Sargents to Luders Creek Campground Photos

For some weird reason it added all the photos in a random order this time. This, for example, is a sing on the ride instructing me to not play in the ditch. Got it.

The climb up the pass after the lake was awesome!

The first dirt out of Sargents

Alpine Cows up on the pass!

My campsite

Alll the way back to the storms at Sargents last night.

An apline tunnel near the pass!

Back to last nights storms!

Look at that sky! Part of the ride today.

And my campsite again.

The Pass

More of the awesome ride.

The turnoff to my campsite.

Near the top of the pass, more alpine cows.

The first stretch of road out of Sargents was paved.

This turned out to NOT be a cell phone tower.

The storm that is brewing while I type this.  I've been rained on EVERY NIGHT so far.

See the hll in the center distance? Today I descended into and then crossed this valley, then climbed over that hill.

This is me at the top of said hill.

Such great skies today.

Part of the storm I waited out at the lake.

And finally,  back to the storm from last night. Thanks app for the randomness!

Salida to Hartsel Photos!

Salida has Xtracycle Cargo Bikes!

It is a pretty town

They also have a mural of Andrea and I ❤

And white water rafting in their town, these folks were going back and forth practicing. I'm on a bridge.

The Simple Hostel I stayed at. Very nice, but definitely hot and smelly. Although, what do you expect when bunking in a room with 6 back packers fresh off trail and a dirty bikers?

The climb 1k foot out of Salida.

Fuck you too, sign.

The beginning of the 3k foot dirt climb

This was another pass that used to be narrow-gauge mountain railroad.

This climb was breathtaking...

... with aspen tunnels...

and amazing views.

That valley in the distance, you can see the paved road I turned off of, is where that asshole sign was. That's right, I pedal bikes and go distances!

That crater looking things is called the Devil's Armchair. The peak is just under 14 feet so no-one in Colorado gives a crap about it. The pass I climbeed went around it to the left.

Looking back near the top.

Crossing the CDT and Colorado Trail

Almost there!

Arrived!

That's right, I bike mountains. Y'all bike mountains? It's fun, lets do it together sometime.

This is where I get to drink! Don't let the tunnel fool you, it was nice and not sewage.

The views descending

Sargents is visable in the distant left.

Sargents!

I bought brownies in this old school!

View of Sargents from my campsite

Campsite views!

Oh look, Salida again. Good thing this app always posts the first photo last, I would forget where I just came from!

Wildflower Identification in the southern Colorado highlands... sort of... #gdmbr #greatdividemountainbikeroute #Biketour

via Instagram http://bit.ly/31gupOD

Sargents to Luders Creek Campground

Today was a peaceful and easy day. I won't have many of these left...

I had a nice breakfast at the cafe at Sargents (such good food in these small Colorado towns) and then 13 miles of easy pavement mostly downhill, followed by 27 miles of not-too-bad beautiful dirt climbing to a reservoir. There I had a good lunch and waited out a storm that was dumping on the pass I was about to climb. I also drank some terrible pump water. Blech. Side note, it's rained on me every night so far.

I then climbed 9 miles to the top of the pass over muddy, but not terrible, roads whilst patting myself on the back for waiting until the storm passed. The frequent lightning and Strange Things -esque clouds made it easy to not want to ride into it. I enjoy it when a good, patient, wait yields such positive benefits. 

I got up to this mostly deserted campground at almost 10k feet around 3:25pm, with 4:33 on bike and 53 miles.  I pretty easy day, but I'd have to push pretty hard to to the next camp spot which seems silly. The water source is a tiny creek with tons of cow footprints in it, not ideal, but you either trust your water filter or you don't...

I spent the afternoon, day four since being back on the divide, puttering around and doing camp chores, and mostly finding peace. In some ways I feel like I'm breathing oxygen for the first time since my job stole it from me this year. I actually had a really good year otherwise, but the level of interpersonal need I dealt with last year completely burned me out it ways I'm just beginning to understand.  Up here I'm completely alone. 50 miles from the nearest town over rugged roads, just me and nature. (and one other camper, but they are far away and I can't hear them.)  I definitely need to find a way to find this nearer to home... or just put Andrea in a backpack next time. She is also a good source of oxygen for my lungs.

You know, I see a lot of beautiful things out here, but honestly one of the best reasons to see those things is so you can have some perspective when you are around someone like her, who's being shines better than the morning sun on a field of mountains, and who's essence easily eclipses the most breathtaking valleys. The same stardust building blocks can make up a giant vista or a tiny human, and in either form they shine the same, and have been for eons. I see the beauty of the world in her, and I see her in every amazing thing I see out here. I'm not talking about physical beauty, mind you, although both have that in spades, but there is more. The best of us it out here, and out here is the best of us. We've all been everything on this earth at some point, but some people you can tell were just recently a sunset and a babbling stream. It stays with them, and I think maybe their bits prefer it and will be it again. Her laugh sounds like happy birds ❤

I've been able to have deep, long thoughts the last few days riding and camping today. I don't ride with music or any distactions. Just the sound of the tires and, around here, numerous snaphoppers (the namesake of my bike, insects that snap as they fly). I've been searching for the essense behind reality for a long time, not just the cosmic dust that we are all made out of - that's there - we can touch it - and in fact are all touching it right now, but what's even there behind that. I do think the answer is in the search, rather some something you can find.  

These last 4 days of riding have been so easy I was starting to think maybe I'd remembered the Divide wrong. But, doing some sobering map planning today, I realized that Colorado is just the easiest state on the Divide, by far.

I'm actually quite nervous about the next few days. Soon I enter a long stretch with contaminated river water I can't drink and questionable camping areas. Then I enter New Mexico where water gets even harder, and if there is too much water the route gets impossible and you have to find paved detours (which aren't mapped out well.) I'm about to enter areas with rivers that may not exist, wells that may be dry, and roads that could become peanut butter mud with little warning. This will likely be the hardest part of the Divide in some ways, unless I end up on the paved detours in which case it'll easier (I think) but dissapointing.  I may not be getting many all-afternoon chill sessions in Aspens beside high meadow like today... but the challenge will be there. Some things ARE worth doing just because they are hard.