Mar 10, 2018


TOUR DIVIDE 2017

Pre-race

We left home on June 7th headed for Winnipeg Manitoba. Thanks to Jim Ray and Kari for the ride. While Jim and Kari got a hotel room and drove back to Duluth the next day, Rich and I boarded a Greyhound bus at 11 PM headed for a 22 hour bus ride to Banff.

We arrived in Banff at 9 PM on the 8th collected all of our gear and assembled our bikes in the parking lot. A couple other riders stopped by to say hi and eventually Crazy Larry showed up in his van and said hi also. We than rode to our hostel, Samesun Backpacker Banff. Not a bad place, there were 8 to a room with a bath in the room and another shared bath down the hall. We stayed there 2 nights.


Day 1

Banff to 5 miles north of Elkford BC

The first day

Start at Banff YWCA. Lisa, Elizabeth, and Nate were at the start to see us off. Crazy Larry gave a somewhat winded talk, we got a group photo and headed for the trailhead at around 8 AM.

The spring weather had been wet and cool and that first day was no exception, the trail for the most part (with exceptions) was pretty good but wet, and scenic. We had a few episodes’ of rain and a couple episodes of snow! But nothing bad or long. Our first resupply was at Boulton Creek trading post, where I discovered my SPOT tracker was no longer with me. I asked around if anybody had seen one on the trail and luckily found the guy who had picked mine up, I had ridden with James off and on during the morning and he had found my tracker on the trail.

In the afternoon the trail got worse. We ran into a section of trail or more correctly logging road where there had been some active logging going on, that is until the trucks could no longer drive on the road. It was completely covered with water filled ruts. There was nowhere to go but ride right in the 6 inches or so of muddy water in the ruts. This went on for many miles. We came across one of the leaders walking his bike here he said he had broken his derailleur in the mud and the bike was unrideable and he was going have to walk to Elkford. Well it did eventually end and come toward evening we were thinking about finding a place to camp when we came out into a large clearing where 2 other guys were starting a fire, it was next to a river (with a large coal mine across the river) and it was about a mile from the start of the Fernie detour(Koko claims detour), and about 5 miles north of Elkford. We ended camping there with Leah and Jere who we would see every few days thru out the ride, and Angelia whom we would not see again for several weeks, and about 8 others.




Made our first crossing of the CD at Elk Pass 6500 feet going from Alberta to British Columbia.

Made camp 9 PM

104 miles, 11:07 hours moving time, 13 hours on the trail. 



Day 2

5 miles north of Elkford to Fernie BC.

The Fernie Detour (Koko claims detour)

We got up about 6 AM and left camp about 7 AM. It was about a mile to the Fernie detour. This was different than the Fernie alternate shown on the maps and I believe it was designed to avoid the washed out bridge just south of Elkford. The detour started out terrible and it never got better, it was all ATV trail full of loose rock, steep hills both up and down and many, many ice cold river crossings most of which we could ride but not all. There was one ½ mile section where the river had taken over the trail and we were forced to walk right up the middle of it. All the rivers in Canada reminded me of the rivers that you see emerging from glaciers, they were that gray blue color fast running and cold.


The detour eventually lead us to the Fernie alternate trail and then into Fernie BC about 5 PM. Where we got a hotel room for the night and spent some time doing maintenance on our bikes, lubing and cleaning off the mud. We had a nice dinner at a local restaurant and slept well.

The weather again was occasional showers both rain and snow.

61 miles, 7:40 moving time, 10 hours on the trail.



Day 3

Fernie to Roosville Montana USA

Lots of vertical

Lots of passes today. We left Fernie at 5:50 AM rode several miles on the Fernie alternate and then detoured east back to the regular ACA tour divide trail. About 5 passes but none of them on the continental divide. It was a long day with leaving before 6 and riding till 9 PM. The weather was typical cool and a little wet. We got to Rossport a little before 9 PM and crossed the border without any problems, they even had a hose out so we could wash the mud off our bikes. We than went across the road to a bar and small store and had a burger and camped in their side yard for the night. We were 14 miles north of Eureka but didn’t have the strength to go into town, 3 or 4 other people camped with us, but I guess most riders went into Eureka.

There were about 17 hours of daylight up here which we were used to and was really nice, it was light before we got up and light when we went to bed. Something we would see change drastically further south as the days got a lot shorter.

110 miles, 12:32 hrs riding time 15:10 hrs on the trail.



Day 4

Roosville to Whitefish Montana

Two big passes in the snow

 Whitefish pass and Red Meadow pass both of them about 7000 feet. We left Roosville about 7 AM. Whitefish Pass was tough but doable on the gravel road, but Red Meadow was snow covered for about 3 miles so it was all hike a bike, although it was a very pretty pass with the mountain lake right near the top of the pass and the weather was clear. Then there was a long, long downhill (like about 30 miles) most of the way to Whitefish Lake, than it was around the east side of Whitefish Lake and into town. Very pretty ride all day. We got a hotel room again in Whitefish about 8 PM and spent the night. Had pizza at a local shop next to the bike shop with a couple of other riders and also ran into the first North bound rider we’ve seen, unfortunately I forget his name.


103 miles, 10:23 moving time 13 hrs on the trail.



Day 5

Whitefish MT to Holland Lake Lodge MT

Thru the Flatheads in the rain.

Left Whitefish about 6:15 AM. The first sections were a lot of paved roads till we got to Flathead National Forest. As soon as we got off of the pavement the rain began and it rained all day pretty hard at times. Lots of forest roads and lots of abandoned forest roads and even a little single track all of it in the rain. Did I mentioned it rained all day long. Wore all of my clothes including all of my rain gear and managed to stay warm as long as I kept moving, if you stopped for long ya got cold pretty quick. Not much to see today because of the cloud cover, it reminded me of riding in northern MN riding thru the big trees. There was just 1 big climb after Ferndale. Rode with Ko for a while today. We first met Ko while riding the Colorado Trail Race in 2014, a very nice guy from the Denver area, rides a bamboo bike.

The plan was to stay at Holland Lake Lodge for the night which I thought was right on highway 85 and right on the route. When I got to hwy 85 I find out the lodge is another 4 miles and it is about 2 miles off route, but there are no other options to get out of the rain. When I arrive about 9:15 PM I talk to the front desk and they inform me there is no room at the inn. Luckily I see Leah and Jere having dinner and they kindly offered to let Rich and I sleep in their cabin. So this is a small 1 room cabin with a bathroom, maybe about 20 feet square total with 2 double beds a couch and a chair and there ended up being 7 of us sleeping there, including Jill from Alaska who we met for the first time and would end up riding with for many days thru Colorado.

