There are lots of hummingbirds in the mountains. I’ve had a fascination with hummingbirds a long time. Not really since I was a kid, but it started was about 18. I can remember the day.

It was the first day I came to Colorado to watch the Red Zinger Classic. I was staying at the KOA campground in Boulder and was going to ride the complete Boulder Mountain Road Race course the first day. That course leaves Boulder, heads up Coal Creek Canyon, up to Nederland, then Ward, down to Lyons and back to Boulder. It is 93 miles I believe. It was a big ride for me.

Anyway, I obviously wasn’t acclimated, but I had a enormous amount of enthusiasm. Climbing up Coal Creek Canyon is pretty hard for a boy from Kansas. At least it was then, I’d probably be better now. Anyway, I was riding alone and was loving it. The towns of Wonderview, Nederland and Ward were really super small, nearly primitive. By the time I got through Nederland, up to Ward, I was hurting and decided to stop and get some water.

I’m not sure if I stopped at a small store or restaurant, and I can’t imagine what I would have bought to drink, it might have been Gatorade. While I was sitting there, I started cramping in one of my legs. I keep drinking water and then it really started. I was cramping everywhere. Arms, neck, back legs, everything. I must of been a sight sitting there.

As I was trying to keep the cramps in control, somewhat, I noticed that there were some hummingbirds flying around, the store had feeders hung. I must of been pretty out of it because when I looked around there were hummingbirds everywhere. They were unreal, super aggressive towards each other and very agile in flight.

It was like aerial combat. Beautiful. The speed and control they have is amazing. Their ability to stand still in air, just hover, was mesmerizing. I sat there close to an hour, letting the cramps leave my body, but also falling in love with these amazing creatures. I’ve had this love affair ever since.

Watch Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air on PBS. See more from Nature.

I’m in Silverthorne again and Trudi just left in a BMC team car heading back to the service course in Santa Rosa, CA. It is something like 1200 miles depending on which way she goes. There really isn’t a true direct way to drive though.

Anyway, I was thinking about all the costs incurred in the modern cycling era for the travel of these teams. The number of trucks, buses, cars each and every team has at every event seems overwhelming.

This isn’t even counting the flights. Think of this, every time a rider quits a race, he needs to go home, he doesn’t travel with the race anymore. So the team has to buy the rider a day of, one way ticket, or maybe if they are lucky, just pay a change fee to get the rider home earlier. But, the former is most likely the case in bigger stage races, such a a Grand Tour. Can you imagine the costs for that? Especially when the travel is intercontinental.

I’ve had to do this a couple times in my life. Once when I was racing the British Milk Race and hit a car at 100 kph. The other time was when I was riding the MTB version of the Tour de France, the VTT, and I fell and broke my hip. Both times the airlines made special arrangements for me, flying me directly back to the US/Kansas City, both times first class, free of charge. I guess it was a different era then. Service and compassion, back then, was more the deciding factor than the bottom line now.

Anyway, Trudi has something like 20 hours to drive and it is just one of 5 or 6 vehicles heading somewhere in North America. They have to have their vehicles in Canada for the two UCI races in Quebec City and Montreal next week. Lucky she doesn’t have to drive there.

This guy was taking a picture of the team car at the Starbucks in Dillon this morning and Trudi gave him a hat.

About ready to head West towards California.

This is a rainbow that I saw yesterday while walking along the creek in Silverthorne.