Day 16 – Snorting Cocaine off stripper’s bodies.

Total miles – 2,535.

The internet in this motel is rubbish so I will have to upload some of the photos I took today tomorrow. Otherwise I am going to be here all night and I need sleep !
I woke up stupidly early today,around half five am which meant I spent a lot of the morning having breakfast (another omelette),talking to people in the breakfast room and hunting for some motivation to hit the road today.

Eventually the time came to get moving so after receiving a motivational photo of a hedgehog from a friend back home (thanks Caro) I loaded up and headed for Boulder.

First stop was Sportique scooters (http://www.sportiquescooters.com/) to get my oil change and work out to do about my tyre situation. I dropped the scooter off and went for a walk around boulder while work work was being done. While walking around I bumped into one of the towns weirdos who asked me if I felt nervous in my lower back or my neck when I crossed the road. I told him I felt it in my lower back which must have been the right answer because he seemed pleased and told me that we had swapped accents.

Boulder is a beautiful city,with amazing mountain views and lots of cycle paths (thats paths your ride bikes on not Patrick Bateman type characters). I have a few photos which I will upload tomorrow because the internet in this motel is rubbish and there is no phone signal.

After a walk around town I headed back to the shop to see how they were getting on. My scoot wasnt quite ready yet so I took a look around,talked about scooters and chatted to Liv the very cute shop assistant about all the big stuff I was seeing (again I will upload the photos from the shop tomorrow when the internet is hopefully faster). We decided to change my rear tyre while I was there to be in the safe side and before I knew it the work was complete.

The guys/girl at sportique were a really helpful friendly bunch and if anyone reading this lives in the area I highly recommend them. They only charged me for the tyre and not for the oil change and even gave me a bottle of oil for my journey. Thanks ! Unfortunately I left the sticker they gave me in the shop and there is no way I am riding back through the mountains to get it. Another 10/10 from me.

Liv and Fake Franco outside the shop –

Now it was time to head for the hills and make my way to my next hotel in Granby. The ride started off fairly gentle,some nice twisty roads,not too steep an incline,perfect for scrubbing in a new tyre but as the ride went on things got a little more extreme !
The start of the journey to the summit –

The inclines got steeper and as I gained altitude my scooter struggled to breath and ran slower and slower until one point I was riding in second gear at around 20mph.

The scenery was breath taking as I climbed and I was surprised at how many small towns there were nestled amongst the mountains.

As I climbed higher it started to get seriously cold. There was still a lot of snow around on the tops of the mountains and I was worried there may still be ice on the road. The roads got more twisty and before long nearly every bend was a hairpin. Although I couldnt feel my hands or face it was still great fun to work my way up this huge mountains.
Here is where I pulled over to put my thermal gloves on and re-attached the liner to my jacket –

Fake Franco moaned all the way up as he doesnt like heights but I told him to shut up because he isn’t a real dog and cant speak.

At one point my gps directed me down a road that was closed but I ignored the signs and went down it anyway. I rode slowly past the confused/angry looking road workers and had to do a tiny bit of off roading before I was back on the open road and making my way down the mountain towards my hotel in Granby.

After spending about half an hour riding backwards and forwards down the same stretch of road looking for my hotel and eventually pulling over to look at the map on my laptop I eventually found the place,checked in and headed off into town to find some food.

I eventually found this place and the food was the best I have had since being in America, AMAZING. If you are ever in this tiny little town in the middle of the Rocky Mountains pay this place a visit.

While I was waiting for my food I got talking to the waitress. She,like every other American thought I was from London and then started telling me the story of a stag do here boyfriend had gone on for his friends wedding in London. Her boyfriends friend was marrying some rich fashion model so the father of the bride had flown them all over to London for the stage party. Apparently the 65 year old father of the bride is a bit of a party animal and was forcing booze and cocaine on them all night before taking them to a strip club,paying for a private room and snorting coke of various parts of the strippers. After getting kicked out of the strip club (probably for the cocaine snorting) they bowled out into the street,bought more cocaine and then went back to the hotel to continue the party !

This guy sounds like a hero !

The waitress was shocked that drugs were so widely available in London and in her mind everything over there was pretty much still the same is it is in Mary Poppins,chim chim cheroo.

Anyway,thats enough rambling for now it time for bed. Breakfast tomorrow is apparently fruit and coffee so I wont be having breakfast. I will probably hit the road early so I have more time in my hotel in Salida which is about 150 miles south of here.

NIGHT !!

P.s dont forget you can still donate https://www.justgiving.com/Matt-Tipper1/