It wasn't a steep climb, which made us happy, but we could sure tell the air was thinner up there. It was also colder up there. And windy. The wind was behind us most of the way but we would take a turn and suddenly a 25 MPH gust would move us over a little bit.

The scenery going up was spectacular. The road wound through forests that got a fresh coating of snow yesterday. Much of the snow had melted off from the strong sun but there was still plenty around.

We got to the top and stopped for some lunch and hoped to warm up. The lunch part worked out OK but we only got colder. The temperature was 43 and the wind was howling off the large snow masses all around us. We took a photo at the summit and headed down, hoping to get warm.

The ride down was exhilarating and frigid. The wind was hitting us in the face and blowing at 20 to 30 MPH while we were smashing the brakes to go only 20. The wind chill was downright freezing.

Once we got down a ways we could feel the welcome relief of heat coming up from the valley. We followed the Cache la Poudre River down through a narrow canyon for 16 miles. It seemed like we were racing the river to the bottom. It was quite a spectacle to be racing through the winding canyon and seeing the mountains jutting up on both sides of us. The farther we got the warmer it got and soon there were rafters and kayakers challenging the river.

We pulled into Fort Collins, showered and headed to the old town for dinner. Home of Colorado State University, Fort Collins has renovated the downtown into lots of shops and restaurants. It was a beautiful place to end our day after riding 101 miles.

The day was thrilling and chilling. We saw moose, elk, mule deer, snow geese and incredilble scenery. This was the best day of riding I can imagine.

Nicole heads out of Walton on our way to Fort Collins.

Climbing towards Cameron Pass.

Dan, Nicole and Loren pose at 10,276 feet before heading back down.

Dan and Nicole wind their way down the mountain.