, I hear frustrated mumbles from Adam and yell back to him asking what's wrong."It leaked everywhere!" He was talking about the gallon jug of water he got from Walmart. If we had been riding tomorrow during the day, we could have died or been hospitalized because of that. We ended up losing about a third of the water in the jug on the inside of Adam's velo, all over his clothes. He flipped the jug upside down and kept the cap tight, which seemed to solve the problem as long as it stayed like that. I filled up an old powerade bottle plus an old naked bottle and Adam filled his bottles. We still had over 80 miles to go. There was a bit of water left in the jug after we both filled up our bottles.
We kept going. Side by side still, we no longer saw any passenger cars on the road ever. It was completely empty, other than the occassional Semi-truck, which rushed by us every 20-30 minutes or so. We took up the whole road since it was empty, it was a cool feeling. It was a two lane highway and we both had our own lane.
While riding, when I wasn't staring blankly at the blinking white lines as they passed by me, I was looking at a light source in the distance. It was always either a blinking red light on a radio antennae or a service light on a tiny random service building in the distance. I would stare at these type of lights for about 2 hours before actually reaching them. Once we did pass by them, I would fixate myself on the next one, which was not always in view yet.
It's been about 3 and a half hours of riding now, and we're starting to get hungry. We pull over and we have some trail mix, which we polish off. I also had a piece of this delicious cinnamon raisin bread loaf i bought at Walmart, and before we head off, I open a sleeve of Ritz crackers, and stuff the thing in my clothes bag inside my velo, with the open end sticking out, so I can reach down and grab a cracker whenever I want.
While we're sitting at the side of the road, our lights flashing on our velos, a semi truck passes by going the other way. We notice him pull over and stop about 100 yards away from us on the opposite side of the road. Immediately I stand up and grab my knife and my LED light from my bag. Adam does the same. We stand on guard by our velos as we watch the dark figure step out of the truck and start walking towards us. As he gets closer I clench my knife in my hand, blade out. He starts talking from about 50 feet away, "You guys alright?" he asks. He gets closer and we can see he's in his mid 20's, and we realize he's sincere. We tell him yeah we're just riding to Fort Collins tonight and we got hungry. "Damn, you guys have a long ass way to go... just wanted to make sure you were alright, I know how bad it is to be stranded on the side of the road." We thanked him for his concern and he walked back to his truck and drove away.
We pressed on. We've been riding for about 4 and a half hours now when we see a street light. One single, glowing, yellow street light. We decide to stop under it and take a little break. The street light marks an intersection with another semi-major highway. I really had to crap. This was probably the most awkward place I've ever had to do this sort of thing. Adam gave me our roll of TP and I walked across the ditch at the side of the road and onto the field adjacent to the road. There was a road sign blocking the light from the street light on the patch of ground I was standing on. I dropped my pants and hesitantly squatted down against nothing, certain that some sort of bug was going to bite my cheeks any second. It was the most unpleasant crap I've ever taken.
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here I am shining my LED flashlight at one of the roadsigns, trying to figure out where we are
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My savior, the Ritz cracker "Guide us through the night!"
reaching for a piece of cinnamon raisin bread by the street light
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taken by the only street light we found the whole night
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120 miles and counting. Sneaking past the heat wave
On we went. The temperature was starting to drop and i put my shirt back on, now the only thing keeping me warm was the fact that I was pedaling. I was frustrated from going so slow and having to keep climbing these long hills without a downhill that I went faster. I kept a good pace of about 16mph for about 8 miles before I started to slow down.
We were absolutely exhausted. It had been 6 hours and 15 minutes since we started riding from Walmart in Stirling. We had gone through Raymer without even realizing it, and there was no way for us to see our progress. There was no change in landscape, and even if there was, we couldnt see it because there was no light. My legs no longer felt like a part of my own body, and I had to force myself to consciously pedal every revolution of the crank.
Adam pulled up beside me. "Hey," I muttered loudly, "lets take a rest."
We pulled over on the side of the road and got out the last of our food. For me - my last piece of bread. For Adam - I believe it was a Kudos bar. We went to fill our water bottles again, only we had no water left. We were still 34 miles from the next inhabited town, Ault.
It was now cold enough to make us shiver in our riding clothes, so we put on our Nebraska hoodies to try to keep warm. Even then we were cold. We talked it over and after awhile, we came to the agreement that the last nearly 6 and a half hours were not enjoyable. We were going crazy. Our bodies were drained, our minds were nearly useless, and our legs felt like cold noodles.
