Rest (in Peace) day 6

Sunday - the day of rest. For us that meant a lazy morning of weighing our options. We mapped our route to Boulder, trying to stay on remote roads and yet hopefully avoid the dreaded mud of our last "remote road" choices.

We did some yoga, ate more icecream, and discussed Dan's knee. But since rest is not something that we do very well, we only made it till about 2 PM.

Then we loaded up one of the trailers, and pedaled down to the Yampa River. Since we only brought 2 boats, we decided to do a bike shuttle and all get turns.

The run was about 5 miles, and mostly just really fun class II, with lots of play waves. We'd forgot the life jackets back at the house, so we played it pretty conservative, but it was stiff great fun.

On the bike shuttle, Dan's knee was still killing him, so we figured out a way to carry all our boats, and three of us on one bike. It was quite a site as we rode through town. Should make the bike hills tomorrow seem easier!

While we were in town, we stopped by Orange Peel Bikes, so Sam could get a new pedal (his right eggbeater style pedal had broken a few days before). He explained our mission, and within minutes walked out of the shop with a new Shimano pedal and cleat, free of charge. For us that just means a little more money gets to go to Beads of Courage! Thanks to the guys at Orange Peel!
On a bittersweet note, Dan decided to heed the advice of his body and the various doctor's he'd consulted, and end his physical involvement in the Tour. So we spent the rest of the afternoon resorting gear, and trying to figure out how to carry everything with just one trailer. Should be interesting.

It was really sad to see Dan go. We've had a lot of adventures together, and I know that we will have a lot more - so we are all happy to have him go and get healthy. He'll continue to help us with his web/tech skills through the Tour.

Dan has always been the powerhouse of the racing team. Young, unstoppable, always optimistic, big enough to carry the heavy stuff. It feels a bit like we are three hobbits that have lost our Gandalf.