Up at 5:50 this morning…beautiful morning, but a little cool at 45 degrees. It was cold last night. Topped Hoosier Pass at 7:30am. The climb wasn’t bad, but I was glad to get to the top. The hardest part was keeping an eye on the cars speeding along side—there is very little shoulder to ride on so not much room between me and passing cars. And on top of that my hands were freezing even with winter riding gloves on.
Took pics at the top then Blasted down the other side of the mountain…made it to Breckenridge 10 miles away and hardly needed to pedal. Stopped at Doma 1898 cafe for breakfast right by the bike shop. Carver bike shop opens at 9 so after breakfast I picked up another spare tube then move on.
Rob is going to spend the day here in Breckenridge and move on tomorrow…he hasn’t taken a day off yet, so this will be a good break for him. Breckenridge looks like a cool ski resort town….seems like they have everything here.
There is a bike trail between Breckenridge and Silverthorne that is fantastic. It winds its way around a huge lake and across a dam….keeps you completely off the road. Met Neil riding his bike on the trail and he navigated me through the maze…..lots of offshoots and easy to get lost.
Stopped at Fritangas Mexican restaurant on the way out of Silverthorne for lunch. Not really Hungary, but no services for the next 30 or so miles so wanted to fill up on ice tea. Had two chicken tacos and a lot of tea then headed off toward Heeney.
Stopped to take some pics and saw some other cyclists headed my way…a couple from Minnesota Robert and Nicole doing the transam—they’re on day 42 I think they said. They are blogging at ontheleeway. Another rider pulled up named Rob—not Chief two feathers Rob, but another Rob. Seems everyone out here is named Rob or Robert. He is touring around the state. Chatted for a while and moved on. The wind is picking up again, but I’m in the mountains vs that wide open valley we were in yesterday so it’s not so bad.
Made it to Kremmling at about 3:15. I’m 73 miles in and could stay here but feeling good so am going to push on another 17-18 miles to Hot Sulphur Springs after having some refreshments here at the local Kum & Go.
The ride to Hot Sulphur Springs was good…mostly wide shoulders on the road. I dipped down into a little valley and got swarmed by mosquitos for about 1/4 mile…my bug spray was at the bottom of one of my panniers so just had to swat and peddle. Coming into Hot Sulphur Springs there is a gorge with tall mountains on both sides of the road—as soon as I hit that, I got blasted by wind….had to be 40mph…nearly knocked me off my bike. It was only right at the entrance so must have been the perfect wind tunnel there.
Staying at the Ute Trail Motel tonight. No AC and they have WiFi but I can’t connect. There is a comfortable bed though and a warm shower….I need that today….$65 retired military discount.
Eating at the Rocky Mountain Outfitters Bait Shop and Grill—no that’s not a joke 🙂 I’m steering away from anything fish oriented still—philly cheese steak and Diet Coke….because I ordered iced tea and it’s about the worst I’ve ever tasted. But they have fast WiFi so I’m able to post this—no phone service here.
Feeling strong…could have done another 20 miles today but no services and needed a hot shower 🙂