We decided it would be best for our morale to take a nap until the sun came up. So we pulled our velos onto the shoulder, parked diagonally like in a parking lot, the rear ends pointing toward the road. We left our rear lights in flashing mode.
We took out our sleeping bags and plopped them right on the grass to the right of the shoulder. I pulled my sleeping bag up onto myself, hoodie, riding shorts, riding shoes and all. I pulled my hood up over my head for warmth. My head and part of my shoulders were on the pavement as I layed down in my sleeping bag, but I was too exhausted to care.
As i tried to fall asleep, I heard semi trucks miles away in the distance. As they got closer I could feel the ground beneath me rumbling, and the roar of the diesel engine got louder. When they passed I would flinch, as they were passing about 10 feet away from us each time. Something that we couldn't help, as the grass by the shoulder dropped off steeply into a ditch of shrubbery, which we did not want to sleep on. The air was dry and bitter cold, I pulled myself as deep into my sleeping bag as I could and pulled my hood down over my face.
The trucks were passing by more frequently now for some reason, and we got used to the noise. Finally, sleep.
I woke up to a big diesel engine downshifting right next to us. As I sat up to see what was going on, I saw that it was a big yellow fire truck, with all the lights flashing. It was here for us. He drove by us very slowly. As he passed, I gave him the "okay" hand signal to let him know everything is alright.
He pulls off on the opposite side of the street on the shoulder and steps out. He is wearing a black leather jacket. It was freezing outside, we could see our breath. He walks up and asks, "Is everything okay here?" I explain yes, that we've been riding all night and we just needed a nap. In fact a nap is all it was, since it was not even a full hour of sleep.
He told us that someone reported us as an accident and to be careful. He then radio'd in that we were okay. At that same moment, an ambulance, also with its lights on, pulled up. Both drivers talked to eachother for a minute or two, glancing back at the velomobiles every once in awhile, then they both climbed back into their trucks, and headed back the way they came, from the west.
Relieved it was over, I layed back down. Right when I did that, I saw two police trucks pulling up to us on the highway with their lights on also. They pulled over right behind us on the left shoulder and explained to us that earlier that morning, someone had reported the scene as an airplane crash on the side of the highway. A plane crash. I suppose the two velomobiles could have looked like a broken fuselage to a truck flying by with no context...
One final police car showed up now, and I explained our situation to them.
Once all emergency vehicles were finally gone, Adam and I decided it would be good to keep moving. The sun was hovering just barely above the horizon. This morning the air was bitter cold and we rode in our hoodies until we warmed back up. The sun was a rich, brilliant red color, and dim enough to look right at it.
We were absolutely exhausted. It had been 6 hours and 15 minutes since we started riding from Walmart in Stirling. We had gone through Raymer without even realizing it, and there was no way for us to see our progress. There was no change in landscape, and even if there was, we couldnt see it because there was no light. My legs no longer felt like a part of my own body, and I had to force myself to consciously pedal every revolution of the crank.
Adam pulled up beside me. "Hey," I muttered loudly, "lets take a rest."
We pulled over on the side of the road and got out the last of our food. For me - my last piece of bread. For Adam - I believe it was a Kudos bar. We went to fill our water bottles again, only we had no water left. We were still 34 miles from the next inhabited town, Ault.
It was now cold enough to make us shiver in our riding clothes, so we put on our Nebraska hoodies to try to keep warm. Even then we were cold. We talked it over and after awhile, we came to the agreement that the last nearly 6 and a half hours were not enjoyable. We were going crazy. Our bodies were drained, our minds were nearly useless, and our legs felt like cold noodles.
We decided it would be best for our morale to take a nap until the sun came up. So we pulled our velos onto the shoulder, parked diagonally like in a parking lot, the rear ends pointing toward the road. We left our rear lights in flashing mode.
We took out our sleeping bags and plopped them right on the grass to the right of the shoulder. I pulled my sleeping bag up onto myself, hoodie, riding shorts, riding shoes and all. I pulled my hood up over my head for warmth. My head and part of my shoulders were on the pavement as I layed down in my sleeping bag, but I was too exhausted to care.
As i tried to fall asleep, I heard semi trucks miles away in the distance. As they got closer I could feel the ground beneath me rumbling, and the roar of the diesel engine got louder. When they passed I would flinch, as they were passing about 10 feet away from us each time. Something that we couldn't help, as the grass by the shoulder dropped off steeply into a ditch of shrubbery, which we did not want to sleep on. The air was dry and bitter cold, I pulled myself as deep into my sleeping bag as I could and pulled my hood down over my face.
The trucks were passing by more frequently now for some reason, and we got used to the noise. Finally, sleep.