98 miles 10:50 moving time 15 hrs on the trail



Day 6

Holland Lake to Carlson Lake, just short of Huckleberry pass (or ~14 miles past Ovando)

We left Holland Lake late after eating breakfast at the restaurant. Left with Leah and Jere and a few others. The woods were wet but the roads were in good condition, 1 big climb (Richmond pass) 10 or so miles out of Holland Lake otherwise a lot of smaller climbs. The weather was nice all day, partly cloudy and no rain. About noon we took a short side trip into Seely Lake to get supplies than onto Ovando, a small town of about 50 people. All the info we had about the town said everything closed about 6 PM but I arrived about 6:15 PM and the little convenience store was still open, the owners were watching the tracking page and saw that lots of people were still coming so they stayed open. So we were able to have something to eat and buy some more supplies and visit with some of the other riders. We left Ovando with the plan to cold camp short of Huckleberry Pass and that’s what we did. About 8 PM we found a spot alongside the road about 13 or 14 miles out of Ovando near Carlson Lake and a few miles short of the pass and camped there.


82 miles 9 hrs moving 12 hrs on the trail.



Day 7

Carlson Lake to Helena

Lots of climbing

Another nice day weather wise and trail wise. We left our camp part way up Huckleberry pass about 6:30 AM, so we finished that climb right away in the morning and then on to Lincoln were we had a late breakfast at a café and ordered another meal for the road and resupplied at a convience store also, than it was 3 continental divide crossings before Helena. So there were a total of 4 passes to cross all in the 6000 to 7000 foot range. All of the riding today was on gravel. Late afternoon we came across a RR siding in the middle of nowhere with a train sitting on the siding waiting for another train to come by and of course this train had the road blocked. Well we waited for a little bit but soon decided that nothing was going to happen anytime soon so we decided to climb under the train with our bikes, this was made tougher because the train cars were belly dumpers which left little room underneath, we got under with the only casualty being Rich’s head light which had been mounted to the top of his helmet. We got a hotel in Helena about 9 PM with the plan to go to the Walmart in the morning to get some major supplies like a new tail light for me since my very expensive one had broken and fallen off my bike on day 3.

88 miles 10:51 moving time 15 hrs total time on the trail



Day 8

Helena to Butte.

Another day of big climbs a major mechanical and wrong turns.

Left Helena a little late because of the shopping at Walmart, so it was about 9:15 by the time we left town. One climb right out of town than a few more miles to a double pass that topped out at ~7500 feet. The second climb consisted of a lot of single track and lots of hike a bike over very rough and steep trail. We rode a lot of this with Fay an approximately 50 year old lady from New Zealand a very strong rider. We got into the little town of Basin in the afternoon and stopped in a little café and had some coffee and as we were readying our bikes to leave I noticed that my seat post had cracked. There were no bike shops till Butte so I stabilized my rear rack as best I could and just took it easy. We had one more CD crossing to do at about 6700 feet and then down into Butte. Got into Butte about 11 PM after making 2 wrong turns, the first one was on the pavement about 7 miles out, we could see the lights of a town and kept heading that way only to find out it was the wrong town. Than we stopped above town to enjoy the view of the town lights and looked at the map which said to take the road into town, well we dropped down about 500 feet into town before we noticed that we were not on the GPS track so we had to climb back out of town and find the tour divide route that was a trail into town. We eventually got it figured out and got dinner at Perkins with Fay, got a hotel room near the bike shop so I could try to get a new seat post in the morning.
Butte MT.


85 miles 11:25 moving time 13:45 time on the trail.



Day 9  Sat June 17

Butte to 15 miles past Wise River headed towards Polaris MT

We had to wait for the bike shop to open at 9 AM. So I got there right at 9. Measured my seat post and the owner found  1 he had in stock which was carbon fiber so I installed that and also found a new rack, I’m sure the cause of my seat post break had a lot to do with the seat post clamp on rack that I was using so I was glad to find a new rack.

We finally left Butte at 11:15 AM Headed for Fleecer Ridge and Wise River. There was one CD crossing and another pass before Fleecer, than it was a long climb up to Fleecer ridge which was a wide open park with quite a few ATV trails which is what we were following then one very steep but short ¼ to ½ mile downhill which was a HIB. On to the town of Wise River where we restocked and then went another 15 miles towards Polaris and camped at a NFS camp ground.

65 miles  8 ½ hours moving time 10:15 hrs on the trail.



Day 10  Sun June 18

25 Miles before Polaris MT to 15 Miles before Lima MT

Left at our usual time around 6:15 AM and we had mostly road to Montana High Country Lodge which we got to at 9:15 and stopped for breakfast. They served a nice breakfast but we could have eaten two of them, and they also packed us some sandwiches for lunch which was great because there was no place to resupply today. We left MHCL about 10:30 and continued to Polaris which is basically only a post office and onward. Lots of pavement today and later on gravel. There was a major pass at Medicine Lodge/ Sheep Creek Pass. We camped at a NFS campground about 15 miles before Lima MT. Lots of open country, cloudy most of the day with a few showers. Put our rain gear on before leaving MHCL. Got to camp about 8 PM

111 miles 10:20 hrs moving tome 13:40 hrs Total time




Day 11  Mon June 19

15 miles before Lima to 15 miles past Island Park Idaho

Left camp at 6:15 got in to Lima and had a nice breakfast than across the street to a convenience store and resupplied. We heard a lot of TD riders had stopped in Lima overnight so they were a few hours ahead of us. Nice easy riding today thru the Lima reservoir area into the Red Rocks National Wildlife Refuge where we stopped at park HQ and ate lunch, than over Red Rock Pass and entering Idaho in the Henry’s Lake area. Pretty much paralleling the CD for most of the day till we crossed it. Stopped for supper south of Henry’s Lake in the Island Park area (Ran into Jill at the restaurant, she left ahead of us) than went just across Highway 20 and resupplied at a very busy convenience store. We were going to get a hotel in Isl Pk but everything was really expensive so we kept going. We had a funny thing happen to us early in the day, we had come across a dog in the middle of now where after leaving Lima, he wouldn’t come to us and there were no structures around for miles and miles. About 2 hours later a pickup truck going the opposite direction from us pulls up and asks if we had seen a dog, he said he started out with 2 dogs in the truck box and later noticed that he only had one dog in the box he thought the younger dog had jumped or fallen out. We told him we had seen a dog many miles back and the driver said he would go and look. It seemed that most open pickups here had at least 2 dogs in the truck box.

After leaving Isl. Pk. We got onto the old RR grade that starts in West Yellowstone and goes south. The grade was very well used by ATV’s so it was very soft sand and very wash boarded. We found a beautiful place to camp alongside the trail about 9:15.



110 miles 10:17 moving time 15 hrs total time.





