Alumni Magazine - Summer 2008 - (Page 59) who used the route to follow bison herds back and forth from the mountain meadows today known as South Park. The Utes were nomadic, and by the time the Europeans arrived, their culture had spread throughout what is now western Colorado. Later the route served as a wagon road and then, during the height of the mining operations in the towns of Victor and Cripple Creek, the Colorado Midland Railway. As I rode, I could still see train tunnels carved into the cliffs on the southern side of what is now four-lane Highway 24. Once I was in the narrows, Pikes Peak disappeared from view. I pedaled slowly. Twenty years earlier the day had been warm, sunny. Now the day started clear, and I expected a midday heat. Instead, it grew colder, and clouds rolled in over the mountain, darkening the sky. Furious gusts of wind blew fine specks of sand into my eyes. The temperature dropped quickly. There was a brief flurry of snow. I stopped to rest often. When Joan found me three hours and just ten miles later, I was sitting on a guardrail, eating dried apricots. “You’re doing well,” she said. Said it like she meant it, which I appreciated. “This road’s steeper than it was 20 years ago,” I said. We drove together to the cabin, where we were met by my parents, my brothers and sisters, their spouses and kids. Everyone brought food and gave me a send-off celebration. I was embarrassed to tell them I hadn’t actually made it to the cabin on my bicycle. In fact, I hadn’t even made it to Woodland Park. That night, unable to sleep, I stepped out onto the wooden deck and stood beneath the black sky. I listened to the stillness, let it calm me. I knew that in the morning Joan and I would take a short hike through the forest, find an outcropping of rock where we could sit and sip coffee. The whole morning would be spent avoiding our inevitable good-bye. >>> Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Summer 2008 59
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