Eads, CO to Ordway, CO

We got an early start around 5:30 (sunrise) from the hotel and left before any of the adventure cycling supported group.  We knew they would be faster than us since they were on road bikes with little to no gear.   We also knew that it was going to going to reach 100+ degrees by midday.  An early start was imperative and we had already made reservations for the Hotel in Ordway.

The majority of the ride was desolate without many places to stop.  It was over 20 miles before we reached Haswell and we were making good time, it was not even mid-morning.  There was nothing in Haswell except for a small country store that had limited items available.  Phil was able to get a prepackaged sandwich and Linda got a bag of chips.  We stocked up on water, strapping extra water bottles to both our front and rear panniers for the remaining 35 miles to Sugar City.  The first of the Adventure Cycling group caught up with us there.

We continued on our way and it started to get very warm.  Halfway to Sugar City we saw the Adventure Cycling van pass us.  We took a short break to refill our water bottles and then continued on.  Before Linda got back on her bike, she realized she was feeling slightly dizzy and light headed.  Phil was a little ahead of her, trying to make good time to avoid getting trapped in the heat of the day.  Linda eventually caught up with Phil and let him know she was not doing well.  Then we saw the Adventure Cycling Van parked just 1/2 mile down the road.  We got closer and saw the cyclists who had caught up with us at he country store getting nice cold drinks from the van and ice for their water bottles.  They offered us some ice cold sweetened drinks and Linda felt it was something she might need with how she was feeling.  We ended up taking a short break in the shade of the van (there was no other shade around) drinking some nice cold Ice tea/lemonade.  Linda also ate some of her snacks and after about 10 minutes felt completely better.

We filled up our bottles with ice and ice water, thanked the leader for being there and continued on to Sugar City.  If it wasn’t for the van being there, Linda did not think she would have made it through that day.

We made it to Sugar City right before noon.  We stopped at the restaurant along with many of the other adventure cyclists.  We were running short on cash, Phil ended up bumming $5 from one of the other cyclists so he could get a hamburger until we could get to an ATM in Ordway.  We lingered a bit at the restaurant to cool down, we knew it was only another 5 miles to the hotel.  It was now almost the heat of the day.  We finally found the energy to venture out and accomplished the last 5 shade-less miles to Ordway and to the Hotel Ordway.

Phil had a hard time cooling down from the heat.  The Hotel Ordway was nice, however the air conditioning was limited due to the age of the building.  Linda ended up walking down to the grocery store to get dinner and bring it back, as well as stock up on food.  She also was able to get to an ATM to withdraw more cash and pay back the cyclist who had lended us some cash. The Adventure cycling group was also staying at the Hotel Ordway, so it made it easy to pay her back.  It was a very hot afternoon to walk to the grocery store.

When Linda returned, Phil was still feeling overheated.  Linda was able to get some ice from the front desk and Phil was able to put ice on his forhead with a cloth.  We ate dinner and turned in early.