Day 12 Tues June 20



South of Island Park to 28 mi beyond Flag Ranch or 3 mi past Moran



We left our campsite again about 6:30. Beautiful campsite this morning we were next to a big open field and there was an elk grazing this morning and coyote’s calling last night which we would hear a lot of during the trip. We finished up the rail trail at Warm River Campground where a lot of riders had spent the night. The RR trail was very scenic lots of wildlife including swans and ospreys, and an abandoned RR tunnel near the end. We caught up to Jill at the campground, she had ridden till after midnight to get to the campground and had crashed there and was just leaving when we got there, so she rode with us for a little while. The route was very scenic. Went for many miles on the Ashton Flagg Ranch Road which was very soft but ridable. Did a slow uphill for about half the day to just above 7000 feet than a slow downhill. Cross the border into Wyoming. The route ran right along the southern border of Yellowstone NP. We also ran into some snow along here. We pulled into Flagg Ranch about 4:30 and had an ok meal in the bar since the restaurant was closed. The waiter had a bit of an attitude towards bikers. They also had a convenience store there so we were able to stock up for an estimated 2 days. Just as we were going to leave the skies opened up and it poured. We checked in to staying there for the night but everything was full so after waiting till the rain let up a little bit we put on rain gear and headed out. We rode for 28 miles or 3 miles past Moran onto Hwy 287 and found a pull off for a trailhead and camped there for the night at about 9:15 PM.




99 miles 10:45 moving time 14:45 total time.



Day 13 Wed June 21



Moran to Fish Creek NFS campground

Two big climbs



Left camp again at 6:30 and hit gravel soon after leaving, than it was a long climb to the back side of Togwotee lodge where we stopped for a late breakfast.  We ran into some mud before Togwotee that made us walk our bikes off to the side of the trail for a mile or so. We ran into Jill again at the Lodge but left separately. After the lodge it was onto the pavement to Togwotee Pass over 9000 feet, we also saw our only grizzly here alongside the road. After Togwotee it was a little bit of gravel and snow entering the Wind River Range than some more pavement, than back onto the gravel. Somewhere along here we meet up with Jill again and she would ride with us for many days. We eventually turned off of the ACA route and took some ATV trail up to the top of Union Pass the trail was HIB, very steep wet, muddy and snow covered in places. The top of the pass was wide open for many miles. We ran into Floe here, he is from the Netherlands and was having tire problems. He had a cut in his sidewall right below the bead and both of his tubes had holes in them and he couldn’t get a patch to stick. We tried several times to repatch the tubes but always failed, we even tried to put sealant into the tube but it wouldn’t seal, we spent a little over an hour trying things with no success so Floe ended up walking backwards on the course to a campground we had passed and we headed forward. We rejoined the ACA course on gravel till about 9:15 when we came across a NFS campground (Fish Creek) and set up camp there for the night. Rich and Jill slept in the forest service outhouses and I camped in my tent.

We later heard from Floe that he found no one home at the campground so he continued walking and finally got a ride to a lodge where he found someone who had some bike parts and he was able to get a new tube and tire and get back on his way. It ended up setting him back about 2 days and he would finish about a day behind us.
Grizzly
 Rich, Flo, Jill on Union Pass





67 miles 10:30 moving time 14:45 Total time



Day 14 June 22



Starting to look like the Great Basin



We broke camp at our usual time of 6:15. The landscape was opening up more and more. It was slightly downhill or flat for about 80 miles and we had a slight tail wind so we moved along well.

Jill was with us all day and would stay with us till just before Silverthorn CO. We stopped in Pinedale and did some laundry and while waiting for that went across the street to a pizza buffet so that worked out well, after that it was stop at a convience store for supplies and hit the road again. As the day went on it was looking more and more like the Great Basin and area of central Wyoming with no trees, semi desert and rolling hills. Just before Pinedale the route turned mostly east and we had a nice west wind so we made great time. This is why I figured that they recommend going North to South, that way there is very little chance of having to pedal into those west winds. Towards the end of the day we would climb about 1000 feet to the CD and stay along the CD for quite a few miles We made camp around 9:15 just a short distance off the route right out in the open about 20 miles before South Pass.



118 miles 10:10 moving time 14 hrs total time.





Day 15  June 23



Into the true Great Basin.



Left camp at the usual time of 6:15. This meant that we were getting up usually about 5:15 (yea it took us an hour to break camp and have a bite to eat). We crossed South Pass in the morning, it wasn’t much climbing since we were already at 8000 feet and the pass is 7550 feet. After south pass it was a short section of pavement than gravel to South Pass city where we stopped for a couple of minutes to visit with the people at the historical site (an old gold mine) and have a cup of coffee but mostly it was a ghost town. Another few miles down the road and we got to Atlantic City about 10 AM where we had a nice meal and bought a few supplies but they were pretty limited. Left Atlantic City at 11:30 headed for the Wamsutter detour. We started the Wamsutter detour about 3:30 PM at the Bison Basin oil camp. I had read the detour directions wrong and thought the start of the detour to Wamsutter was 20 miles when in reality it was 60 miles. We stopped at the oil camp and asked if they had any spare water since our water supply was sketchy weather we could make it all the way to Wamsutter, and it was a really nice bunch of guys working there they said there shift was just about finished and they gave us all of their spare water and talked to us about our ride. After the oil camp we started the Wamsutter detour which started with about 10 miles of ATV trail and lots of climbing but it was a really scenic trail. Than it was a long push thru the oil fields of central Wyoming, these were mostly roads used by the oil companies and I had heard lots of horror stories about the truck traffic, but it was a Friday evening and traffic was very light, although when a vehicle would pass us there was a huge dust cloud. I had a pickup pull up beside me and he yells out his window “ Do you got a death wish being out here riding these roads, these are 100 MPH dirt roads” and it was true, we talked a little bit and I told him I was just trying to survive to get into Wamsutter. About 10 miles from Wamsutter we got a cell phone signal and called ahead and made a reservation for a hotel. Arrived at the hotel at 10 PM




123 miles 11:41 moving time 15 hrs total time on the trail.



Day 16 June 24

Wamsutter to 12 miles past Brush Mtn Lodge

Finally back into the trees.



We met Jill at 7 AM at a café for breakfast than got supplies and got out of town at 8:45. We had another 70 miles of the Wamsutter detour to do and then it wasn’t very far to Colorado. The southern half of the Wamsutter was the same as the first, oil country, and again we were lucky it was the weekend and there was very little traffic. We hit pavement in the town of Savery WY and then it was just a few miles to Slater CO where we stopped in a little museum that sold supplies to people biking or hiking thru. From outside Slater the climbing started, we entered CO at 6800 feet and would end the day just short of watershed divide at 9800 Feet. We did stop in at Brush Mtn Lodge for supper of pizza baked in a wood fired pizza oven by Kristen the owner who is originally from the U. P. Although it was just a Walmart cheese pizza it tasted fantastic. We left the lodge about 7:45 and continued down the trail till about 9:00 and camped at a trail head off the road. We saw Angela at the Lodge she had hit the wall, pushing herself to hard and had to take a day of rest, we also saw Eric on the single speed and he had crashed one to many times and had hurt his arm, he was going to take a day or two to rest and than see if he could continue but it wasn’t looking good.

