goodbye kansas. hello colorado.

well, we are done with kansas. in fact, we've been done with kansas for a few days now. whoops.

kansas was a great state to ride through. the people were incredible, and the winds, for the most part, were on our side. our first stop in kansas brought us to pittsburgh. we showed up to a free pizza/salad buffet for all the cyclists where we also got to meet a few people with MS and hear their stories. later that night, we stayed at the pittsburgh middle school, where we also got free dinner by some of the same folks who hosted lunch. the dinner was amazing, but not because of the food. here is an excerpt from one of the other cyclists blog: "Each volunteer introduced themselves and told us how they are associated with MS - to cap the night two women told us how they have personally dealt with having MS (one for 35 years). It was an extremely inspiring talk as the main speaker (after popping a wheelie in her wheel chair!!) discussed how research has progressed over the years and that she is now able to go up to 3 years without an MS relapse (previously it was approximately 2 months). She explained many of her life's details and this made everyone realize even more that MS is an extremely debilitating disease and still has a long way to come. The two ladies discussed how BUS4MS affects them personally by providing hope on the darkest days of their struggle. They expressed the fact that we are simply raising the awareness level of MS as we ride across the country, but we are also continuously raising money for research and MS related treatments." the people of kansas left us blown away and completely inspired.

the next day in kansas, we battled the wind and made it to chanute, kansas. we were again welcomed with free lunch and dinner provided by some local MS volunteers. in chanute, BUS4MS paired with the local MS society to build a ramp for a patient. some of our fundraising efforts this year paid for the ramp. (we have raised $92,148 but are shooting for $100,000. if you haven't donated, please do so!)

the first few days in kansas, we had some great winds. i not only did my first official 100 mile ride, but i also did 120 miles a couple days after. actually, liza and i rode into camp and the odometer said "98.8" so we decided to ride around until it reached "100" so we could have our official 100 mile ride. here we are once we finished:

there were a couple days in kansas that were not awesome. the winds were absolutely treacherous. the day after we did our 120 mile ride, we only did 25 miles because the crosswinds were so bad. kansas was also pretty boring. when we were riding the appalachians, all i could think about was how excited i was to reach kansas and have it be completely flat. after a couple days, it got old and i actually missed the climbs.

our last day in kansas, which was july 4th, we planned on only riding 60 miles into ordway, kansas. however, once we all finished 60 miles, we decided to do 50 more and make it to pueblo, colorado. the winds were in our favor and pueblo had way more to offer than ordway. pueblo had an amazing 4th of july celebration and the extra 50 miles were worth it. it also meant that we got a rest day on the 5th!

colorado has been wonderful. i am absolutely in love with this state. the first third of this state was actually almost exactly like kansas. it was relatively flat with endless wheat fields.

once we left pueblo was when we started climbing the rockies. i am loving these mountains. the climbs are longer than the appalachians, but they are also not as steep and more steady. it's easy to get into a rhythm and just ride up. our first day in the rockies, we had an 80 mile ride ahead of us. however, we didn't leave until noon because the local news wanted to interview us. not only did we get a late start, but then liza kept getting flats. needless to day, it was a race against the sun. i started riding with amanda near the end of the day. we had about 20 miles left but the sun was setting soon. we had about 10 miles left and decided to crush those last miles. unfortunately, we missed the turn and went 10 miles out of the way. it was 10pm, dark, and we had no cell service. long story short, we found a couple that offered to give us a ride to our camp. the support vehicle even went out and searched for us because they knew we must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

the day after, we camped at 10,500 feet. rockies in july feels like san antonio in december. i was freezing and didn't pack very many warm clothes. i bundled up in everything i could find. then it started raining. we made the best of it, though, and it turned into a great night.

the next day, we climbed 1,000 and made it to our highest elevation of the trip, around 11,300. at the top of monarch pass, there were gondolas that took you up to 12,000ft. the views were incredible PLUS there was snow. very little snow... but still snow.

tomorrow we are riding into telluride, colorado where we are going to have another rest day. at the beginning of the trip, we only had 2 rest days planned, but then we did a couple of double days and made it so we get 3 additional rest days. i'm excited for telluride. it's supposed to be a pretty awesome town PLUS it looks like we might be going white water rafting or mountain biking. (what better way to rest from road biking than to mountain bike!)

i'll try to get better at this whole blogging thing but lets be honest... it probably wont happen.

here is video number 5 to tide you over until the next update.