Made it to Aspen....

Well would you look at that -- I made it to Aspen. The course was hard: two hand-numbing, tooth-chattering dirt sections (totaling ~20 miles), two 12,000+ foot mountain passes, 130 miles, ~10,000 feet of climbing, and two hair-raising descents. All in a day's work. I'm going to share some pictures now: 

First thing's first -- at the start in Gunnison, I spotted this hilarious combination of things. 

A double-decker wiener wagon!

 The dachshund on the lower level was a mean one, and growled at me when I got near.

Next is a picture of my shins after 130 miles of racing. My legs are covered in sunscreen, and dust sticks to sunscreen. We raced through a lot of dust.

Next are these awesome kids who showed me to my room. They carried my bag, brought me a sandwich, and posed in this picture -- all in exchange for an Exergy cycling cap and an autograph from yours truly. Thank you, 12 year old porters -- you made my post race experience smooth and simple.

The same sunscreen-dust dynamic operates on my face too:

After a shower, I took advantage of the sweet pool they've got at our hotel. Yeah, we're in Aspen, and in case you can't tell, that's a waterfall behind me. I'm pretty sure I was the only cyclist (out of probably 50 staying in this hotel) to indulge in this luxury. Silly cyclists.

Lastly, here we are in Aspen -- but here I am in my hotel room! I wish I could go explore more of this town, it's bustling right now. I heard live music from a big park down the street, cyclists and cycling fans were everywhere, and there are clearly dozens of cool places to eat and drink here -- and yet here I am, preparing for bed and typing a blog post. This is my second trip to Aspen, and I still couldn't tell you anything about this place aside from what the hotel is like, and that people still rely on horse drawn carriages. Silly cyclists.