P.S. I saw Eric a few weeks post race and he said he had struggled into Steamboat and called it quits there.

The shorter days were really getting noticeable it was dark by about 9 or 9:15



93 miles 10:32 moving time 14 hrs total time



Day 17 June 25

Into Steamboat



Left camp at the usual time headed for Steamboat Springs CO. Went over Watershed Divide passed thru Clark and got some supplies  there,  arrived at Steamboat bike shop about noon, Rich got a new drive train (chain and cassette) and brakes and Jill got a new chain, brakes and rear tire and I didn’t feel I needed anything. We also had lunch next door at a barbecue joint and got supplies. Then we had to maneuver thru the town bike path and finally got out of town about 2:40 PM. On the way out of town we ran into a road biker with a flat and borrowed him a pump so he could pump up his back tire. It was flat for awhile then we started climbing towards Lynx Pass. We camped at a beautiful site near the top of Lynx Pass about 9 PM.



86 miles 9:45 moving 14:30 hrs total



Day 18 June 26 Mon.

Thru Silverthorne and Breckenridge



Left camp about 6:30 and rode down into Radium hoping to find food but there was nothing there so we refilled our water out of the Colorado River (using our filters) and continued on. Very nice roads but very hilly. Between Radium and Kremmling we ran into the Haute Route bicycle race. This was a fully supported, multi stage, amateur, road bike race thru the mountains of Colorado, there were about 1500 participants, and they were riding the opposite direction as us on the gravel roads. It was fun to see them go by.  Jill was feeling tired this morning so she told us to go on ahead she was going to take an easy day. We later heard that she had made it all the way to Silverthorne. We passed by Kremmling since it was 2 miles off route and headed for Silverthorne. Late in the afternoon we hit the highway, 13 miles out of Silverthorne, It was a busy highway, late afternoon and slightly up hill. I got ahead of Rich here and I waited for him just before town, when he caught up he was having a meltdown, he was tired, low on food and to top it off his phone wasn’t working. We split up he went to try and get his phone fixed and I went to get supper. We meet up again at Arby’s finished eating, got supplies at the 7/11 next door and headed out. It was a lot of bike paths thru Silverthorne, Frisco, and into Breckenridge. We spent some time looking for the subway in Breck only to get there after they had closed. So we found a grocery store and headed out of town. It was getting late so just out of town we started looking for a place to camp and decided to stop at a small outdoor museum called the Sawmill Museum. We camped under a shed roof containing an antique sawmill about 10:45 PM





103 miles 11:09 moving 16 hrs total





Day 19

Breckenridge to Salida

Boreas pass and a big wrong turn.



Left the sawmill Museum at 6:30 and went over Boreas Pass right away, it was an easy climb to the pass. On the way down we were following the ACA route and didn’t notice the TD route took a different trail so we had gone 3 ½ miles to far down the hill and had to climb back up the hill to the Gold Dust Trail, which was a nice flowy trail that brought us out to the ACA route again. It was a nice dirt road to Hwy 285 where we entered South Park and the big treeless rolling hills. It was at the hwy 285 crossing that we ran into Dana and Alexi for the first time. They were also dreading the South Park and weren’t very talkative and went on ahead of us. I had ridden thru South Park before when I had dropped out of the Colorado Trail Race and was returning to Denver so I was not looking forward to it. There was a strong west wind this afternoon so it was some headwinds but lots of quatering headwinds. We stopped for lunch in the middle of the park and I decided to change rear brake pads, a job that usually takes about 5 minutes. When I went to put in the new brake pads they wouldent fit they were to big to fit into the caliper, I tried filing them down but then the spring wouldn’t fir so I ended up putting the old pads back in. We continued on to Hartsel where we resupplied. It was a tough bit of pavement going into Hartsel on hwy 24, a cross wind that was pushing us out into the traffic lane  lots of traffic and no shoulder. In Hartsel I called ahead to Salida bike shop and asked them if they could set out some brake pads for me since we wouldn’t arrive there till after closing time. And they did. We made 1 more climb before Salida and it was a nice down hill into Salida as the sun was setting. We rode with a couple of other guys at the end of the day but I don’t remember their names. I picked up and installed my brake pads and we got a hotel for the night.








104 miles 11:30 moving time 16 hrs total time.



Day 20 June 28

Salida to Cochetopa Pass

A couple of high passes, cross the CO trail, and we picked up Jere



So we stayed in Salida and had breakfast at the hotel and then resupplied so we got out of town at 8:30. It was gravel for awhile as we worked our way out of Salida and thru Poncha Springs and than finally onto gravel and a long climb up to Marshall Pass at 10840 feet. We had crossed Marshall Pass while doing the Colorado Trail Race but nothing looked familiar to me. As we were having a snack at the trail head just short of the top of the pass Jere rode up. He said Leah was not feeling well and was going to take a rest day and maybe see a doctor and she encouraged Jere to go on ahead since they knew we were about 5 miles up the trail. Jere would ride with us the rest of the time. We went thru Sargents than some pavement to Doyleville with a strong headwind and back onto gravel and climb to the top of Cochetopa Pass at 10100 feet. We went just beyond the pass and pulled into a NFS campground at 9:20 and ran into Dana and Alexi there so we shared a campsite for the night.




94 miles 10:30 moving time 13 hrs total time.



Day 21 June 29

Cochetopia Pass to just short of Indiana Pass

Nearly to the highest point.



Left camp at 6:30, it was a very cold night at 10000 feet. And headed down hill since we were camped at the top of the pass. But that didn’t last long as we soon headed up and over Cornero Pass at 10100 feet than it was down and thru some scenic country thru LaGarita and into Del Norte at 3 PM where we meet up with Dana and Alexi, had lunch, resupplied and headed out together. It started climbing right after leaving Del Norte (7900 Feet) as we were heading to the highest point on the route Indiana Pass at 11910 feet. We rode and walked till 7:30 when we decided to camp for the night so we could do the summit in the day light. Rich, Jere, and I camped across the road from Dana and Alexi.





