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After clearing one more itty bitty pass, I got into eastern Colorado. Most of the scenery looked a lot like this.
My trip changed a lot at this point, because I started riding with the group of people I had met in eastern Oregon. My break in Yellowstone and detours in Colorado had given them enough time to catch up.
Riding into the headwind from the Rockies to Missouri would have probably been a much larger psychological challenge on my own, although I almost certainly would have done it faster on my own. Drafting made for some easy days in eastern Colorado and Kansas.
I also learned to appreciate my solitary ways much more. Making a plan which suits the needs of 5 people is much, much harder than my normal strategy of just getting up and riding until the sun gets close to setting, taking breaks when I please.
