DAY 40 - SHORT BUT STEEP

I woke up and didn't feel too bad from the missing hours of sleep so I packed up my tent and left the RV park.

About 10 miles out of Canon City I turned onto Route 9, which I would be spending the next few days on.  And man did it have some fun in store for me. And by fun I mean climbing.  There was a very steep section atround mile marker 7 where 1,000ft was gained in only a few miles.  That was intense.  I had to stop several times to catch my breath as its steepness caused my heart rate to go through the roof.

The rest of the route wasn't as bad, but when everything was said and done, I gained about 3,000ft when I rolled into the tiny town of Guffey.  Guffey consisted of two bar/resturants, a bunch of "rustic cabins" and the Guffey Garage, where the owners of the cabins, Bill and Charlie resided.

After a much needed late lunch at one of the bars, I went over to the Guffey Garage to inquire about the cyclist "hostel" lodging at the rustic cabins.  Charlie showed me to my cabin through all sorts of antiques and sculptures that they had sitting around or made on the grounds.  I was amazed at how much detail they put into everything, I can't explain it properly here, you'll just have to look at the pictures when I get to upload them.

My cabin was pretty much a shed with a folding down murphy bed, but it only cost $10!  And they had a shower building so I couldn't complain.  Charlie told me to join him and Bill down at the garage when I got done showering for a beer.  I showered and made my down to the garage and spent the next hour or so chatting with Charlie and Bill, they were good ol' boys and had a great sense of humor.  Bill had bought the old Guffey town hall and turned it into a museum filled with all sorts of crazyness.  It seemed that their specialty was redneck engineering and they were very good at it.

Around 6pm I made my way back to the bars for a dinner when I saw tandems... the Schroeders and Halvorsons had done Pueblo to Guffey in one day and they looked beat!  They too talked about the horrible section at mile marker 9.  I ended up joining them for dinner a little later and we all hung out till later than we should have, and finally everyone was full and we all dispersed and I headed back to my cabin and passed out, yea sleep!

Start: Canon City, CO
End: Guffey, CO
Distance: 35.36 miles