I decided to take another rest day in Gunnison. I promise I'm not being lazy. As I was coming into town yesterday on my ride in from Montrose, I noticed this weird clicking in my knee. It's as if something had become misaligned in my knee, and it was rubbing, and then popping, with every pedal stroke. I got on the bike this morning, and I didn't experience the same thing, but I want to give my body a rest. I've got a big climb from Gunnison to Salida, and the last thing I need is a knee that's going to give me trouble. We'll see how I feel tomorrow; hopefully this is nothing debilitating. Part of the reason why I decided to stick around for an extra day is because I'm currently staying in a nice, cheap hostel. Cheaper than a KOA, and a little more expensive than the campsite North of town, but I get to sleep in a bed. I must have slept 12 hours last night. It was amazing.
The ride from Montrose to Gunnison was lots of fun, albeit full of ups and downs. I started off the morning riding into a 15 mph headwind and ascending for 14 miles. That was hard. There's nothing worse than riding uphill first thing in the morning. After descending a little bit into a place called Cimarron, I entered a beautiful, green valley. In the far distance I could see snow capped mountains. My joy at being in such a spectacular place faded as soon as I started another 1500 ft climb. After about a mile, I stopped, put on some Madonna, and cranked up the rest of the hill. I was in the zone. It was amazing. I was sweating, huffing and puffing, and my legs were on fire, but I felt like I was in the right place. I think the happiest moments I've spent on a bike have been on climbs. Tailwinds are fun, but there's always this nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach that the tailwind is going to be quickly replaced by a headwind, or that for every mile you ride with a tailwind, you can expect 3 (on different days) with a headwind. In other words, it feels like you're cheating. Climbing is not cheating, however. Climbing represents this epic battle against gravity.
The ride from Montrose to Gunnison was lots of fun, albeit full of ups and downs. I started off the morning riding into a 15 mph headwind and ascending for 14 miles. That was hard. There's nothing worse than riding uphill first thing in the morning. After descending a little bit into a place called Cimarron, I entered a beautiful, green valley. In the far distance I could see snow capped mountains. My joy at being in such a spectacular place faded as soon as I started another 1500 ft climb. After about a mile, I stopped, put on some Madonna, and cranked up the rest of the hill. I was in the zone. It was amazing. I was sweating, huffing and puffing, and my legs were on fire, but I felt like I was in the right place. I think the happiest moments I've spent on a bike have been on climbs. Tailwinds are fun, but there's always this nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach that the tailwind is going to be quickly replaced by a headwind, or that for every mile you ride with a tailwind, you can expect 3 (on different days) with a headwind. In other words, it feels like you're cheating. Climbing is not cheating, however. Climbing represents this epic battle against gravity.
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