Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Days 36-39

Friday, August 12 to Monday, August 15
Miles ridden: None!

We met up with my dad and Diane at a Starbucks on Friday afternoon. It was great to see them and take a break from riding for a few days! We all drove up to Colorado Springs where we checked into the Marriott and immediately changed into our bathing suits and sat by the pool. We went downtown for dinner where we found a French restaurant and then drove around to find Yoyogurt, a pinkberry look-a-like, for dessert.


(The farmer's tan of the century)          

           
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Look at those mountains!









On Saturday we indulged in the breakfast buffet (Ben was in heaven) and then set out on the town. First stop was the bike shop to get a part for Ben's broken spoke and I got new puncture-proof tires- finally! Next we went to the Garden of the Gods, which is a beautiful state park with crazy natural rock formations.











Later on we went into Manitou Springs, a very touristy town great for shopping and such. We played skeeball at the arcade, went to the candy shop to stock up, and drank natural spring water that tasted carbonated.

On Sunday we were pretty lazy all day and then went for a lovely drive up to Pike's Peak. The summit elevation is over 14,000 feet and thankfully, my dad drove those 19 miles to the top without any problems. It probably didn't help that there were very few guardrails, and we were all freaking out the entire time because it was a terrifying ride! And we were in mild danger of running out of gas. But we got up and down safely and enjoyed the amazing view up there. We could see 4 different states from the top but we never did figure it which ones.















   
After that, we went back to downtown Colorado Springs for dinner. We had a great meal, and then, almost as if on cue, we finished eating and the staff rolled out a ping ping table. My dad beat ben in a few games and then he and Di beat me and ben in doubles- not cool.

Monday morning we woke up early and ate breakfast, prepared to get back on the bikes by mid-afternoon. It took us a while to get ready and then we had to go back to the bike shop because Ben's front tire tube exploded when he was pumping it up after fixing his spoke. After all that, we drove out to Florence, CO where we would pick up the Transamerica route once again. We unloaded everything, and were about to take off when Ben put a little more air in his back tire and POP, his front tire exploded again! We saw that the tire was broken on the side, causing the tube to slip out the side and be squished. After calling every bike shop around, we were forced to return to the Springs to the same bike shop we had already been to. Since the tire was only 6 weeks old, it was under warranty and he was able to get any tire he wanted that was the same brand. The back tire was pretty beat up too so Ben decide to replace both, at the cost of one. We finally left, and now we both had new sets of tires. Before leaving the Springs, we had to get Yoyogurt one more time- it's too delicious to pass up!

Instead of driving back to Florence, we decided to drive out closer to where we would have ended up if we had ridden that day so we didn't loose more time. We got to 11 Mile State Park around 7:30pm and the view was gorgeous! We said our goodbyes (for the second time) and then set up camp for the night.

 A rainbow after the storm on the way to the campground.









To dad and Di- thank you so much for our little vacation! It was great to relax for 4 days and get to see so many great sights in CO. We had an amazing time this weekend! And thanks for diving us around the whole state on Monday... I know that wasn't too fun!

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