Day 1 and 2 or On the Move

We had a heck of a day.  Getting out of denver proved not to difficult.  I don't think I will be able to remember that route again though.  The toughest part was the mileage.  We had a warmshowers.org connection in Fort Collins so had to make it there.  Not as though there are any places to stay between Denver and there anyway. 
We ran into some equipment issues in longmont when one of Lucy's front panniers broke under mysterious circumstances, but we knew there was an REI in Fort Collins so I was able to make the things stay on her bike for a little longer.  This is when time, and miles and stress were building up.  After we bought the new bags at REI, we had to post the broken ones home.  Weren't about to carry that stuff around.  luckily the P.O. was just around the corner.  So that mission accomplished, off to find Dean, our warmshowers host.  So a lovely northerly jaunt through Fort Collins, most on a spiffy bike trail,  got us to Deans house.  What a cool guy.  He wasn't there when we arrived so we called and he said to go on in and make ourselves at home.  That night we had a great and cheap dinner with grocery store stuff and some fresh garden produce fron Dean,  had showers and a bed which made for a great nights sleep.  And then Dean let us make french toast and coffee in the morning before we headed out.  Great guy and good day.  Although lucy and I are both feeling the effects of riding too hard with not enough training. 
Miles ridden...81*
*includes trip to grocery store

Dean, our savior

Lucy and I at our first border crossing.

Day 2 was even harder than the first.  Not quite as many miles but much more brutal terrain.  We continued on hwy 287 north going to Laramie  WY.  Some folks say its an easy road, others say... eh, not so much.  We found it pretty excruciating.  Firstly, its an elevation gain of 2200 feet from Fort Collins to Laramie.  And we got headwinds for most of the day.  It was amazing, We almost never saw double digit speed for the first 5 hours of riding, even on the down hill sides.  And we were in constant danger of running out of water.  There isn't much in between, but really, there is more than most locals know about.  We found a few oasis and made it with extra.  We also had a Warmshowers connection here so we had to make it all the way.  Evan is a nice fella and he and his wife kennedy gave us a nice place to stay.  Lucy and I want to take a day off here in Laramie since we pushed it so hard those first 2 days.  W will head back out on Saturday after some good rest and alot of stretching. 
Miles ridden...72*

a long day is almost over

*includes trip to bar