Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Day 7--Silverthorne to Hartsel

Day 7--Silverthorne to Hartsel, 68 miles
Tuesday, 8/19/08

Yeah, 68 miles and I'm beat. Interesting day, with a mixture of great and not-so-great terrain.

We started at 9:00 with sunny skies. Our first task for today was to get to Breckenridge, 17 miles away entirely on a nice paved bike path. This was a great early morning cruise, and we rewarded ourselves with an 11:00 a.m. milkshake. One of the glories of doing a ride like this is that you can eat prodigious amounts of food in the name of 'fuel'. Let's see if you can match milkshake to rider...we have Strawberry, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Coffee Toffee.

Next up was a turn east from Breckenridge to climb our 3rd and final named climb...Boreas Pass. This was a highlight, and marked several milestones for our trip. The top of the pass marked our only crossing of the Continental Divide. At 11,482 ft it is by far our highest elevation of the ride (and in fact is the 2nd highest point along the full Great Divide route.) The vistas all along the climb were breathtaking. Richie really loved this climb. The first 3 miles are paved and steep, but the final 6 miles are along a defunct railroad bed so the grade is relatively gentle. Surprisingly so given all the milestones reached on this climb.

Fun times on the climb up Boreas Pass

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Father and son atop Continental Divide

After an 11-mile downhill (not quite so fun due to bumpy road conditions) we spilled out into vast South Park. The remaining 30 miles of today's ride was on a dusty road that climbs and falls through the relatively arid and treeless terrain of South Park.

South Park, the mountain bike ride is less funny than the TV show. (btw, the TV show is indeed named for this part of CO.) It is as if a section of the Great Basin in Wyoming has been dropped in to central CO, except South Park has nice mountains circling around in the distance. It is a tough stretch, particularly at the end of a looong day. At 7:15, with a lightning storm looming, I pedaled in to our destination (Hartsel Springs Ranch Lodge, highly recommended next time you find yourself in Hartsel!)

How did we get back into WY?! Astounding contrast from the terrain earlier today.

You find out interesting things about your companions on a long ride like this. For example, I discovered that my sweet mother has closet grasshoppicidal tendencies. She swerves on her bike to crunch the poor things. Shocking!

I'm very proud of both Richie and Mom on this ride. They are doing a great job, and have both been extremely upbeat throughout the ride.

Here is the link to the Day 7 slide show...a good one imo...
Click here to open Day 7 album in new window


Click View Elevation button to open full size interactive Day 7 map

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