The nice thing about about riding a bicycle about is you have time to smell the road kill.

Roy Thoren

Up early (5:30) at Frisco motel and off, Jeanne and I went with James to the car rental place at Denver airport.  It seems when we packed to drive down here, we still had a bit of room in the sprinter van so put in some extra stuff.  Now we have to deal with it.

James was off in a sad farewell and our trip is over.   We managed to get Jeanne’s bike into the rental car, mine was already torn apart and in the duffle bag which went on top of Jeanne’s along with other bags of stuff.  Jeanne and I wanted breakfast, wifi, and coffee, so off we went in search of the three essentials.  We ended up at McDonalds, sitting there just drinking coffee, had pancakes, sausage, eggs, hash browns for 3 1/2 hours.  Just enjoying the quiet down time.

Some folks ridicule mcdonalds but I find their coffee good and less than a dollar as opposed to starbucks which is 2-3 dollars. And starbucks only has croissants,  scones and such.  We wanted breakfast.

Thus we enjoyed just sitting, catching up and resting.  When we started the trip I had suggested riding 3-7 days then a rest day.  That is enough riding then I find , for me anyway, a rest day of just for a day or even two of not riding the bike is rejuvenating.  We had been riding for 12 days.  The tetons was our last rest day.  Rawlins was the next town and not exactly the most exciting place to just sit around.  (Rest days often consist of hiking, touring the area, fixing bikes, or just toodling around.)  Joe and I had taken a rest day in Steamboat Springs and we thought of it but decided to carry on to Dillon, Frisco, Breckenridge as James could take the van in for maintenance easily from there.  If I did it again I would take a rest day in Steamboat and again 3 days later in Frisco.  Live and learn.  But we were tired.

Off to a bike shop for a bike box to ship Jeanne’s bike in.  Talked with them about tires a bit, explaining our luck with tires. According to Constance, our keeper of the numbers, we had 14 tire replacements (lots of tires falling apart or side wall blowouts).They tended to commiserate with me but I am not sure believed it. They suggested glitter in the fluid.  At first I thought they were joking but they continued to say you can get particles in the fluid which will help seal holes.  Most of our holes were caused by sharp rocks either on outside or side wall blowouts. Once I stopped a leak by pushing a small pebble into the hole and it sealed. Glitter!

Met our friend Roy and had a delightful visit, talking, catching up and going into Boulder for food and a bit of a hike.

On to Colorado Springs to visit friends of some 40+ years.  A delightful visit and seeing the sights.  Jeanne has never been here.

But the urge to get out and ride the bike is strong.  Has been 3 days now and I can feel the body saying “am I going to be used or shall I just deteriorate?”  I firmly believe the human body is not designed for easy, hence it does better with hard work.  Sometimes though the mind takes over and lets one relax a bit too much.  I feel that now, but perhaps it is just the inertia of doing something every day which makes me feel like doing something.  I am sure in a few days I will come up with some excuse to not exercise.  What a dilemma! Alas first world problems.

OK I will figure it out and move on to the next trip.