The Amazing Journey Pt. 2

A proud moment, Matty B checks out my bike. =)

The sleeping giant.

It's like the hanging gardens.

The chickens!

So when I last left you guys last, I was about to leave Ken and Sara in Denver and head back to Colorado Springs for the race mechanic clinic. It was held at the Olympic Training Center in the middle of town, fenced in and secure from the surrounding streets. My friends Matt and Eric from High Gear had flown in that morning and it was great to see some familiar faces.

After our reunion, we had time before our first class, so we hopped on our bikes and went on a recon mission around Springs to check things out. The first session was at 6pm and was just a chance for all the instructors and the students to introduce themselves. The next day would be the first of four days of the most intense instruction of race mechanics-related topics. Everything from bike washing to the athlete-mechanic relationship. Some of the biggest names in the cycling industry were there to pass on their knowledge to us aspiring mechanics.

The Olympic Training Center is an amazing facility where many of the country's top athletes reside so they can train in a controlled environment. Our classes limited us to only a few classrooms, but we had free reign over the cafeteria! Not only was it awesome to just walk up and take whatever we wanted, but the food was actually healthy. Each item had its full nutritional breakdown displayed before it, so the athletes were sure of what they were or weren't putting in their bodies. That stuff didn't interest me. I was more interested in the softserve machine and the do-it-yourself waffle irons. Whipped cream? Don't mind if I do!

Even though our physical time there was short, the amount of activity each day, as I look back, made it seem to have been longer. After the last session on Sunday morning, I had a meeting with the head dude of the clinic and the head dude of the European road program to discuss future job opportunities. By the time that was over, all of my new friends, as well as Matt and Eric, had all departed to catch their flights home. I sat in the dining area, watching a football game on the big screen, contemplating my next move.

It was a strange feeling, one I would imagine a college student feels on his last day on campus (I wouldn't know that exact feeling), knowing as soon as you stepped foot off that campus you could never turn back. And that your whole life was ahead of you. The latter feeling I felt very strongly. I had planned for nearly two years to arrive at this moment and that moment came and went so quickly. As was the way for most of the events that took place over these last two years, I just let my heart lead me wherever it wanted to go. As long as I listened to it, things were just seeming to work out like as if it was all a part of a preset plan.

I checked the weather a few times as I sat there, wondering if I should spend the night in my van there in town or continue West to my next way point. I stared blankly down at the table for a few minutes and then, as if lifted by some external force, I got up out of my chair and walked out the door. It was time to move on. Steamboat Springs lay 4 hours away in the high country and I had just enough time to get there before bedtime that night. A weather system was moving in and would dump snow in the passes. I didn't want to encounter any snow covered roads in my van and so far I was very lucky. I was granted fair weather all the way to Colorado, until the very night I arrived did a snowstorm hit. I was already safe inside the limits of the Walmart parking lot by then.

I arrived at Amy's house in Steamboat just after 11pm, after having climbed through Rabbit Ears Pass and descending down into the city limits. The passes were clear that night, but the next day a storm dumped about 4 inches of fresh powder. It was great to see Amy and her dogs Taina and Kayla, as well as Amy's sister, Erin, whom I didn't expect to be there. Amy and I took the dogs out for a snowshoe hike up a nearby mountain, then went bouldering at a friend's personal rock wall. To wrap up an eventful and fun-filled day, we all went to the hot springs for a soak. It was nice because it was still snowing as we sat in geothermally heated water.

I was concerned about the appropriate time to depart for my next and final leg of my journey. The next day would see sunny skies and temps above freezing, but only later in the day. I would need to wait until the roads cleared up before heading out of Steamboat. Amy tempted me to stay, and it was hard not to, but another weather system would be there soon and I feared if I didn't get out while I could, I may not get out for a while. It was important that I did leave on time because my next destination, and ultimately where I would be staying, was a two-day drive away.

Amy and Erin both had business to attend to at the mountain that morning, so I said my goodbye's early and had the rest of the morning to spend with the dogs. I sat on the couch with Taina sleeping next to me, checking and rechecking the weather forecast. Snow in the high country and fog later that night in Twin Falls, Idaho where I was headed. Just like the day before in the cafeteria, I just got up and made for the door. This time, my exodus was slowed by the long goodbyes given to the dogs, since I will miss them a lot and don't know when I will see them again. They didn't seem so concerned, except that I was prolonging their approach to a mid-morning nap.

In two days I would be in Bend, Oregon.