The Colorado Front Range 1200km ride began was tomorrow and Sonja and I arrived at our airbnb host. She hands me the package I had fit kit forward to her house, my Patro Cleat adapter to change 3-hole to 2-hole and allow me to move the cleats more midsole. See my original setup broke the weekend before and since we left Wed, the only way to get it was to ship it to the airbnb place. I assembled the patro cleats and took the bike on a spin to see how to cycle to the ride hotel, about 3 miles away. While approaching I ran into the legendary Mark Thomas randonneur sitting in front of the hotel. He guessed that someone on a Ti bike riding around the hotel, would be on a test ride. So I rode back 3 miles to airbnb. Along the way it seemed that my left shoe was loose. Arriving at the house and taking off the shoes, I noticed the Boa loop and broken! Panic. Where do I find a replacement? Googled bike shops. There was one 0.5 miles away. They had a Boa repair kit but it was L6 and later I learned once buying it and taking it to the house to try to undoo my shoe Boa that mine was and L4 or L5 with the screw down the center and not one to pry off. So Google again to find another bike shop. After several calls I found Wheat Ridge cyclery had what I needed about 20 minutes away in Denver. Off I went and waited 1 hour while they repaired it. Finally! So back home. By this time it was time for check-in and registration. Sonja and I drove down to the hotel. There we ate a bit, met the volunteers and other cyclists. It was real, now. Tomorrow we begin, at 4am. Home and set out the clothes. As advised by someoone online, I had a ziploc bag for each day of clothes. That made it brainless that evening to know what I was to set out for the morning. In the chair I layed out the clothes, sunscreen, lantiseptic, ankle relectors, and glasses. Meanwhile the gps battery and headlight battery were charging. Got up quietly and out of the house, as the bike was stored in the garage of the airbnb. Cycled the 3 miles down to the hotel. Off we went to Plateville, through farmland that reminded me of the flatter land around Madison, WI. I got to Plateville, just as the fast 4-5 guys were already coming back. Little did I know, it was here around mile 38-40 that Steve ran into directional challenges, which put him behind and ultimately to DNF. From there it was the big climb up to Sawmill Rd in Left Hand Canyon. But before that, I had my first encounter with Mimo and Thai. Somewhere between mile 45 and Niwot, I hooked up with these 2. What a blast. We would spend a few miles together over the ride. Then, as I had to stop for a #2 at the Niwot HS pot-a-potty, I dropped off of Mimo. It was also here, just before Niwot that we ran into the MS Ride cyclists! There were many of them, maybe over 100! So many that they carried me past my turn at mile 65.3 so had to turn around and get back on course to Left Hand Canyon. The canyon was partial shade, and after a couple mines up, there was Rashid coming down and to my pleasure he turned around and rode with me from Neva Access mile 71 to past Rowena around mile 82. Then the wind got stronger until at the turn around of Sawmill Rd, it was almost too hard to get off the bike and turn around safely. John Ellis was there to offer assistance, but I had what I needed. The inital route was to continue uphill to Ward (with that steep 1-2 mile climb into Ward) and then circle back down to Lyons but a rockslide on the road made the course change to an up-back. At mile 104, turned east and picked up a huge tailwind and went over 30 mph along Nelson Rd. then up to the first of many times to Hygiene. Interesting place, the Mountain Fountain was as many MS riders were there. So had a bowl of chili with onions and cheese, which took way to long to deliver. But sat outside and met Karl. He too had chili. Mimo handed me the rest of his nachos to put in the chili and Karl and I ate them up. So Karl and I sort of rode together for a few miles. He sure likes to climb! So an any hill, he was way out frount. The next big event was Horsetooth Reservoir. A climb up to it that was slow and hot around mile 140. But that descent was fantastically fast and cooling. But of course another climb up and then down again into Ft Collins. Again Mimo and Thai and I rode some miles from around 140 to home. Of course I would fall off a bit and then charge back. It got hot between 2-4pm. had a bit to eat at mile 151. It was sure great to have company for these last miles to 240. Karl was with us as well. Back to hotel around 9:15pm, much earlier thant the expected midnight. There we were warmly greeted by Paul Foley, the wonderful volunteer that welcomed all of us back and signed us into Slack to notify the others that we were done. I still had to ride the 3 miles to airbnb, but they were all miles that were part of the next day's ride, so I could start the next day course about 1/2 mile from airbnb!