The next day, the trail started to level out. I started seeing tons of cyclists, but no one on a long distance tour. Soon, I realized that I was entering Breckenridge, which was a big tourist spot. I paid $3.75 for a tiny pasta salad with bread. An iced mocha was $2.25.

Late in the afternoon, I climbed to Hoosier Pass, the highest point on the TransAmerica Trail. The climb was slow. I used my granny, but didn’t need to stand. Thunder, lightning, and drizzles were all over. Like thousands of cyclists before me, I stopped to get my picture taken near the Hoosier Pass sign.

It was an easy descent into Fairplay, which sat at about 10,000 feet.

Right outside the restaurant, I got incredible stomach pains. I couldn’t walk or even move. All I could do was squat there groaning. After a few minutes, I was able to walk a few steps, and made it over to the bench outside. I stayed there, kneeling on one knee, with my head on the bench, for ten minutes. It took twenty minutes to release enough gas so I could walk. At long last, I got into the restaurant, and asked where the bathroom was.

i’d never had such immobilizing gas pain before or since. could it have been the altitude? Or that wild strawberry that i ate?

That night, I stayed at the hostel, which was actually a daycare center run by the local Presbyterian Church. I had to get out by 7:30 am, so that they could open the center for the children.