Steamboat

7/7

Resting in Silverthorne (our first rest day). Food, food and more food. We ate ourselves so silly that we had to stay up late digesting all our food. We also saw Farheineit 9/11. It was very, very strange to not ride for a day. My legs were ready for it and kept asking when we were going to ride. Easy there tiger.

7/8

The rest was a good choice. My hip is feeling top, so we’re back on the road. We rolled out of town at 7am to avoid the traffic on Highway 9. 7am was definitely not early enough, but the maps were wrong–there was a huge shoulder the entire 13 miles. It went by in a blink–we were soon on Ute Pass road climbing some very steep pavement. This too went by easy enough. The low pass of 9500 feet was a piece oh the cake.

At the top a girl on a road bike passed us and asked if this was Ute Pass. It was indeed, and we agreed that the climb seemed short. Her name was Jennifer, a mountain bike racer from Keystone. She was fairly impressed with our trip and concluded that we should definitely do some races when we are done. It looks like a consensus–Paula at the Soul Ride or the Tour of the White Mountains this year.

We cruised down through heavily clear cut areas and the Henderson sawmill. Again, at least it’s all in one place, and it didn’t really seem that bad. What was bad was that they were grading the road, and had sprayed water all over it to keep the dust level down. Well, this was fine for a while, but once we got near the actual grading operation it turned into a mess.

We would have been OK if not for the oh so courteous drivers on the road. On the muddiest section we got blasted by no fewer than 6 truck/trailer/ranch rigs. One group of three vehicles refused to even take their feet of the GAS (it was uphill), despite our obvious requests for them to slow down (palm out with a downard motion). When it was clear they would not slow down we simply turned away, covered our faces and were blasted with mud. These were the only drivers thus far I have felt like giving an obscene gesture to, but I did not.

The mud ended and we resumed some very pleasant cycling. We had a significant headwind (that’s just life on the GDMBR), but we were making great time. We stopped to eat PB&J sandwhiches at Williams Reseviour, where there was no shade but a picnic table and trash cans.

We rode briefly again on highway 9, then turned off towards the town of Radium, Colorado. The road here was as close to pavement as a dirt road can get, and this unfortunately meant that drivers could drive 60-70 mph (though the limit was 40). It felt like riding on the freeway. River shuttles, SUVs and even many semi-trucks buzzed us as we struggled up the steep hill. Impressive views of the Colorado river unfolded behind us as we climbed. But the headwind and inconsiderate drivers were almost enough to spoil it.

We rolled down to the Mugrade camp ground to pump some water for the big climb out of Radium (and away from the big river). As we pumped Paula noticed a bike with panniers! Ah, another GDMBR cyclist, we thought. It was a nice spot to camp with a big flowing creek and not too many people, so we decided to stay and meet the cyclist.

He was from Amsterdam, and was a great guy. We had some interesting trail conversation as we all ate some dinner. He is on quite an elaborate 6 month trip, of which the GDMBR is only a part. We look forward to riding with him tomorrow — and perhaps even asking his name!

7/9

His name is Jelle (yell-ah), and he rode all day with us today. As always it was nice to have someone else to ride with. We were rolling around 8 o’clock to start the big climb out of Radium and the Colorado River.

Yesterday was a complete contrast to today. Yesterday felt like a road ride (near paved dirt roads and tons of cars). Today was mostly narrow, rough dirt roads with zero traffic.

The climb was much steeper and difficult than expected, which was great as far as I was concerned. 3500 feet of climbing over 13 miles, mostly in granny gear. At one point I took a harder cut-off route around a turn that I nearly could not ride. My tires were spinning and I was definitely pushing the limits of climbing with a loaded Bob trailer. We dropped five or six hundred feet over the climb, of course steeply and actually technical in some places.

I’d much rather be climbing steeply and descending gradually, but this climb was definitely one of the more difficult climbs among the entire route thus far. It was a good thing it was early, because we were still getting too hot.

Jelle rode very well, at first riding in front, then taking more breaks as the climb progressed. His 28 inch touring bike fared surprisingly well, even on downhills.

As we climbed we left the desert behind, for probably the twelveth time. We were once again in thick forest with plenty of shade. We rode briefly on the paved highway 134, then took a much higher quality dirt road than the climb out of Radium. It was a better road, but it featured a very deep creek that we needed to ford. Off came the panniers, the bob and our cycling shoes. We carried everything through the knee deep water. It was actually quite refreshing.

The map indicated there would be another crossing a mile later, but instead we found a large culvert–yippee. It was fun once, but it did take a bit of time.

The rest of the day’s riding was a breeze compared to the climb. We rolled through open meadows then climbed briefly to Lynx Pass (8,973 feet). At the top we got some water from the campground hand pump, but it was so murky that someone staying in the campground offered us some of his water. On the other side of Lynx Pass we found an even thicker forest that provided a nice downhill run.

Next up was the first real “trail”, that is, singletrack, of the entire ride: the Elk Run trail. It took us around Stagecoach Resevouir (the spelling of that word is repeatedly escaping me), and it was mostly just an old ATV track (now closed to motorized vehicles). For about .1 miles it was beatiful forested singletrack…. if only it had continued. The forest was preceeded by a very nice challenge climb. Paula and I cleaned it but Jelle shifted a bit too late and had to walk it.

We crossed the dam (cool views), saw a fox on the other side, then rolled down the Yampa river valley. This was supposedly another bike “trail” but it was also a trail for cars, though there were few. It was quite narrow, tree lined and paralling the running river. We were now back at 7000 feet and it was 3pm, so it was quite hot. The shade and river air was quite welcome. So, we stopped for a bite to eat. The river was quite refreshing.

After the snack and river cool-down it was easy cycling into Steamboat Springs. As always the increase in traffic was not welcome, but the restaurants, convience stores and showers are. Sadly is it a weekend and there is a “Pro Rodeo” going on, so the town is packed.

We’re technically halfway on the route (and it is Day 20, yay), so I’m doing some bike maintenence: 2 new chains and a new rear tire.