I woke up to a big diesel engine downshifting right next to us. As I sat up to see what was going on, I saw that it was a big yellow fire truck, with all the lights flashing. It was here for us. He drove by us very slowly. As he passed, I gave him the "okay" hand signal to let him know everything is alright.
He pulls off on the opposite side of the street on the shoulder and steps out. He is wearing a black leather jacket. It was freezing outside, we could see our breath. He walks up and asks, "Is everything okay here?" I explain yes, that we've been riding all night and we just needed a nap. In fact a nap is all it was, since it was not even a full hour of sleep.
He told us that someone reported us as an accident and to be careful. He then radio'd in that we were okay. At that same moment, an ambulance, also with its lights on, pulled up. Both drivers talked to eachother for a minute or two, glancing back at the velomobiles every once in awhile, then they both climbed back into their trucks, and headed back the way they came, from the west.
Relieved it was over, I layed back down. Right when I did that, I saw two police trucks pulling up to us on the highway with their lights on also. They pulled over right behind us on the left shoulder and explained to us that earlier that morning, someone had reported the scene as an airplane crash on the side of the highway. A plane crash. I suppose the two velomobiles could have looked like a broken fuselage to a truck flying by with no context...
One final police car showed up now, and I explained our situation to them.
Once all emergency vehicles were finally gone, Adam and I decided it would be good to keep moving. The sun was hovering just barely above the horizon. This morning the air was bitter cold and we rode in our hoodies until we warmed back up. The sun was a rich, brilliant red color, and dim enough to look right at it.
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We kept on, and I sped up again. I was exhausted, but I pushed myself like crazy. We had both been out of water since before our nap, and that was about 20 miles ago. It was still another 10 to Ault, CO, the first real town with a gas station since Stirling. The flat plains now became rolling hills and i sprinted every downhill I came across, hitting 40+ on just about all of them. The climbs felt impossible though, my legs were beaten to hell.
Finally I saw some farms & residential houses. We rode through that for about 3 miles before making it to Ault. We finally found a Conoco gas station and made a bee-line for it. As I stepped out of my velomobile, my legs felt so weak I nearly fell straight to the ground. Every limb of my body was shaking and I was lightheaded. We desperately needed food and water.
I grabbed my water bladder and walked inside. I filled it up with ice water at the soda fountain, bit down, and drank a liter and a half of water without stopping. My stomach become cool from the water. I suggested to Adam that we get going. He agreed, and we left.
To our knowledge from the map we had, it said 13 miles between Ault and Fort Collins, so we thought, okay, this will be bad but we can squeeze out the extra 13. As we left Ault, we passed a sign -
Fort Collins 19
We were livid. That extra 6 miles makes a huge difference after you've already pulled an all-nighter riding 151 miles without a full meal, and virtually no rest.
The way there was ridiculously hilly. Adam and I were so excited to be on the final stretch before some rest days that we started racing through the hills. It didn't take more than a few miles before Adam was well ahead of me, cruising past me on all the steep climbs. The only times I could catch him were on the downhills.
The entire ride there was a roller coaster of holding on tight as you went barreling down the hill, then forcing your fatigued legs to turn the cranks for just a little bit longer as you ground up the next hill.
Finally I saw some farms & residential houses. We rode through that for about 3 miles before making it to Ault. We finally found a Conoco gas station and made a bee-line for it. As I stepped out of my velomobile, my legs felt so weak I nearly fell straight to the ground. Every limb of my body was shaking and I was lightheaded. We desperately needed food and water.
I grabbed my water bladder and walked inside. I filled it up with ice water at the soda fountain, bit down, and drank a liter and a half of water without stopping. My stomach become cool from the water. I suggested to Adam that we get going. He agreed, and we left.
To our knowledge from the map we had, it said 13 miles between Ault and Fort Collins, so we thought, okay, this will be bad but we can squeeze out the extra 13. As we left Ault, we passed a sign -
Fort Collins 19
We were livid. That extra 6 miles makes a huge difference after you've already pulled an all-nighter riding 151 miles without a full meal, and virtually no rest.
The way there was ridiculously hilly. Adam and I were so excited to be on the final stretch before some rest days that we started racing through the hills. It didn't take more than a few miles before Adam was well ahead of me, cruising past me on all the steep climbs. The only times I could catch him were on the downhills.
The entire ride there was a roller coaster of holding on tight as you went barreling down the hill, then forcing your fatigued legs to turn the cranks for just a little bit longer as you ground up the next hill.
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(Coming soon) After the main tour ->
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