Day 31-Fort Collins to Boulder CO

It was another really good ride today, Colorado has been very good to us so far and we are quite thankful. To start off, we had a wide bike lane for basically the entire ride, all 55 miles of it. We also saw more cyclists on the road today than we have every other day combined, I waved to every one that we saw going the other way and most waved back, some were either too focused or very confused and trying to figure out who we were. My pace line, Brian and Hayden, were on in front as we got closer to Boulder so I'm sure the other cyclists got more and more confused as they passed the other 5 pace lines and vans. From the start we were the second to last pace line and stayed there while we were working our way out of the city, not because we couldn't pass the line in front of us but because the pace line ahead of us was Cam, Preston and the man himself, Bruce Rogers who was the inspiration for the Journey of Hope. I wanted to stay behind them so when we got stuck at a red light we could chit chat for a bit. I was very jealous of Cam and Preston for getting to ride with him but they deserved it, the two of them were the top fundraisers on our route and Preston is the top fundraiser of all cyclists on all routes. We finally got on some back roads through farms and Preston slipped off the road and got stuck in the gravel so we passed them then and after that we started really pushing because we had a tight rack point of 55 by 9:45, we made it with 30 minutes to spare and the last two pace lines made it just in time so we were all able to finish the ride. We also had little extra fun on the ride today, Hayden and I did the big ring challenge where we have to stay in our big ring in the front gears for the entire ride, when I decided to do it I didn't realize that we had a pretty good climb toward the end which was a struggle but we completed the challenge and made it the whole ride. Also Brian Bott and I made our own challenge, the breakfast burrito challenge. We had a bunch of extras left from the morning so we stuck one in our jersey pocket and munched on it while riding. I pulled mine out in the last 10 miles or so and finished it a few miles before we got to our friendship visit. While I was munching on my burrito we saw a strange looking van driving towards us about 7 miles out from the end and we realized it was a Bing maps camera van and it got most of us on camera including me eating my burrito on the bike! I really hope that picture ends up on Bing maps so I will have to check the street view on the road we were on once in a while to see if it ever gets put up, I was able to mark the spot on my Garmin so I know exactly where we were.

We arrived at the East Boulder Community Center for our friendship visit which was with their Expand Program which included wheel chair rugby. For most of us this was out first time seeing the game played and it was so awesome. We watched the Denver Harlequins play a scrimmage for a bit after they explained the game to us and they are intense. They play in modified wheel chairs, they have offensive and defensive chairs, one that is rounded and meant to be able to slide through other chairs and the other has a bar on the front meant for trapping other chairs. Once we kind of had an idea of what we were doing we played a few points with them. It is 4 v 4 so we played 2 of us and 2 of them on each team until everyone got a chance to play a few points. I had so much fun, rolling around in the chairs smashing into other guys and trying to score some points and get some blocks, it was a blast. I got to score 2 points while I was on and we had some phenomenal team work, making blocks to get players up the court and getting passes over peoples heads and into the laps of guys to score. I really hope we get a chance to play again this summer because I can't wait to get back on the court already.

That was the only programming we had for the day so after we got back to lodging we were free to roam around Boulder. We walked up and down Pearl Street and explored the shops and of course had to enjoy some of the best local coffee around at this place called The Cup, Espresso Cafe. Pearl Street was a lot of fun, very interesting and fun people, some street performers and fun shops and restaurants. The weather was also a little wild. Right after we got to lodging I went strait to cleaning my bike, it needed a good degrease and lube and wipe down to make it look and feel sparkling clean for our big arrival into Denver tomorrow. While I was cleaning it starting raining and got harder and harder then stopped. Later when we were eating it turned into a huge thunder storm, loudest thunder I have ever heard, it was setting off car alarms, I loved it though, it was so fun, we just sat outside under cover and waited for it to pass before we walked back to lodging.

Tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for since leaving Arizona to start this trip. We ride into Denver around 10:30 to the mile high stadium where we will get to meet the North Route including my chapter brother Aaron and we get a private tour of the stadium and get to walk around on the field then a quick lunch there before we stage up for a police escorted arrival to the Capitol at 12 where my girlfriend will be waiting for me. The excitement is almost too much, it is a short 35 mile ride and someone better be physically holding me back because if they don't I will be sprinting the entire thing as fast as I can go before my legs fall off to get to the capitol building to see her. I don't even know if I will be able to sleep tonight because that is all I will be thinking about. ALMOST THERE!!