A little of everything:
1. Long race to Delta (less than an hour).
2. Good road out of Delta quickly deteriorates into a "no shoulder road with lots of traffic" (beware road construction and ~1 mile of riding on tire print on hard pack gravel - no sweat, just keep pumping).
3. Stop at natural foods place (right side) just before Hotchkiss (for good conversation and water re-fill).
4. Stay on Route 92 and climb through open range countryside - broad vistas.
5. Black Canyon is terrific (bring camera - I did not!) - narrow/deep vistas.
6. Met with first of three storms up top - temp dropped about 30 degrees in less than 10 minutes and I was caught in a most uncomfortable (actually wondered whether the weather would do me in) storm: rain, sleet, thunder, lightning. My hands were so numb I had to watch my fingers brake and shift gears - not a good situation. I was cold to the bone. Descents were actually scary: soaking wet, windy, oily/slippery roads, chattering teeth (when the teeth stop chattering, that's when you need to be very wary. Little traffic after Crawford and a solitary attempt to stop an empty pickup, to get me off the mountain, was met with scorn and a burst of accelleration. I had to keep moving. Be advised - no services for 40 miles.
7. Suffering through several dicey miles, up and down, I emerged on the other side of the storm to sunshine and fantabulous views.
8. Winding road - no shoulders ... few guard rails.
9. Met two cross-country cyclistas when I reached Route 50 and limped back to town with them - sometimes riding together except when the road rose for miles (I would wait on the top), or when racing down the far side - they complained they could only get up to 36 mph.
10. Wide shoulder on 50 and two more - albeit less threatening - rain squalls in last 40 miles.
11. Bike has been cleaned and lubed thoroughly!