Day 39: Denver!

Sorry for the interruption in posts, people, but I needed a rest. On Monday we left Ordway and a series of frustrating circumstances (having to do with the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere) kept us from getting breakfast for much longer than we would have liked. We eventually found a town, off route of course, that boasted a restaurant that opened before 11am. Had a nice chat with an old man over pancakes and when I went up to pay our check the waitress told us that the man had already paid it! Another of the many examples of people helping us out along the way. This trip is showing us in a big way that kindness still does exist in this world.

Later on, our friend Will drove down to Pueblo and brought us back to his house in Denver to take a rest day before tackling the Rockies. The rest day turned into two rest days after Lou woke up feeling sick the next morning and I thought my hand could use the extra day to recuperate. My left hand has actually been showing some kind of alarming signs of nerve damage over the past week, and something really needed to be done if I wanted to continue the trip.

To start solving the problem I bought a new stem, the part that holds up the handlebars, which puts me in a more upright riding position and takes some pressure off my hands. Before this point we'd gone 1500 miles without seeing a bike shop (well, one that was open at least), and we really needed to find one here. The guys at Campus Cycles in Denver very generously helped me out with a complete checkup for really just the cost of the stem. They called a local distributor for the part I needed and Nate, my guardian angel, went on his lunch break to pick it up and install it for me that same day! He said he'd been helped out by bike shops on his own tour of the west coast and knew how it was, but these guys really went out of their way for me and I wish I could tell them how much I appreciate them.

Will's mom was able to provide some professional medical advice over the phone and I think the wrist brace she recommended is helping as well. Denver is a really nice city, with beautiful parks and a well-planned public transportation system. Lou and I took the light rail over to the biggest REI we'd ever seen and got some things we needed before Will drove us back to Pueblo, where home tonight is the backyard of a fire station. We're hoping to knock out some miles tomorrow to put us at a good starting point to conquer Monarch Pass the next day. 11,000 feet: yikes.