Rain Rain Go Away

Rain Rain Go Away

Come Again Another Day

Little Vicki wants to Play

So Ride the Rockies 09 is over. Another successful trip.

One sprained ankle (me), 2 crashes from our group, several colds (almost all of us), saddle sores and sore butts all around, an allergy attack, two asthma attacks (unfortunately me), 1 case of altitude sickness, beautiful scenery, slow ascents, lighting fast descents, loads of fun, tons of new friends -- Wow -- it was a great trip.

Several wildlife spottings (do chipmunks count?) and for Debbie who was disappointed we didn't see any wildlife on the Marietta trip (see Ebb and Flow post) I saw a golden eagle, copper hawks, and several red tail hawks. Quail, a gazelle ish type animal, a dog/coyote (we weren't sure what it was) but alas -- NO big horned sheep. Passed a sign even -- Big Horn Sheep next three miles -- and not a one spotted!!

As you saw we ran into some serious weather outside Denver and it was overcast and rainy the whole way out. The weather forecast had snow and storms in it for Mon through Thursday so it was a shaky start. We ran into someone that trained to climb one of the passes a few days earlier and was turned back due to snow. Leadville had a snow storm early in the week we were heading towards it.

Heading home -- overcast and quite rainy until we hit Illinois. So a wet spring -- coupled with the colder weather in the mountains had us all a bit nervous.

But I'll be darned -- we had the BEST weather -- cool weather, sometimes rather cold overnight but we really dodged some rough stuff. Some folks that ended later than us each day ran into some rain and heard rumor some ran into snow flurries heading into Leadville but the group I rode with managed to avoid it all. So sometimes it is good to ride with a fast group! Oh -- and to sing a nursery rhyme to keep the rain away!

Sorry for no posts before now -- I'll post some here in next few days to fill you in on the trip. It is good to be home -- I'm sure I'll miss the joys of living in a gymnasium, sleeping on a gym floor, sharing a restroom/shower with 2000 other folks but for now I'll take a long HOT shower and sleep in my own bed!

See -- the sun did shine a bit on the way home!