Ride The Rockies 2015 - Day 0

With James on the road to Grand Junction

Hello from Grand Junction, Colorado where I'm about to head out on my first ever multi-day bike ride - my first bike ride of more than 60 miles for that matter.

This Ride The Rockies will take me seven days, 465 mountainous miles, incorporating over 30,000 feet of elevation gain. The good news is there'll be approximately 30,000 feet of downhill too!

A number of family members, friends, and colleagues at Friends' School asked me to stay in touch over the course of my ride.  Hence this blog. I'll post here and then on Facebook each evening after my ride.  Feel free to read, ignore, drop in occasionally or even post a few words of encouragement!

Today was the easy part:  drive to Grand Junction, register, park my bike and find a good local Mexican restaurant and then the Ride Rockies beer tent on the campus of Colorado Mesa University. Mission accomplished.

I'm here with Steph, who unfortunately is not riding even though she's done Ride the Rockies twice before.  We're also here with our friend James, and we know a few other people who are doing the ride.

I fully anticipate tomorrow's pictures will be far more interesting than these.  We're heading through the Colorado National Monument - a place I've never been.  It will be a 47 mile "warm-up" but I've heard it's spectacular.  We shall see....