Hartsel to Salida Photos

A metal night and a tipi, good call, Hartsel.

Morning views

Every field I see if full of wildflowers due to their wet summer. Wildflowers for DAYS.

Some of the climb. I forgot to take a photo of the crazy rocky canyon I was climbing in. Oops. I was too in the moment.

Views from the downhill, with the multiple 14ners in the distance.

Many of my hostel mates tonight are hiking those things.

Salida

Aaand, back at Hartsel, literally in South Park, Colorado

Harsel to Salida

Today was great riding, but also difficult. A good remind that much of riding the divide is suffering. Suffering that leads to at outcome - like getting to the next town - and other outcomes, which I hope to one day understand. I'm glad that my mental game survived the hiatus. Tough riding is tough, but you get there eventually if you relax and trust the process. Focusing on hurrying to your destination is the real suffering, and enjoying the suffering is the real destination.

The first 27 miles or so were over rolling rocky hills, very remote and very beautiful. The riding was tough at time due to washboarded roads and rocks, but nothing I'd complain about. My fatter front tire is really helping. It's an 2.6 Ikon instead of my old 2.3 (which is now my rear) and my old rear is worn out and decorating my garage. 

Then there was a 7-8 mile climb that, at times, was very steep to about 10k feet, and then I descended 3,000 feet in 10 miles on a great downhill overlooking the a bunch of 14ners (The Peaks of Higher Learning, named after Ivy League Colleges and one Indian Chief) and the down of Salida.  It was honestly one of the best downhills I've ever done. Screaming down on gravel, my fat tires eating rocks and smoothing out the washboards.

Salida has been voted the best town on the Divide several times. Yea maybe, if you have money. At 5k people and touristy there is no place to stay for free. Stealth camping also looked iffy. I ended up paying $23 for a hostel which is actually really nice and am now exploring the town.

Other options were riding 15 more miles to a campsite, but it's raining, so having an inside place to stay with other travelers is actually a pretty great deal.

Today I did 50 miles in 4:30 to get in around 2pm, not bad for a big 'ol pass. Tomorrow I have a 27 miles climb up over 3,000 feet of Marshal Pass, but it's steep railroad grade again, so it won't be bad.

Steve is staying at the hostel too. I ride faster but he catches me on the breaks. I don't know how long we'll pace together as he needs to move faster than me, but it's been good. I do want to find more solitude on this ride as well, last year really wore out what I thought was my inexhaustable extrovert battery.

Tonight though I hang out with a ton of backpackers hiking the 14ners around here at the hostel, while hiding from the rain. That should be fun. :)

Road thoughts... #Biketour #greatdividemountainbikeroute #gdmbr

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Dillon Reservoir to Hartsel Photos

 Heading out with Steve, many great views of the reservoir!

Some Frisco condos. I didnnt go into the town, really.

A good place to sail.

Mining history is a big deal around here. It's why all these towns exist. Mostly gold, some other stuff.

My breakfast place

in Breckenridge. I feel so fancy!

Looking back on Breckenride town and the ski mountain from Boreas Pass.

Relatively low on Boreas Pass Pano

An Aspen tunnel as I climbed the pass.

They've had tons of rain this year, so fields are still full of wildflowers.

Bakers tank served the narrow gauge steam railroad that this road is built on. It was from back in the 1800s.

The Top! Highest Continental Divide crossing on the GDMBR (but not the highest pass we do).

The narrow guage railroad often used in the mountiains only has a spacing of 3 someting instead of 4 something.

Heading down the other side.

Looking into South Park and  the village of Como in the distance. I crossed that big plain today.

Como!

 The route from Como to Hartsel across South Park.

 Many storms, but none got me. They did play havock with the winds, though.

Hartsel!

 This app always post the first photo last, this is a flooded campsite on the Dillon Reservoir. They've had a ton of rain in Colorado this year, much nicer than last year's fires.

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!

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!