82 miles 10hrs moving time 13 hrs total time



Day 22 June 30

Just short of Indiana Pass to South of Horca at Brazos Ridge

Superfund  Area



We woke up at 4:45 and left camp at 5:30, starting climbing right away and crested the highest point Indiana Pass 11910 feet. Than into Summitville home of the oldest and longest running superfund sight. There is naturally occurring acidic rock and the mining operations only made it worse. The maps said it was not safe to drink the water from the creeks in the area. And informational signs said that a nail left in a creek would totally dissolve in 1 year! The rough terrain continued. Went by Elmwood Pass than over Stunner Pass than down into Platoro, not much in Platoro except some resorts and lots of ATVers. I was ahead of Rich and Jere coming down into town and didn’t even recognize it as a town and went right past. About 20 minutes later I realized my mistake and had to backtrack 2 miles to the town and meet up with Rich and Jere. We stopped in a restaurant and the owner there gave us the reroute for the forest fires in New Mexico, she gave us a cue sheet and also put the GPS track on our Garmin’s. Not much for food to go so we headed on to Horca where there wasn’t much for food either but we found a gift shop that sold some food and were able to get some stuff like corn dogs, amish pies, personnel pizzas, and we ate lots of ice cream. Next it was a tough climb to LaMangas Pass at 10230 feet even though it was on pavement and from there it continued up hill crossing into New Mexico to Brazos ridge overlook at almost 11000 feet and we camped soon after that next to Cruces Basin Wilderness.



89 miles 12hrs moving time 15 hrs total time



Day 23 July 1

Brazos ridge to Abiquiu

The Bohita Fire Detour



We have been getting up at 4:45 the last several days and leaving camp about 5:30 or 5:45 Trying to avoid some of the heat of the middle of the afternoon. Three or four smallish climbs today and the fire detour, which was a really nice route thru some very imporvished small towns (this area looked just like rural Mexico) We started the detour late morning and went thru the town of TresPadres where we stopped at the post office and mailed some stuff home and then had lunch at a small diner that was overwhelmed with customers. Dana and Alexi were there ahead of us and also James was there who we hadn’t seen since day 1, he was all cleaned up and said he was dropping, he wasn’t going to make it to the finish in the time he had left. We hit the reminder of the detour after lunch just as it started to rain, and the dirt roads turned to the worst kind of slippery, sloppy, sticky mud you have ever seen. There was nothing we could do but keep going luckily the rain was short lived, but at times the back tire would throw mud up over your head and it looked like it was raining mud. At times it stuck so bad to the bikes it brought us almost to a standstill and we would have to stop and find a stick and scrape off the mud to be able to ride again. After a short while the rain stopped and the roads improved and we caught up to Rich washing his bike off in a river. He said he had asked one of the local kids if there was a hose around to wash his bike off and they said there was no running water in town, they all got their water from the river. We continued on thru a couple of small towns and finally got to the end of the detour in Vallecitos (the detour added 17 miles to the route). Vallecitos is famous for its dog alley, and we found it but the dogs weren’t to bad. Some climbing after Vallectios, went thru ElRito and into Abiquiu where we stopped at a B & B just before town that advertised that they had bike camping. Well they did have bike camping but it was the same as dispersed camping, no facilities , no water, just a place to pitch a tent by the river for 20 bucks.



107 miles 11:30 moving time 15 hrs total time



Day 24 July 2

Abiquiu to Cuba

We got up early for some unknown reason and headed to the general store in Abiquiu for supplies, and than had to wait till 8 for the store to open. While waiting Dana and Aleki showed up and than Angela showed up. Dana and Alexi had come into town and inquired if there was anywhere to stay at the store, a realtor there said she had a house to rent so they ended up with a huge house to themselves. Angela had crashed at the only hotel in town (which was full) with Lynn and a couple other TD riders.

We got our supplies and headed out. Long steady climb out of Abiquiu for about 35 miles to over 10000 feet. Stayed at that elevation for about 10 miles than a slow drop to Cuba, the last 10 miles paved. Got into Cuba about 8:30 PM and got a room at the Cuban Motel, The guy working the desk was just a fill in and didn’t know how to run credit cards and didn’t speak English, so another customer took over and got us registered and paid. Than we went over to the only thing open in town the McDonalds and had supper and resupplied.



80.5 miles 11:15 moving time 13 hrs total time.



Day 25 July 3rd

Cuba to Grants

Left Cuba (Rich, Jere, Angela and myself) in the dark. Had a huge herd of elk run across the road right in front of us in the dark.  A long day with no resupply fairly flat and all on pavement. Nothing memorable about this day. There were some head winds because we did go S.W. and than N.W. the first half of the day before turning south into Grants. Hooked up with Dana and Aleki in Grants and we all went to the Motel 6 and got rooms ($49) and went out to eat together for dinner.

122 miles 10:45 moving time 13:45 total time



Day 26 July 4th

Grants to 30 miles past Pie Town

Left Grants at 4:30, all 6 of us together. The route was fairly flat but high, all of it above 7000 feet with 3 C D crossings. Got into Pie Town about 1 PM and had lunch at the Pie Inn and of course got our two free pieces of pie thanks to Salsa. Than we went over to the toaster house and hung out for a couple of hours during the heat of the day. Left the toaster house at 5:30 and rode for 30 miles to a NFS campsite and camped for the night.

Toaster House


101 miles 12:25 moving time 16:45 total time

Day 27 July 5th

30 miles past Pie Town to NFS campground North of CD alt route going into Silver City

Got up again at 4:30 and left camp about 5:15. Most of the riding was between 7000 and 8000 feet with 3 CD crossings. The route was pretty tame till the last 30 miles. During the middle of the day we had stopped at the Beaverhead work station and refilled our water and rested for about an hour. Dana was short on food and had talked the staff there out of a bag lunch. During the last part of the day we were right between the Gila Wilderness and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. We were aiming for the NFS campground at MP 131 but there had been some rain ahead of us and the mud was just terrible again so we decided to stop at the NFS campground at MP 124 Lower Black Canyon campground at about 7:00 PM. There were the 6 of us Dana, Aleki, Angela, Jere, Rich and myself.  Didn’t pass thru any towns today.



94.5 miles 10 hours moving 13:30 total time



Day 28 July 6th

NFS Campground thru Silver City to Separ


All 6 of us left the campground at about 5 AM in the dark

About 20 miles into the day the Tour Divide route takes the CD Trail alternate route. This is a 12 mile rugged single track Continental Divide hiking trail. Just before the start of the single track Dana and Alexi had stayed on the main route so they could go to a store and resupply and than had to backtrack, but had caught up to us by the end of the single track.  Than it was another 20 or 30 miles into Silver City where all 6 of us had a big meal and resupplied and left town by mid afternoon. Silver City is at about 6000 feet and the route goes slightly up and down for about 30 miles and than drops over 1000 feet to Separ. After you get off of the pavement south of Silver city at White Signal the route becomes very pretty high desert. You ride right along the CD for a few miles and than get into Separ which isn’t much. We got into an old truck stop turned into a gift shop at 10:00 PM and camped on their front porch till midnight.

