Queen Stage

Day 11 - Monte Vista, CO to Walsenburg, CO (95 miles and 2400 feet of climbing)

The queen stage of a multi-day race is one that is deemed the hardest, most demanding, and most prestigious stage of the race. Today, we rode the longest and highest we have ever done, so it was our queen stage (so far). We topped out at 9,425 feet of elevation. It also represents the end of our northern detour to avoid the high temperatures and the start of a 500 mile descent into Kansas.

Last night, as predicted by Shannon, we missed the drive-in movie from our hotel room because we were asleep before the sun set. I woke up around 10pm and, sure enough, there were two movies playing on two separate screens. It is the only hotel in the world with a drive-in theater.

Unfortunately, Shannon developed welts all over her body in the evening and had flu like symptoms. She felt terrible. Robin also had a couple welts, but she was not nearly as bad. They loaded up with medicine and creams. Somehow, I avoided all symptoms. We think it was bed bugs from one of the hotels. When we went to bed, it was clear the girls were going to sit out the ride today so they could recover. As I went to bed, I scratched a few times expecting to get similar welts, but they never appeared. I am still wondering if I will get them.

I started the ride after a big breakfast this morning and tried to ride relatively fast because I knew I only had a slight tail wind for the first 1-2 hours. After that, it was mostly a head wind. The roads were great, I made good progress to mile 45 where I stopped to get some Gatorade, Pop Tarts, and Hostess chocolate covered donuts. The great part about riding for 6 hours is you can enjoy junk food without much guilt. I needed to fuel up for the 21 mile climb, which started right after the rest stop.

The climb was relatively easy. I rode most of it in gears 3-5, and I never needed to use my 34x30 gear. Maybe I am getting better at climbing or, more likely, it was an easy climb. I did not suffer any altitude issues above 9,000 feet. The next 30 miles were all downhill, which was fun, although there was a stiff head/cross wind which kept me on my toes. I beat the girls to the hotel and luckily got an early check-in, so we did not need to kill a few hours like we usually do.

Robin and I went into town but there was not much to see. Main street was 3 blocks long, but most of the stores were open Wednesday through Sunday. We checked out a few antique stores and went back to the hotel, so we could all rest. The girls plan to ride tomorrow barring any relapses.