(Durango, CO to Animas Valley and back)
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Highlights: first training ride for 2008 trip, enjoyable scenery, good weather (55 degrees & sunny, albeit windy at times)
Typical Animas Valley scenery (north of Durango)
Early Spring run-off (Animas Valley)
Colorado ranch entrance (Animas Valley)
Wish all cycling roads were like this (Animas Valley)
Crossing the Animas River (Animas Valley)
Journal: After picking up my bike last week, I took it for a test run today to see how it felt (and how I felt). Ended up riding almost 40 miles from Durango up the Animas River Valley & back. The weather was near perfect, the roads & scenery were quite pleasant, and the bike felt really good (except for the occasional gear-skipping I was told to expect). This was the first time I have ridden with my new wider (700x35c vs. 700x32c) & stronger (fewer flat tires hopefully) Scwalbe Marathon Plus tires...and they felt wonderful. I now have much more piece of mind riding over the grit on the side of road. Overall, my first impression was "Wow! Why haven't I been using these tires for the last 10,000 miles?" As for me, I was pretty tired by the end of the ride but satisfied nonetheless with my physical condition (first ride in 2 months, riding at 6500'+ elevation).
The highlight of the ride was stopping for lunch at the halfway point after a strenuous 500-foot climb. The view was very European (alpine lake, snow-capped mountains, narrow gage railroad tracks) and I was able to enjoy it while consuming a yummy salami & cheese sandwich from the local bread company. I normally avoid food like this for health reasons (trying to lose weight) but make exceptions for bike rides. This is one of the reasons I love bike touring so much - I can eat whatever I want and still lose weight!
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