A Scenic Ride!

If you are looking for a bike ride with spectacular views, I highly recommend riding through the Big Horn Canyon between Salida and Canon City, Colorado.

 The route follows the Arkansas River and it is mostly downhill.  The road is quite busy with a narrow shoulder but the views are breathtaking.  This was the route we were on today and it was spectacular.   When I looked up, I had beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains and when I looked to the side I saw the Arkansas River winding next to me.  I saw a herd of big horn sheep on the side of the mountains.  People were fly fishing and rafting on the Arkansas River.

There was a rather steep incline toward the end of our ride today.  At that point I was only 4 miles away from the Royal Gorge Park.  But that area is closed because of the recent fire.  I understand that the bridge over the Royal Gorge is damaged and the entire canyon is a burned shell.

I did stop along the route this morning at a little cafe.  I had coffee and carmel apple pie with some of the other bikers.  The pie would rank a close second to my daughter, Carrie's carmel apple pie.  It was delicious!   When we stop at these kind of places along our route, people are always curious as to why all the bikers are on the road.  It gives us an opportunity to tell them about our mission of ending the cycle of poverty and about the various organizations that our trip is supporting.  We each have a stack of business cards with us that we can hand out to people to direct them to the Sea to Sea website.  People have been very supportive of what we are doing.

Tonight we are staying on the grounds of the Abbey in Canon City.  This complex served as a monastery from 1924 - 1985.    I took a tour of the monastery this afternoon.    It gets quite cool in the evenings - low 60's to high 50's.

I have decided to go one more week on this bike trip.  I originally had planned to end at Colorado Springs but logistically it makes more sense for me to bike into Nebraska where my wife will meet me with the car.  This saves on a plane ticket and the cost of shipping all of my gear from Denver.  I'll keep blogging for another week as I have opportunity.  Thank you for your interest in my trip!