I’ve been remiss in posting a new entry lately, so I wanted to give a quick update. At the end of last post I was in Pueblo, Colorado heading north to Denver. I stayed in another warm showers house with Ellen, a very nice host who cooked spaghetti for dinner and provided a nice quiet private room. She was recovering from a serious broken ankle she suffered while cycling a few months ago.

The way north wasn’t too bad at first. The weather was nice but windy and the road uphill. Leaving Colorado Springs, though I had a real tough day. It was brutally windy with gusts up to 50 mph and freezing headwinds. I had every stitch of clothing on me…5 layers on top, plus leggings and walking pants, two pairs of socks, a hat and hood, gloves, and a face mask:

The wind was so bad it took me six hours to go 20 miles. As I stopped to fix a flat tire, a guy in a pickup truck offered me a ride several miles to the next town. I gratefully accepted.

It snowed that night in Castle Rock and the next day was cold again but not quite as windy. Eventually I made my way to the town of Morrison, where my sister picked me up and we drove the last 8 miles (but 1800 ft elev gain) to Golden.

I have been resting, planning, shopping and overhauling my bike for the past 10 days. The weather is cold here so I won’t be heading out any time soon. Besides, the views are great and you can see herds of elk feeding around the  neighborhood.

It snowed a couple days which made for some beautiful images on the mountainside. But not great for cycling.

So as long as the weather stays cold I will not be going anywhere. The plan was to leave around the first week of May, headed into Wyoming and Idaho. But we’ll see. I don’t relish cycling in the cold windy mountains again so I may have to wait a little longer for the weather to warm up.

Meanwhile I am planning my route in Japan and studying Japanese. Stay tuned!