A little bit shorter day today, but my-oh-my that first 20 miles was hard! Seems we were all looking down to see if we were riding on flat tires. In fact, it was just that most of that stretch was almost imperceptibly uphill. Not much - just enough to make it hard and to have climbed 1100 feet by the first SAG stop.
Some of the sights on the way out of town, including a crossing of the Arkansas River.
At six miles we passed through the small town of Florence. We started in Florence OR last year, and I’m beginning to think that every state has a Florence.
Every once in a while I stop to take a photo simply because I haven’t taken one for a bit.
As we got a bit further from Cañon City, the scenery changed to mountains to our right,
How appropriate that there was once a village in this area called Hardscrabble.
We’ve definitely changed climate zones. After several weeks of chilly starts in the morning, I departed this morning wearing no extra layers, and the temperature hit 30C by 10am. As you can probably tell from the photos, shade is now a scarce commodity. Betty, our SAG driver today, managed to find a bit of shade at 18 miles. After enjoying the shade and commiserating about the unexpected toughness thus far, we eventually headed back out on the road. After another brief bit of uphill came this welcome sign.
At this point we left the mountains behind.
And headed out to the plains.
I did see one pronghorn off in the distance, but most of the wildlife seen were these giant grasshoppers all over our path. I’m guessing we all ran over at least one; there were thousands of them out there!
The road and shoulder were pretty rough through this stretch. Thankfully traffic was pretty light. Although it was to be a 55 mile day, we could start to see the buildings of Pueblo from about mile 28. The population is said to be just over 100,000 so it sure looks pretty spread out. We could also see the Pueblo Reservoir as we approached the city.
And my favourite roadside flower was very much in evidence.
At about mile 44 we turned onto the bike path by the Arkansas River.
Looks like there is a good kayak run in the river as you get close to downtown.
I made a stop in downtown Pueblo to see their Riverwalk. This is a 32 acre park that has returned a portion of the Arkansas River to its historic location in the heart of downtown Pueblo after being diverted in the 1920s due to a devastating flood that destroyed much of the city of Pueblo. I thought they’ve done a terrific job so far and apparently they are continuing to expand it.
Beautiful flowers downtown and some lovely old buildings. It is apparent that they are working hard to revitalize the area through both refurbishment and new buildings.
The final 10 miles was on bike paths. The surface was pretty good (with some rude exceptions) but the areas of town that it went through were a bit sketchy in places. Looked like lots of homeless people passing through. Finally - back into civilization and to the hotel. But - not before stopping at IHOP for a milkshake. It was a hot one out there today!
Nice day, but I could have done without the bike path at the end.
Stats for the day:
Cañon City CO to Pueblo CO
92 km. 57 miles.
2522 feet up. 2763 feet down.
Temps: 16C to 33C. Sunny day. Hottest one yet ....
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