Over the Mountain and Through the Woods

I'm sitting in the Lariat Saloon in Buena Vista (pronounced byu-na by the locals) with Team Bar2Bar. Today's 75-mile ride over Cottonwood Pass was everything I expected it to be - long, steep and tough. I'm not sure the day off helped my legs. At times they responded to my brain's signal to speed up, other times they didn't. So I focused on enjoying the scenery as we rode up the pass on a dirt road that wound through a forest of evergreens and, eventually, snowbanks. Reaching the summit was awesome. The payoff.

A lot of people ask my why I do this. Reaching the summit of the highest point on the ride is why. That, and riding every mile. The feeling of accomplishment you get when you realize you did it. You reached the goal you trained hard for, rode hard for and endured pain for...its a really good feeling.

So tonight's the last night of Ride the Rockies 2008. One more long ride (69 miles) to get to Breckenridge. But first, we'll enjoy one more night on the town...such as it is. Buena Vista. The views from here may be good but the town itself isn't much to write home about. Its no Crested Butte or Telluride, that's for sure. Regardless, we'll find a way to have fun ;)

Party on.

Daren