The last day (or should I say The last night)


We left Separ at midnight Rich, Jere, Angela and myself, Dana and Alexi were going to stay till morning since Alexi didn’t have a good light and didn’t like to travel in the dark. It was a beautiful but boring ride thru the high desert all on pavement. We traveled parallel with US Highway 10 for a few miles than turned south to Hachhita and Antelope Wells. The only traffic we saw were 2 cars going to pick up the riders ahead of us and about a dozen border patrol vehicles. I had called Jeffrey Sharp from Silver City and had requested a pickup for all of us at the border. The first part of the route into Hachita I was really struggling riding behind Rich, Jere and Angela. Part of the problem is you could see the lights of Hachita (all 4 of them) from about 15 miles away and it looked like it was just around the next bend. We finally all met up again in Hachita and the only business in town (a small convience store) opened up for us. And Jeffrey Sharp was there to greet us! We had a few snacks and left there about 2 AM. Angela was feeling pretty beat after Hachita so I stayed back with her, which was good for me in that it let me recover and I felt pretty good. When the sun came up about 6:30 AM we were about 10 miles from the border and all 4 of us rode in together to finish at 7:30 AM. 27 days 23 hours and 30 minutes from the start.

It was not easy getting home from Antelope Wells New Mexico. We had contacted Jeffrey Sharps to pick us up in Antelope Wells (it is not a town just a small border crossing in the middle of the desert) and he brought us back to his home in Hachita (population 10?). We stayed there 1 night than Jeffrey gave us a ride to Lordsburg NM. from there we caught the Greyhound bus all the way back to Duluth (48 hrs). We ended up spending about 24 hours waiting for the bus because our bus was supposed to arrive in Lordsburg at 11:50 PM, but later on we find out that if it is after midnight the bus doesn't stop where we were it stops at the other end of town at a truck stop. So we missed the first bus and had to wait till the next day for another bus.








Nov 24, 2014

The Colorado Trail Race 2014 No end to up part 2


 
No end to up

Part 2

The Colorado Trail Race 2014

 

Pre race

This is my second attempt at this race. The first was in 2012 when I got as far a Buena Vista and bailed there. That year we took the Bailey Detour for the first detour on the course which is over 50 miles shorter than the Terryall detour that we took this year. Otherwise the course is the same.

Since this is a point to point race Rich and I drove separately out to Durango CO. where we had made arraignments to leave his car at a guy’s house. We got a hotel there than took my car back to Denver the next morning, and spent another night in a hotel, the next morning we parked my car at the starting trailhead for the duration of the race.

 

Day 1

6AM Sunday August 10th

Rich and I arrived at Waterton Canyon Trailhead, Littleton CO at about 5:30 AM, picked up our “Spot” trackers and got ready to go. At the last minute I had a brain fart and forgot where I put my car keys and had to search for them so we were actually about 5 minutes late starting.

The first 3 segments went as expected as I had ridden it before. For Rich and other rookies the first segment is an eye opener because it gives you a taste of how much climbing there is in this race. We got some rain and hail but were able to take cover in the trees and wait it out. About 4:30 PM we got to the start of the first detour in a light rain. This was a different detour than I had done 2 years ago, it was much longer. The Terryall detour is 70 miles long with over 8000 feet of climbing! (Info: It is illegal to ride a bicycle in wilderness areas in the U.S. so there are 5 bicycle detours on the Colorado Trail around wilderness areas) We made it about ½ ways thru the detour before night fall and camped at a forest service campground called Goose Creek. Gabe was with us most of the day. And 3 others joined us soon after we arrived including John and Jill H. We had hoped to get water from the pump but it was broken so we ended up filtering water from the creek.

Total for the day 62 miles and 14 hours.

 

Day 2

We awoke at 6 AM and were on our way by 7 AM.

We had about 20 miles of dirt road and than 10 more miles of pavement before getting back to the trail just before Kenosha Pass.

About noon we got to the Stage Coach bar and had a great hamburger for lunch. There were several other CTR riders there also and we got a chance to visit with our fellow racers. I got a chance to talk to Jill H from Colorado who I had first met at the Arrowhead 135 in 2013.

A few more miles of gravel and we were back on the trail and than just a few more miles and we were at Kenosha Pass where we talked with several riders again while we refilled our water at the campground pump. We continued on for about 6  more miles of trail and camped at Jefferson Creek with Gabe and
John at about 8 PM. Rich suffered a broken chain about 2 miles before we camped. We were able to repair it easily by removing a couple of links.

Totals: 62 miles and 13 hours

 

Day 3

Georgia Pass

We awoke at 6 AM and were on the trail by 7. Up and over Georgia Pass and a secondary pass. The secondary pass is actually harder than Georgia Pass, the trail is much worse. About ¾ of the way thru we ran into the leaders of the “Brek Epic” a multi-stage professional mtn bike race that runs out of Breck. I saw about 4 or 5 of the top riders go by.

This segment ends by descending into Tiger Run in Breckenridge. At the base of the trail I ran into Gabe and John taking a break. After a little bit they took off and a few minutes later Rich showed up (he was behind me) In Breck we got food (subway) and Rich had almost everything replaced in his drive train, i.e. small chain ring, chain, and gear cluster. Up until this point he had not been able to use the small chain ring! I replaced my rear brakes.

Mid afternoon we started up Gold hill out of Breckenridge and the “Ten Mile Range” segment. We camped at about 7 PM, 4.8 miles into the segment at the end of a jeep trail and an old log cabin. A place I had camped at 2 years ago.

28 Miles Total

 

