Wednesday and Thursday. Very hard 67 mile ride from royal gorge to fairplay, probably the toughest ride of the trip. Our total ascent was 5688 feet going over a pass at 9445 and ending up at just under 10,000. Very long steady climbs with great views and lots of wild life. 7 hours in the saddle was not kind to my butt. Got to fairplay just in time to get cleaned up and then picked up by caryn. We cruised over hoosier pass and got to our lodge in Breckenridge by 6:00pm. We walked around town and had a nice dinner at the local brew pub. Of course I had to get up by 5:00am so it was a very short night. Josh picked me up before 6:00am so we could drive back to fairplay to meet the gang and bike over hoosier pass together. Josh rode very strong, but I was seriously affected by the altitude. I just couldn’t catch my breath, of course we were above 11,000 feet for awhile. I struggled but slowly made it up and over hoosier and town into Breckenridge by 10:30am.hoosier pass is significant as it is the highest elevation we attain on the whole trip at 11,539. Don’t have to get back on the bike until Saturday morning so hopefully my legs and butt will have a chance to recover. With the long layover here there are several visiting family members so that our dinner party tonight will top out at 22. Tomorrow anida and dick are driving down to join caryn and I for lunch tomorrow. Josh, Tanya, and zoe working around josh’s work schedule will join us for dinner on Friday. July 4th will be no holiday for us. We start our last month on the road with an 80 mile ride heading toward Wyoming. Last post until Saturday or Sunday.