"Never Say No to Adventure"

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Dillon Reservoir to Hartsel

Today was a pretty cool day!

Well it starts with last night. Steve, the sobo rider I shared the campsite with was indeed from the UK (good job accent detector) and he brought beers! I started in Banff something like 26 days ago. That's quick! He also brought beers. That's a mark of a good man. We hung out and had a good night.

We got out today at about 7:30am. Today I only had planned to go 27 miles or so since I was getting used to the elevation and (very) worried). The first 13 or so was relatively easy into Breckenridge on a bike path but I did huff and puff a bit. I was already ahead of Steve and we got seperated there, but I had a great breakfast at a local diner and tons of coffee. This seemed to cure my altitude issues.

Then it was a 13 miles or so climb up steep, three cars at a time, narrow railroad grade to the highest continental divide crossing on the GDMBR (not the highest pass though) at somewhere around 11,400 feet. The cool thing is, I had no notable issues with the elevation! I also refound Steve at the top!

The planned stop for the day was only 5 miles downhill and it was only 12:30 so I quickly ruled that out. We had a sweet 10 mile downhill into Como which is a very small old railroad town and we got there at 1:30. Also too early to stop and there was really nothing there but a post office worker who gave me home made cookies and some cute dogs.

So we pushed on to Hartsel, 30 miles over rolling hills and my planned stop for the following day. It was a great ride! Overcast and ringed by mountains and storms. I had 10 miles of tailwind (storm behind), 10 miles of swirling sidewinds (storms around), and 10 miles of headwind (storm ahead), arriving at Hartsel (dry, somehow) around 4:40 with 5:40 on bike, and 66 miles. We are also at 8,800 feet.

This place is pretty cool. It's a very small town, only a few buildlings, but it sits on a confluence of the Trans Am coast to coast road route and the Divide (we've met similarly at other places, Rawlings, Grand Titons, maybe others). As such there are five riders in town, Steve and I, two East Bound Trans Ammers, and a nobo Divider. We didn't really get a chance to hang with with the other three as we chose opposite places to eat (two resteraunts in town.)

It was an excellent day of riding and a great first day back. I feel great!

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Day 1 2019, Silverthorn and Dillon Reservoir

This river was a lot lower last year. I'm very glad that it was a wet year this year as I am soon entering a crazy dry part of the Divide.

This is the Dillon Reservoir Dam, it supplies water to Denver on the other side of the Divide. Climbing it was literally breathtaking, as I am at 9k feet and not acclimated AT ALL.

Pretty cool.

This bike path goes around the reservoir to my campground.

My water source, should I need it. We had to pay $24 bucks to camp here and they don't even have water.

Home!

Should I need it, I can get sometihng like 40 1 second shots of oxygen out of this. Hopefully I acclimate sooner.

Steve from the UK is 24ish days in on the Divide, starting in Bannf. He's hauling! He shared the campside and cost with me. We had a great time. He also has biked across Australia from Perth to Sydney through the central desert. Bad. Ass.

This app always posts the first photo last. This is me starting where I left off last summer. A Chipotle in Silverthorne!

Day 1 2019: Silverthorn to Heaton Campground

Silverthorne to Heaton Campground

I'm back on the Divide! I'm at Heaton Campground on the Dillon Reservoir, the reservoir that - through a tunnel - supplies all the water to Denver many miles away on the Continental Divide. I'm almost in town, between Silverthorne (where I stopped last year) and Frisco. I'm sharing a campsite with a SOBO divide rider named Steve, because they want $24 for hiker/biker (as far as we can tell). I know nothing about Steve as he went into town for supplies shortly after we met. I think he may be... English?

Today I rode all of 5 miles, from the parking lot where I stopped last year to here, getting here at 3:50pm. Why so short? Because I'm at 9,000 feet and tomorrow I climb over Boreas Pass at 11,000 feet, and that's hella high. Eugene is a lofty 300 feet, and Iowa, which I just biked 475 miles across, goes from 1,500 feet to 500 feetish. Unlike last year when I was well acclimated to this elevation by the time I reached it, this year I'm not at all, and it's hard. 9,000 feet is no joke. I was huffing and puffing just to climb a short hill to get to the top of the reservoir.

Muscles? Solid.

Bike? Solid.

Mental Game? Solid.

Lungs? EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE!

But, I spent the day in Denver yesterday at 5k feet, and today I'll spend mostly at 9k feet, so hopefully I'll acclimate quickly.

Well anywho.... If you read my last post from last year when I ended my ride early instead of finishing so that I could do things like solidify my relationship and buy a house, you may be asking - did it work?

Why yes, it DID! Andrea and I are doing better than ever, and we bought an awesome house after spending the month of August securing loans and searching (instead of Divide riding). We put an offer in the first week of September right as I went back to work, and closed on Oct 1st! So yes, it was a great call to end early even though I didn't get the experience of a full 2 months on the Divide and I lost my altitude acclimatization.

It was also a very hard year work-wise though, and I quit the highschool intensive SpEd job I had for a more standard Middle School SpEd job that I will start next fall. Mainly due to how terrible my job became, and despite intensive effort, I was unable to hold on to the calmed, blissed out, "communicating with the world" state that I was in that I wrote about in my last post. However, my soul didn't fall asleep either, and I didn't lose ground I don't think. It was a hard and testing year, but it was also wonderful, and I'm glad it worked out the way it did because now, here, by every measure, things are better. Better living situation, better relationship health, and a better job.

In about 21 days and 1,100 miles or so I'll be finishing in Antelope Wells on the border, giving me about 1,600 miles of touring this summer with RAGBRAI. Last summer I did about 2,000 miles with 26 days and 1,500 miles of it on the Divide (ending with RAGBRAI). This means I'm a bit over halfway. This year Colorado has had a ton more rain, so I should have better access to water than I would have had last year and they've had no fires yet. The rivers are much, much higher. Here is hoping that when I get to New Mexico the rivers are full and the roads dry! (the mud down there can stop you dead)

To put myself back into it I re-read this blog and the photos, and dived into wonderful and painfilled memories (often the same ones!) I'm ready... I think. I've been waiting for this bittersweet moment for a year. Back on the divide, but once again seperated from Andrea. We gotta get a Touring Tandem...

Tomorrow I only do 30 miles or so but over a pass and at elevation, so we'll see how that goes. Also, what do I say when people ask:

"Where did you start?"

"... good question, how long do you have...?"

"Well, I did the first half last year, but had to take care of life business so I'm doing the second half this year..."

"Well, I justed biked across Iowa, then..."

"That's complicated."

So is life. :)