Out West Diaries- Days 4 (cont.) and 5

Day 4 (cont.)
Turns out, after a couple of hours of lower altitude and a greasy basket of fried fish from Heck’s Diner in Cimarron, I felt like a million bucks. When I arrived back at camp, I geared up and headed back up Windy Gap- this time, on the One9. Without stopping for photos, I made it up in 59 minutes flat. The last mile is a killer. When I got back, I took some amazing sunset photos around the camp.

Day 5
My last whole day at Whiteman Vega was nearly a wash… I’d planned on climbing Windy Gap and taking a backroad/trail down instead of going out/back as the previous two days. However, before we could get out to ride, it started to rain. Actually, it started hailing first (photos will be in the gallery). So, we ended up hanging around in the yurt most of the day. I passed the time taking photos of the guys and converting the yurt into a velodrome. Turns out you CAN ride a 29er around in there without dabbing a foot.

The weather eventually let up. I had just enough time before dark to ride up Windy Gap one more time- this time with Casey and Peter. The rain made the gravel road traction a LOT better than it had been. It helped me get up in just over 54 minutes. I think I’m getting used to the singlespeed/altitude thing! I’m mighty proud of the guys that are trying the whole “climbing” thing. Casey aside, none of them had gone after a long-ish climb before on purpose, so it was great to see them inspired to push themselves in ways other than catching some air or bombing down a hill. Hopefully they all keep it up.

This concludes Chapter 1 of the Out West Diaries…

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