Day 5 - Ouray Colorado to Grand Junction Colorado

Today's ride was a gradual descent out of Ouray for the first 60 miles and then a vertical mile climb up to 11,000 feet elevation followed by a vertical mile descent in to Grand Junction. So once we reached about 100 miles the hard work was done. I felt really good again and was here at the hotel at 4. The climb up to Grand Mesa seemed a lot easier than it did in 2014 but I didn't train much for that trip either so that was probably most of the difference.

The scenery was great. I was surprised at how much snow and ice was still up above 10,000 feet. I tried to take pictures that would show you just how much there was. It almost still feels like late winter or very early spring up there. So you go from that to 90 degrees here in Grand Junction following about an hour long descent. The descent is very fast. I hit 51 mph toward the middle of the descent but in places the pavement had been damaged by avalanches and there was a strong crosswind that was trying to blow me all over the road. Once I got about mid way down the crosswind turned in to a tailwind and the pavement was nice and smooth so I cruised along at 40 mph for miles. Closer to Grand Junction the traffic started getting bad and the wind became a headwind.

I seem to be getting stronger each day which has never happened before on one of these trips. The 500 mile training weeks are paying off and the consecutive back to back long days in training are helping as well. With the exception of the overheating on the first day I'm not experiencing any serious problems at all.

Tomorrow we'll ride 146 miles up to Vernal Utah. There's one major climb called Douglas Pass but it's not supposed to be over 65 degrees all day so that should be a manageable day. There is a chance of rain but mostly in the morning. By the time we get close to Vernal it should be dry. The landscape tomorrow is more red rock and semi arid. There is some green along the Colorado River and up on Douglas Pass. I'll try to take a few pictures to show a sample of the scenery along the way.