Friday! Wow. All day we’ve been thinking it’s Saturday. Go figure.

So, we had some cereal for breakfast, and first thing on the agenda is to take the bikes in to get the tires put on. They don’t open until 10 supposedly, so we can take our time. Actually got up pretty early. Well, the sun is so damned bright up here that it’s impossible to sleep past about 7, even with a dark towel over the big window. We HAVE to get something to put on the skylight!

Ok, in to town, drop off the bikes … they’re REALLY busy. BUT – they can make it happen! Super nice folks – the guy who’s helped us both days here is Ryan Knobbe (I asked him if it’s pronounced like the tire – “knobby”, but sadly it’s not), and here he is:

VERY helpful guy, and extremely friendly, as they’ve all been in this shop. So, we drop them off, but now need a way to kill time. “How about going to the place next door for a cup of coffee?” he says. You see, Absolute bikes is right next door, literally, as they have a door between them – that’s how you get there. We tromp over and get a “would you also like to see a breakfast menu?” Well, food? Of course! Looks like it’s good, and it’s priced very reasonably … so of course, we sit to have breakfast. We’re gonna put on a LOT of weight on this trip. Here’s breakfast, after we’ve eaten most of it:

The Bear had biscuits and gravy, topped with two eggs over easy, and I had a bagel with eggs, green chiles, cheese and bacon. Both had decaf, and the total tab was barely over 20 bucks! Needless today, we’ll be back! AND a super-friendly staff. We’ve noticed that everywhere we’ve been in Salida – EVERYONE is  super-friendly. I like it here! We ate out on the patin, and here’s the view:

That’s river you see shining past the railing. Don’t worry, we were not the only ones there, I purposely shot to avoid catching anyone.

After breakfast (second breakfast, that is), we walked around a bit, and saw some folks kayaking:

In funny little river yaks:

More views of town:

And when we returned, here’s what the two places look like, bike shop on the left, restaurant on the right:

When we returned, the bikes were ready, and Ryan showed us the artwork that came out of two of the tires:

Looks like rubber coral, but it’s what I call “Tire boogers”. It’s the dried-up sealant that you put inside bicycle tires when you run them tubeless (it’s liquid when you put it in). On a DVD case for scale. I’m surprised we didn’t hear those massive clumps bumping around in there while we rode!

Anyway, after that we went looking for trailheads, one of which is here:

This is Little Rainbow, and it’s rated “easiest”, so this is what we’ll ride tomorrow. Yes, today is YET ANOTHER rest day, I suppose. Well, we’re walking, at least, so getting some exercise. While going a bit into the trail, ran into this:

Not sure how it happened, but there it is.

Ok, so after that, on the way home, stopped by O’Reilly Auto Parts to get a small air tank. NOW I have what we need to install tubeless tires. Whew! Well, it was worth it to have the bike shop do it, they found some small issues with my bike, but took care of EVERYTHING, and for a VERY reasonable price. Well, ok, we DID buy a lot of stuff the other day (dropped several hundred bucks on tires and rails to transport the road bikes) but I’m not sure that had so much to do with it, I think these guys want to help you out if you’re visiting and really need something done. If you’re in Salida, they seem to be by far the largest bike shop, tell ’em Bill and Barri sent you!