The flat half - Colorado part 1

Who was it that spread that rumor about the big hills over here in the West? I've gone halfway across CO and the worst I've gone over doesn't even compare to what I went over in Penn. haha. just a joke, but it is pretty amazing how flat the Eastern section of CO is. Once I got up to ~5,000 feet, a climb so gradual it's really kindof hard to notice, the riding was about the flattest I've done. There were sections where I was actually cruising at 18 mph, a pretty insane speed with a trailer (unless you're goin downhill).

Day 21 - Haigler, NE to Fort Morgan, CO (105)
Day 22 - Fort Morgan to Fort Collins (80)

I took Hwy 34 all the way from Haigler to Loveland, just below Fort Collins. The road was great, and was actually a lot more desolate than NE in a couple of areas. From Akron to Brush on Day 21 there was little more than a few farms and grazing areas. In Brush, the first city with more than 10,000 people I'd seen in more than 300 miles, an Oktoberfest celebration was in full swing, and since I only had 10 miles to go till Fort Morgan, my termination point for the day, I decided to chill for a while. While walking around I met a guy who biked like 4,500 miles all over
Western USA back in the 80's. He got me a brisquit sandwich and we sat down at a picnic table for a while, caught up in the experiences we've both had on our trips. I got to Fort Morgan around nightfall and after splurging on some McDonalds, headed to the first park I've found where it's legal to camp. When I got there it was obvious something was going--music and a movie screen gave it away. They were showing some animated kids film about a bear and a deer and giving away cokes and popcorn, so I had to join in.

Day 22 from Fort Morgan to Fort Collins involved some odd 1,500 ft of climbing I'd say, and was a lot windier than the previous day. Regardless, I made it to Fort Collins around 2:30 where I met Fedor for a picture session at the welcome to Fort Collins sign (picture to follow shortly), and we later went and checked out some of the local restaurants after I'd taken a shower and washed some clothes (it's impossible to imagine how dirty my clothes were, haha). For dinner we had a mountain pie (basically a super deep dish pizza) with honey--further evidence that honey complements anything well.

The rig and I coming into FC (notice the trailer)

Fedor and I at the Southern entrance to Fort Collins

Check that beard out!

Yesterday, my first full day in FC, I went to the library to work on the route, checked out some bike shops (I need another tire and tube), visited Odell's brewery and Fort Collins brewery, went over to this lake like 5 min from campus where there is some pretty good bouldering and some narly mountain biking and Chek and I grilled some quality sausages, onions, and taters, and later went to CB and Potts, just one of the hundreds of restaurants here I'd love to try given the time.

Picture of me at the Lake

Picture of Chek at Fort Collins Brewery

Today I've got a meeting lined up with Bryan Willson, a super cool prof here at CSU that I'm considering doing a PhD with, and then a tour of the lab facilities with one of his current students. After that I'm heading to another bike shop or two to do a little comparison shopping; going to JAX, a huge outdoor store here in town to look for a sleeping bag so I don't freeze in the mtns; and then I'm going to do some biking before heading to Trail Head for $2.50 burger night.

It looks like I'll be heading out on Thursday on Hwy 14 (still not 100% on the route, but I'm talking to people today). 14 won't take me through rocky mountain national park, but it will take me along the Poudre and through Cameron Pass, both of which I've heard are gorgeous.