Today I rode around Fort Collins with Heather.  Highlights included passing the drive-in movie theater (am so impressed that it's still open and thriving!).  After riding an hour, Heather took us up to this tall, windy road with a rock formation off to the side of the road, where she reminded me of the first time we climbed this rock.  Apparently, when we were scoping out Fort Collins as a place to live, she and I climbed to the top of this rock and looked over it into the town below.  And we said, "Yeah, this looks like a good place to live."  It's sort of hilarious to think about now, how would looking down on a town give any insight of how good of a town it would be to live in?  Oddly enough, it was a fine decision, as we are both better off now.

We rode into Masonville and stopped at this eclectic corner store where the employees were even in costume.  It was there that I thought about the situation of any given country road in Colorado when the weather is good.  It is no place to anyone, unless you are a "biker" (some exceptions for F350s or SUV hauling motorboats).  There are 2 kinds of bikers, and they are closely represented in population.  There is the cyclist, like myself, riding on a narrow, colorful chuck of metal with skinny tires. The attire is colorful spandex, a mushroom-head helmet and sunglasses.  There is also the traditional biker, riding on a thick, black chunk of metal with fat tires.  The attire is black leather, a smooth helmet and sunglasses.  They both are out to enjoy the nice day, they both seem to be following this strict dress code.  Sort of cracked me up, it seems like we should not get along, but there's a sort of unsaid agreement between us and them.  We stop at the same corners of the road, with the same knowing glance at each other, and we get along quite well.

• distance: 42.3
• time: 5 hr. 34 min.
• av. speed: 12.88 mph
• max speed: 35.32 mph
• av. cadence: 70
• climb: 2649 ft
• max altitude: 8085
• av pulse: 146
• max pulse: 171
• temp 79-82