May 31, Tuesday, Colonial Creek Campground to Winthrop
We may be crazy as we got up about 4:45 this morning so we could get a good start on the day. It was a beautiful morning as we left the campground and started right away climbing which is what we expected being down on the water Beautiful alpine views of the snow on the mountains and the forest slopes below. The climb was especially challenging at first but then much more doable after getting out of the valley, with an almost continual climb for about half of our bike ride today. Over a mile in total elevation gain today as well as covering about 65 miles total distance. We were then challenged by a light rain which became a little bit heavy rain which became a much heavier rain. The rain started during the last part of going up the pass and then worse a we descended from the pass. We had been hoping for a fun coast down after our long uphill, but instead turned out to be a cold miserable ride as we came down out of the pass. Then Jim's front tire decided to go flat, providing support to the theory that flats never happen at convenient times. In the cold and wet, we were both chilled to the bone and shivering. Who is in the National Forest Service outhouse at the side of the road to add some additional layers of clothes? Someone stopped and helped us inflate the tire with a foot pump rather than just our small carry along pump and told us the rain stopped a few miles down--and it was a lot warmer, too! The disappointment about today was that we were hoping for this proud feeling about having made it to the pass and celebrating there but being physically challenged by the cold weather just made us want to travel on so no celebration. We are at Abby Creek motel in Winthrop and they had a hot tub that we could get our muscles aches worked out.
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