Day 19 (Tues, 15 Apr)

I rode from Pueblo, CO to Colorado Springs, CO today.  A beautiful day riding along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains and into the final stop of this trip!  The ride was 69 miles with 3,419 ft of climbing.

Weather:  The weather was relatively cold again today – I started out the ride at about 30F and I believe it was in the 50’s throughout the afternoon.  Partly sunny turning to partly cloudy by the end of the ride.  There was some amount of wind today.  I’ve been pretty lucky on most days avoiding head winds, but today had a pretty good 15-20 mph head wind for about ½ of the ride.  Coupled with the climbing the wind provided for a pretty good workout…

The Roads: The ride started out on Hwy 45 to get around Pueblo, then onto US Hwy 50 heading west toward the Rocky’s and then Hwy 115 northeast into Colorado Springs.

On to the pictures!

Good view of the Wet Mountains, west of Pueblo.

Check this out - the Spanish Peaks - I passed them a COUPLE days ago and can still see them!

If you zoom in on this Pano you can see the Spanish Peaks on the far left, the Wet Mountains and then on the far right Pike's Peak - cool.  This is about 15 miles west of Pueblo.

Video of the landscape about 15 miles west of Pueblo.

Lot's of unique rock formations and types today.  This along US Hwy 50 about 20 miles west of Pueblo.

Heading back toward the Rocky Mountains along US Hwy 50.  This section of Hwy 50 is very good for cycling - wide, smooth riding lane.

One more of the Wet Mountains showing all the snow still on them from the Sunday snow storm.

Now on CO Hwy 115 - one of the many river valleys you cross down/up on this stretch into Colorado Springs.

Butte along Hwy 115.

Another valley - also shows what is typically of this section of Hwy 115 - good riding lanes!

Pretty cool view of multiple airplane contrails from jets that had passed over the eastern edge of the Rockies.

Different rock colors - lot's of red dirt/rock as you get closer to Colorado Springs.

Just south of Colorado Springs is a huge Army base - Ft Carson.  I think this stretches along almost the entire length of Hwy 115 that I rode today.  This is one of our major army bases for tank training. Also, apparently many helicopters.  Check out these two - they were headed right at me!

Then saw how tough I looked in my Blaze Red coat and turned away :-)

OK - another type of rock formation in the area...

Central part of Ft Carson.

Cheyenne Mountain.  NORAD and other military units are located in bunkers in the mountain.  More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_Mountain_nuclear_bunker.

The rail spurs within Ft Carson.  This appears to be the section of the base where tanks can quickly be loaded onto trains for transport (presumably to local USAF locations or to some further location where ether could be put on ships).

The "airplane restaurant" located next to the Colorado Springs airport.  I ate dinner there tonight.  If you're an airplane buff this is a cool place to visit - a ton of really interesting pictures in this place.  Food, is average at best.

Pike's Peak view from my hotel.

Home for the night and final trip picture!  Success in completing the ride!

Final Map!  Check in tomorrow - I'll put up some final trip summary info.  Thanks!  Jeff