Sunday in Denver

So last night I went to the movies and on my way out of the school yard, I noticed that the sprinklers were on in the front yard. Good! that is why they have us camping out on the back field. On my way back from the movies, I met up with Jody, Kevin, Theo, Kaitlyn, Brian and other young folk who needed some supervision as they explored Denver. When we got back to camp at the school the grounds were abuzz once again with the sound of sprinkler's. Manley and others had their tents and belongings drenched and others were in the process of trying to locate the offending sprinklers. I headed to my tent and was once again spared a flood but I saw Larry carrying a large garbage pail in the darkness. I offered to help and we headed towards a sprinkler going full force under a plastic box. The box was mostly working but it had side handles so when the sprinkler rotated it went right through the handles. We did a fancy two-step and quick hand maneuver and got the sprinkler covered with the garbage can...with only a little water spraying on us.

In the morning we all saddled up together for the outdoor service. It was really cool all riding in together. That was all that was cool as the weather was hot fast and the volunteers did an amazing job continually distributing water throughout the stands. After lunch it was relax and sight-seeing time. Jody and I went shopping at a local bike store for new shorts as we are starting the marathon weeks with two 182kms days in the near future. Karen and I decided that a trip to BEN & JERRY'S was in order so we hopped on our bikes. On the way, we noticed that my tire was a little low so we had the bike shop pump it up. We had our ice cream but by the time we were leaving the tire was flat again. Not just soft but so flat the tire wasn't even holding to the rim! We used Karen's hand pump to get enough pressure to walk to a gass station. It was like trying to pump a car tire with a floor pump! We got it up and started walking but in just a few blocks it was flat again. I lifted the back tire and just rolled on the front as we continued to walk hoping that the station would be close. Much to our delight we found another bike shop first. I decided that I was more than willing to pay to have them fix it for me and they gave me the labour free when I asked about a Sea To Sea discount!
Tonight we welcomed 15 new riders to our family. It was great to see Rita Beerda again. She had actually greeted me when I came in from Saturday's ride. Also I got to meet Terry. His wife, Luanne has been following my blog(blogstalking as Terry called it!) and has commented and sent me emails. It is always a good thing to help the newbies prepare so Hans and I decided to give him a handbook for some tips.

Another great day of rest. The next 2 weeks are filled with long days as we head out of the Rockies and through the plains of Nebraska and Iowa.