Holyoke, CO to Fort Morgan, CO

On Thursday my friend Doug and I were sweep so we were the last to leave in the morning. The ride started off great since there was a strong wind but it was mostly to our backs. We did a few bonus miles together since it was meant to be a 95 mile day so we wanted to get a century ride in. We made it to the first lunch stop at a reasonable time but could see some dark clouds up in front of us. As we headed out we prepared with garbage bags in case we needed to wear them for warmth and to put over our camelbacks. 

Doug riding towards the clouds. 

Shot from the van. 

Shot from the van. 

After only a few miles from lunch lightening struck a metal pole about 50 meters from us. I started freaking out a bit but Doug calmed me down by saying it was just a camera (which we both knew was a lie). A mile later another bolt of lightning struck a pole 100 meters away from us and again I started freaking out. Our only choice was to keep riding since there was nothing but open fields around us. The ride was getting more and more difficult though because of the heavy rain and head wind. Eventually after about 20 minutes of riding that felt like forever, we made it to a hotel. We called the group of people in front of us who said they were right down the street at a ga station. Doug and I quickly rode our bikes a little bit further just to be with the team and it turned out almost everyone had been there, some for the past hour. At the gas station we waited for a few hours to see if the storm would pass but the lighting kept coming. Our group leaders talked for a while and heard that the town we were heading to had just had 14 people killed in the past week because they were struck by lightning in open fields. The leaders decided it would be best to van everyone  Fort Morgan due to the storm and time constraints since we still had 50 miles left to go. A lot of people were upset by this since 6 people had never been vaned and wanted to complete the journey on their own. No one had a choice though since it was all for safety purposes. The can could only carry 12 people at a time though and ended having to make 3 trips, each taking an hour one way to get everyone and their bikes to the host. I was lucky since I was on dinner crew this week so I got to go with the first group to the host to DM food since we had no host dinner. When we got to the host I went with my friend to several different places. We ended up getting a lot of food from Arby's, McDonalds, and a Mexican place. 

DM galore. 

A bunch of other people got a bunch of food from other businesses as well so we had another successful host free dinner. The skies ended up clearing up as soon as we left the gas station but since the leaders had already made the call, everyone was still driven in. Some people didn't make it to the host until 8pm, which means they were there for at least 7 hours. I was fortunate to have been the last one to the gas station and the first to leave, so I was only there for 2 and a half hours.