The format for this post is a little funky since it's a cross-post from sc2sc15.WordPress.com. I'll go back and keep writing articles from the 4th forward, but wanted to put this up today. Apologies for falling so far behind; we had a few hosts with no internet and some long riding days. I'll probably keep pushing pictures here after the trip ends till I've covered everything. And now back to your regularly scheduled programming. 

We just wrapped up 2 days of building in Carbondale. As yesterday's author mentioned, our lovely hosts arranged for gondola rides in Aspen. Their pampering only improved as the build days passed.

Independence pass was today. Everyone's been anxious for this pass for the whole trip; at 12,100 feet it's the biggest paved through road in Colorado. (The road up Pikes Peak is higher but doesn't go anywhere.)

It wasn't that bad. The road was a perfectly uniform 6% grade on the way up and traffic was light enough to stay safe. The descent had more switchbacks, and I think we came down faster on the bikes than the van could. 

The pictures speak for themselves. 

Today's ride took us 85 miles from Fountain to a little town called Hartsel. Along the way we passed through Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods, and climbed a pair of mountain passes. 

I was sweeping again today, so I hung out at the back with Andrew. Fortunately, no one has any major mechanical issues today. Unfortunately, a few weren't feeling up to biking after a week off, so we spent a lot of time roadside waiting for people to catch their breath. We can usually bang out 85 miles in 8 or 9 hours, but Andrew and I were on the road for 12. At around for miles from Hartsel, the van came for us as we ran out of daylight. 

But I shouldn't complain. The ride was absolutely gorgeous, especially the pair of mountain descents. Even route 24, which was busy and a little scary, was beautiful. The road barely fit between the winding walls of the river valley it followed. Later in the day, the valley opened up and the road straightened out. Safer to ride on but less breathtaking. 

All told, it was a nice return to the bicycle. Especially the mountain descents. 

Quite frankly, I forget what we did today. I only transferred these five pictures from my camera, and none of them ring any bells. We made more progress on scaffolding the across-the-street house, at least. 

Oh! I remember! I spent most of the day adding sports between the walls and the roof trusses. I cut a bunch of wood chunks down to 22" and installed them in between two roof trusses. Then I nailed down through the new support into the wall below. These supports reduce the amount of wobble in otherwise floating walls and reduce future drywall damage.