Day 4

Ten Mile Range thru Copper to Tennesse Pass
 
We awoke again at about 6 AM and were on the trail about 7 AM. The trail again here is very rocky and tough. We got to Copper before noon and ran into Ko.  He was  another racer that we would see many times during the CTR. He said he had passed us during the night and had gone all the way thru to Copper. He later told us he liked to sleep late and ride late into the night. Not a very good strategy if you ask me!
We had lunch in Copper and then it was on to Tennessee Pass. This is one of the first segments that spends a long time above tree line and up to 12300 feet.  Leaving Copper we ran into Gab again he and John had gone ahead of us last night and rode into Copper after dark. He was coming back into Copper, he said he had broken his shoe and wasn’t feeling 100% physically so he was dropping. A few miles further we ran into John and he was also heading back into Copper and he also said he was dropping because he wouldn’t be able to make his timeline.
The trail goes over Searle Pass than the high point of Elk Ridge than over Kokomo Pass all of them above tree line. Once over Kokomo Pass it’s a nice downhill for many miles. Down to Camp Hale where the Army trained it’s special forces during WWII. We got lucky and didn’t hit any thunder storms while above tree line, we did get rained on though. Saw our first herd of domestic sheep out on the open range near Kokomo Pass. At camp Hale Rich talked me into to pushing on to Tennessee Pass in the dark and later the rain. When we arrived at Tennessee Pass about 10:30 PM we were thoroughly exhausted and cold and wet and it was still raining. At the pass there is a highway rest stop with large concrete out houses, these were actually very
We awoke again at about 6 AM and were on the trail about 7 AM. The trail again here is very rocky and tough. We got to Copper before noon and ran into Ko.  He was  another racer that we would see many times during the CTR. He said he had passed us during the night and had gone all the way thru to Copper. He later told us he liked to sleep late and ride late into the night. Not a very good strategy if you ask me!
We had lunch in Copper and then it was on to Tennessee Pass. This is one of the first segments that spends a long time above tree line and up to 12300 feet.  Leaving Copper we ran into Gab again he and John had gone ahead of us last night and rode into Copper after dark. He was coming back into Copper, he said he had broken his shoe and wasn’t feeling 100% physically so he was dropping. A few miles further we ran into John and he was also heading back into Copper and he also said he was dropping because he wouldn’t be able to make his timeline.
The trail goes over Searle Pass than the high point of Elk Ridge than over Kokomo Pass all of them above tree line. Once over Kokomo Pass it’s a nice downhill for many miles. Down to Camp Hale where the Army trained it’s special forces during WWII. We got lucky and didn’t hit any thunder storms while above tree line, we did get rained on though. Saw our first herd of domestic sheep out on the open range near Kokomo Pass. At camp Hale Rich talked me into to pushing on to Tennessee Pass in the dark and later the rain. When we arrived at Tennessee Pass about 10:30 PM we were thoroughly exhausted and cold and wet and it was still raining. At the pass there is a highway rest stop with large concrete out houses, these were actually very
clean so we ended spending the night camped in the outhouses. We later dubbed these the Tennessee Pass Hilton.
33 Miles Total and 15.5 Hours
 
Day 5
Tennessee Pass thru Leadville to Buena Vista
We rose at 6 AM and were again on the trail about 7 AM. There’s only about 2.5 miles of trail than you start the detour around Holy Cross and Mount Massive Wildernesses. 14 road miles to Leadville where we had a late breakfast at the Golden Burro. We picked up a few supplies (Me a pair of rain pants and Rich a part for his camelback). Hosed our bikes down at a gas station and bought a can of silicone spray and lubed up our bikes, and were on our way again. 7.5 more miles of road and then back onto the trail. The weather forecast for this afternoon was 100% chance of torrential flooding rains and thunder storms. Well we got a few showers and that was it.
We did the Twin Lakes Segment with a little rain but no other problems. During the segment we ran into a guy who was marking the trail for the Leadville 100 trail run. We also caught up to Ko again. He told me he had ridden into Leadville thru the rain and night and gotten there about 1 AM the only thing open was a bar and a gas station. He searched for a hotel and they were all full because of the upcoming Leadville 100. He also tried to find a city park to camp in and that was already full of campers, so he ended up riding up the road a few miles further and camped. I rode with him into Twin Lakes where he called a relative in the area for a ride home.
 
We continued on to the end of the segment and then started the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Detour into Buena Vista. This detour is very nice and scenic and almost all downhill, it’s many miles riding alongside the Arkansas River, so its lots of fun. After some searching we got a room at a nice mom and pop hotel next store to the grocery store. We had a good meal at a Mexican restaurant and then did some grocery shopping.
47 miles
 
Day 6
Buena Vista to the ponds
The next section is 4 to 5 days without resupply so it involves some serious planning. I was awake most of the night worrying if I had enough food and supplies etc. In the morning we went out for breakfast and also ordered a burrito for lunch on the trail. The waitress couldn’t grasp the idea that we were bikepacking and she brought out this burrito to go that was in a huge Styrofoam container and covered with gravy. We explained to her that we were traveling on bikes and could she just wrap the burritos in cellophane, so she took them and when she brought them back she had wrapped the huge Styrofoam container in cellophane. We took them back to our room and tossed the Styrofoam container and wrapped the burrito in the cellophane and tucked them into our food packs.
I had screwed up in Breckenridge by not buying more than 1 pair of brake pads so I wanted to visit the bike shop in town before we left to buy more brake pads, the bike shop didn’t open till 9 so I made another run to the grocery store than rode to the bike shop. I got there about 15 mins to 9 and the guy was just setting up and I was able to ask him for brake pads and he checked and he was all out, bummer. He directed me to a second bike shop in town (Bone Shaker Bikes) and I got there about 5 mins to 9 and waited a couple of minutes till the owner showed up and he was able to fix me up with 2 more sets of brake pads.
I made a call to Rich to let him know where I was but got no answer so I left him a message and waited for about 15 minutes and then headed out of town. I found out later that he was having a hell of a time packing for the next half of the CTR. He decided (and rightly so) to down size his gear and left a huge box of stuff at the hotel to be picked up on our way back home,
The CTR really gets serious starting here. The easy part is behind you (the easy part being you pass thru
resupply). It’s a little scary.
Leaving BV there is 10 miles of detour on the road (all climbing of course) to get back onto the trail. I had a little trouble finding the trail again but not too bad. Rich was behind me but caught up in a few hours. A great part of the trip is the other trail users you run into. At the hotel we had talked to an older couple with a dog who were thru hiking the CT they said they were only doing about 10 miles a day and it would take them about 60 days to complete. Most thru hikers were doing about 20 miles a day and it would take them 30 days to complete. Well I saw this couple again as we were leaving town, I was riding and they were hitch hiking. Than a couple of hours later I again passed them on the trail, obviously they had gotten a ride and passed me up.
We finished up segment 13 and started on segment 14. Got 17.5 miles into segment 14 and made camp near a couple of ponds after dark.
 
44 miles total and about 12 hours
 
Day 7
The ponds to Sargents Mesa
Again we got up about 6 and were on the trail about 7 AM. We finished segment 14 and started on the grand daddy of all climbs Fosses Creek. Almost 4000 feet of climbing in 8 miles. The lower half wasn’t too bad, about 1100 feet of climbing in 4 miles a lot of it was rideable, the next 4 miles were a bear, all up hill and it got steeper as you went, ending up at the Continental Divide at just under 12000 feet. We ran into lots of other riders at the top of Fosses, it’s a popular route to be driven up to Monarch pass and then ride down to Marshall Pass about half of which is on the Colorado trail.
A few miles beyond the top there is a pipe stuck in the hillside with water flowing out of it, so we stopped and filled up with water and were on our way. We finished the segment at Marshall Pass and started into the next segment to Sargents Mesa. We ran into lots of free range cattle in this segment. Cameroon Park was very pretty except for the cattle. We camped at the base of Sargents Mesa right at tree line about 11700 feet. Early in the morning we were woken by a coyote howling, he ran off when I shined my light on him. It was a cool night.
33 miles
 
Day 8
Start of Sargents Mesa to half way thru LaGarita Detour
Not much of a trail head at the end of segment 16 start of 17, just a 4x4 trail at the start of Sargents Mesa
Sargents Mesa was great to see in the early morning.
12 miles into segment 18 we started the LaGarita Wilderness Detour. We got about ½ ways thru the detour by dark and camped between the road and the river just over Los Pinos Pass.
62 miles.
 
