Day 59: Back into Colorado (Wed 23rd July)

Woke up at 4am but didn't leave town until 9.30. I followed the road out of town across the plain slowly getting closer to the mountains.

As the road began to rise into the hills I stopped at a petrol station to get some extra drinks. I had nearly 3 litres with me and I didn't want to run short today. For the next 7 miles he road rose sharply. It was a fairly stiff climb but soon enough the road levelled off and for the next 10 miles the road wound through a rolling forested plateau.

The weather changed from a bright, hot day on the plains to a dark overcast afternoon in the mountains. I found myself looking at the skies a lot as the clouds turned dark and wondered if a storm would break. A short downpour failed to clear the sky and the dark clouds remained.

At one point a loud roar echoed out of the trees. I turned to look and see what had made that sound but I couldn't see anything. The pace, however, certainly increased. A minute or two later, through a gap in the trees I glimpsed a black animal far in amongst the trees which made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I stopped and peered in and saw three black cow grazing in the forest. I thought 'Well done Fran, now you're running from cattle!!'. Laughing at myself I pushed on.

As I crossed the state line back in to Colorado the temperature began dropping until it was cold. Rain began to fall and thunder started rattling, then lightning started fizzing down. I came to an open clearing where there were some fields and I stopped. I watched as multiple lightning strikes came down on nearby hilltops. I remained for about 30 minutes watching at the edge of the storm, hoping it pass over but it remained stuck over the hills in front of me. I got cold and had to put on an extra layer under the rain jacket. As the rain continued I decided to push on through the storm. In the middlle of the storm the rain was pelting down causing water to stream across the road and creating a spray from the wheels that drenched me. I free-wheeled downhill through the rain with the clouds so low overhead I could literally feel the thunder as it rumbled.

By the time I got through the storm I was very cold. My fingers were numb, my legs stiff. When the road levelled for a bit it was good to get pedalling again just to warm up. Another two miles o so and the road pushed through the hills, turned 90 degrees and faced south into a wide plain bounded on three sides by low mountains. The road ran straight for four miles down to the village of Cowdrey and 9 miles beyond that to the town of Walden, my destination.

Two miles outside Cowdrey I could see white stuff in the fields either side. At first I thought it was snow but we were well below the snowline. It was hailstones from the recent storm. Further on piles of white hailstones lined either side of the road. When I got to Cowdrey I could see dark clouds approaching from the mountains in the west. With another 9 miles to go I pushed as hard as I could as I didn't want to get caught in a hailstorm. Thankfully the road was relatively flat and a certain amount of adrenalin kept me pushing hard on the pedals. A mile outside Walden the rain started but, luckily, no hailstones. Once in Walden I got lucky again getting the last available room in the town.