The winds were blowing and blowing hard. Today was one of the most difficult days that I had ever faced while riding a bicycle. It was not the terrain or the elevation. It was the winds. What started as strong tailwinds turned into even stronger headwinds and then nearly impossible crosswinds. The sustained winds were over 20 mph and gusts over 35 mph. I was tossed around by them. It is a good thing the shoulders were 3 to 4 feet wide because I needed every inch and more. I was blown off the road once on an uphill but was able to recover in the soft shoulder. There were two other instances where I thought I was going into the ditch but put a foot down to stop that from occurring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first 22 miles to the Colorado\/Wyoming border went by quickly because of the elevation descent and the tailwinds. The next 20 miles were nightmarish. It was a cross wind. It was uphill. It was road construction. It was vehicles not giving an inch and being tossed about by their slip stream like a leaf. When a semi truck trailer passes you first get pulled toward the truck because the truck is blocking the crosswind. Then, when it passes you are pushed away from the truck toward the ditch because of their slip stream and the crosswind. One needs to react quickly so you don\u2019t end up in the ditch. Those are from the trucks going in the same direction. Trucks coming toward us on the two lane road just push you toward the ditch. It got so bad that when a speeding semi truck trailer approached with a high gust forming at the same time I would stop, put both feet on the ground and duck so the slip stream would not knock me over. I was also trying to teach the drivers to be more cognizant cyclists. There were also instances on the two lane roads where one vehicle was passing another as they approached me from the opposite direction. The very strong crosswinds could have easily pushed the vehicle passing into me because of the wind. Or, the wind could have pushed me into the passing traffic because they were only 3 feet away. What jerks. The drivers could have waited 10 seconds until they had passed me before they made their move to pass the slower car but did not. Why are drivers so inconsiderate of cyclists? Why can\u2019t they use their brain because they gained nothing by passing when they did? They risked so much for no gain. They still arrived at their destination at the same time, or maybe 2 seconds later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making it to Saratoga was a relief. It was only 60+ miles for the day but it was a relief to stop. It was intense. There was even some confusion at the church hostel that was graciously settled by riders that erroneously taken the beds that I had already reserved. Two of the three members in that party realized the mistake and made it right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After getting settled in it was off to the community hot pool. Saratoga has a wonderful hot pool for residents and travelers. It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is free. It has three pools and small soaking areas in the adjacent river. There is a changing pavilion with restrooms and showers. While we there the main pool was 107.7 degrees, the adjacent pool was 107.4 degrees, and the lobster pool was 116 degrees. The main pool was the only one that I went into. The lobster pool was too hot. There is nothing like a hot soak to end a difficult day of riding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\u2019s stats: total mileage 67.11 mph, average speed 12.6 mph, elevation gain 3661 feet, elevation loss 4862 feet, maximum speed 32.2 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n