Day 9
La Garita Detour to Cataract Lake
We finished up the Detour, did segment 22 which includes the highest point of the CT at 13371 feet. I’ve wanted to climb some of Colorado’s 14’ers this is as close as I got. A couple of miles before the high point there is another bear of a climb that is of course hike-a-bike, rocky switch backs. This is where we ran into another flock of free range sheep complete with guard dogs, which were 2 huge white Great Pyrennes. They came at us barking but settled down after a little bit. Rich tried to give them a treat, one of his energy bars (I won’t mention the brand) and even the dogs wouldn’t eat it!  On the way down we ran into 3 thru riders going the opposite direction all on rigid frame bikes, hard core.  5.7 miles into segment 23 we camped at Cataract Lake at nightfall.
47 miles
 
 Day 10
Cataract Lake thru Silverton to 8 miles into Segment 25
It rained during the night and into the morning so we were a little late getting moving. 10 miles of trail and then it was supposed to be 10 miles of downhill road riding to Silverton.
Well it was 10 miles of trail to the end of the segment than we started the Weminuche Detour into Silverton. We were looking forward to an easy ride into town. But the first 4 miles was a very steep downhill on a very rough and rocky jeep trail. We stopped ½ ways down to change Rich’s rear brake pads, both of our rear brake rotors were discolored from the heat of braking.
Well we made it to Silverton which is a huge milestone because you are probably going to make it to the finish if you make it this far.
We had lunch in a local restaurant and also ordered a Philly cheese steak sandwich to go, than we stopped at a grocery store to stock up again on groceries and headed out of town. 7.5 miles up the highway to Molas pass and we pick up the CT again. We rode 8 miles of trail on segment 25 than camped on the side of a mountain at a dry campsite.
35 miles.
 
Day 11
Dry camp on Segment 25 to 4 miles into Segment 27 along the ridge.
The trail as you got further south improved drastically. It seemed better designed, less erosion etc. We ran into several other riders and hikers the next two days. The trail for a long ways followed along the edge of ridges so it was nice riding and very scenic.
A nice day of riding and we even quit a little early and had a nice camp along the ridge 4 miles into Segment 27.
28 miles.
 
Day 12
Ridge camp to the finish
Again the trail thru the first part of Segment 27 was along the ridge. Well the great trail can’t last forever and the trail went up above the tree line for 7 miles on Indian Trail Ridge and two summits above 12000 feet. The last of the high summits.
Than it was down to Taylor Lake for lunch and on to the last segment.
Segment 28 was 20 miles long and over 6500 feet of down. There was a little of climbing of course but it was mostly down. This segment also had a long portion on a scree slope, that was interesting. Rich and I both were having a little bit of a hard time concentrating on our riding and we both had slow speed crashes off of the side of the trail. I guess we were both thinking of beer and pizza and the finish.
Well we crossed the finish line at 6:30 PM. 11 days 12 ½ hours since the start. 560 trail miles.
38 miles for the day
We took a few pictures, I was just too tired and beat to feel anything but relief that we had made it.
We rode the 4 miles into town and the same hotel we had stayed in before the start of the race. We got cleaned up and we just couldn’t ride the 4 miles to pick up the car, so Rich took a cab to Andy’s house where his car was parked. We went out to a local pizza place for pizza and beer, ended up meeting a guy and his family who had just moved to Durango from Duluth,
small world. We got a good nights rest and started the long drive home the next day.
We got delayed in Fairplay CO by a professional road bike race so we got to see the pelethon go by.
 
Overall it was a great ride. We got to see parts of Colorado that most people will never see.
The weather was ok the whole time we were out there, we never got the torrential flooding rains that they had predicted when we were going thru Leadville. We did have thunder storms and hail on the first three days but were below tree line every time. It wasn’t till about the 6th day that we had a day with no rain. After that it seemed that we had a dryer air mass move thru because there was a lot less dew in the morning and a lot less condensation inside the tent. All of the nights were pretty cool. Low 40’s to high 30’s. I had a 30 degree sleeping bag and was a little cool at night even wearing all of my clothes.
My feet really took a beating out on the trail with all of the hike-a-bike (HIB). My cycling shoes are a little big and the Velcro closures make it hard to close them up really tight so while hiking my feet would move around a lot inside my shoes and it just rubbed my toes raw and top that off with having wet feet most of the time. I ended up wrapping most of my toes in duct tape after about day 7, which helped a lot. The good thing about the big shoes is that they still fit after my feet swelled. When I went to put on my regular running shoes after the race I could hardly get them on because my feet were swollen. I had to drive home without wearing shoes.
I did not have any mechanicals, the closet thing was I should have brought along 2 pair of spare brake pads. I did have a tire go flat leaving Silverton but after adding air to it a few times it was fine. (I was running tubeless) There were a few bruises in the sidewall from hitting rocks but it did hold air.
Rich had a few problems, I mentioned his drivetrain malfunctions and also on the morning of day 7 he decided to check the air in his tires with the new fangled hybrid pump he had brought which advertised that it could be used for air shocks and tires. When he tried to put some air in his back tire he broke off his valve stem, and he had left behind his spare tube in Buena Vista. Luckily I had brought along 2 spare tubes so we got him going with 1 of my spares. He also broke his rear rack on day 6 so he moved all of his gear to his backpack and handlebars which made for a front heavy bike, I don’t know how he handled that front bike on those rough down hills but he did.
 
For clothes I brought:
1 short sleeve cycling jersey which I wore the first couple of days and most nights
1 long sleeve T-shirt which I wore the rest of the time including at night
1 pair of cycling shorts
1 pair of medium wt wool socks (I wish I had brought 2 pairs since the 1 pair was wet most of the time.)
1 pair of long running pants “Sport Hill” which I wore the start of every day and every night
1 Medium wt cycling jacket which I wore the start of every day and every night
Rain jacket top, which got used most days….. I bought a pair of rain pants in Leadville, (It was really cold    cycling in the rain)
Hat and gloves
1 pair of arm covers which I never used.
Cycling gloves …..Cycling shoes
 
My sleeping gear consisted of:
Small 2 person tent, I prefer a tent over a bivy and/or a tarp
30 degree sleeping bag, which was barely warm enough
Z-rest sleeping pad…Not terribly comfortable for a side sleeper but I haven’t found anything better.
Inflatable pillow