Saturday, July 26

Today we rode 86 miles from Snow Mountain Ranch to Denver. Many people said that is was one of their best and favorite ride yet. The day started of great as every Saturday does with pancakes and bacon for breakfast. We make sure that no pancakes go to waste. In the morning we climbed Berthoud(?) Pass to I think 11,000 feet. What a gorgeous view! At the top we were surprised with Jelly Bellys and watermelon. Thanks to whoever had this ready for us! Gotta love the Jelly Bellys!
After Bethoud Pass we cruised downhill for a long time all the way pretty much into Idaho Springs, maybe 20 miles(?). I (Eric) hit 47.9 mph. What a rush! No worries I do balance out tucking to get speed and standing up for sight seeing as I go down. I don't want to miss the sights, but going fast is a blast.
We rode down through another canyon today, pretty much all downhill with a rushing river tumbling alongside the road. We rode through multiple small Colorado mountain towns. Some had art fests, pancake breakfasts, and the like going on. About 4 miles from our camp in Denver we were welcomed by a church with chips, gatorade, and water. Thanks! Then to our surprise as we pulled into Denver Christian High School we were greeted with cheerleaders, goodie bags, mail, free hair cuts in the school gym, homemade cookies, free postcards, and an ice cream social. What hospitality! Thanks so much to all who made this happen! You have represented Denver well and we have not even had the celebration service and lunch afterwards yet. And I am now typing this blog in the Denver Christian HS library. Thanks for opening the school up to us. Many of us were bilited(?spelling?) (P.S. I just learned what this word means a couple of weeks ago. I am convinced it is a Canadian word thing or something.) or we can sleep in the school gym or our tents. Thank God for the blessing of such welcoming and encouraging hospitality. In this western segment of the tour we have not seen many people because there is a lot of just wilderness between here and there, but I am looking forward to the eastern section more and more because it will be cool to see all the communities who have helped support this tour and the cause and also spread the word more to new people. We are on our way. We take the tour a day at a time. God is faithful and His mercies are new every morning.