Day 12, Cortez, CO to Pagosa Springs, CO

103 miles, 9800 feet of climbing.

New day, new terrain! It's amazing how quickly the terrain changes on this trip. Yesterday was just rocks, and today was trees, grassy valleys, and cows.

The ride started somewhat cold, with rain threatening. After a couple hours, the rain made good. At the end of a long descent into Durango, I (Ed) was quite chilled, so I pulled into a sandwich shop to warm up. After a few minutes, a couple other riders on the trip walked in and told me that everyone else was warming up at a pizza place a mile down the road! So I jumped back on the bike to join the gang and see downtown Durango. It's a very cute town.

Remember how Nancy and I rode in the van yesterday? We were the first people to ride in the van because we were simply tired. But we started a trend. Today about a third of the group was in the van :-)

The rest of the day was long and cold, with a lot of climbing and constant headwinds. Nancy is starting to get a bad-sounding cough, but she soldiered on to the finish.

Tomorrow is a big day--140 miles to Taos, NM, with lots of climbing. I hope our legs are recovered!