Day 41: Monday, May 15

The last ten miles from Breckenridge to Hoosier Pass were exhilarating! Of course, it probably had something to do with the thought of the downhill waiting on the other side. We made it to the top within an hour and a half.

We did have one more pass to cross, but that was basically a blip on the radar on the way down from Hoosier Pass. We smashed through the century mark for the first time riding over 106 miles today.

Tonight we are camped at the Pioneer Park in Florence. Two more 100 mile days, and we should be in Kansas.

Day 40: Sunday, May 14

Today is Mother's Day, so I called home this morning to home to wish Mom a Happy Mother's Day. When we started the trip, we were planning on averaging 70 miles a day from Oregon to the Rocky Mountains and then 100 miles a day from the Rockies on. I was hoping to finish by June 17. This morning, I looked at the rest of the maps and calculated riding 100 miles a day with one day off a week. If we are able to keep up that schedule, we would arrive in Williamsburg, Virginia by Saturday, June 10.

Shayne and I went through all of our stuff and by leaving our winter gear at Rasmussen's, we were both able to take off our front racks. Our bikes are a lot lighter now, but it is a little alarming to think about the possibility of running into more cold weather. I also switched my tires and put on my new seat. After Sunday morning meeting, Rex, his wife, and her sisters prepared a delicious Mother's Day Lunch for all of us. Then Rex drove us back to Breckenridge.

Given how much trouble we had trying to find a place to camp Friday night, and the fact that we no longer had our warm gear with us, we decided to stay at the Fireside Inn, a hostel in Breckenridge. Since Shayne had spent the night there before while hiking the Colorado Trail, the owners upgraded us to our own private room.

Day 39: Saturday, May 13

Today was a nice, leisurely day. We only had to ride 15 miles from Silverthorne to Breckenridge where Shayne's brother, Rex, was coming to pick us up this evening. There is a phenomenal bike trail connecting the two mountain resort towns that went around the Dillon Reservoir.

We had time to stop by the library in Frisco to check our e-mail. Rex picked us up just outside of Breckenridge. We gained another 850 feet or so today, and now we are only 10 miles and less than 2,000 feet in elevation from Hoosier Pass. On the drive to Rasmussen's, we were able to stop by an REI where I bought a new gel bike seat and a set of tires. Tonight, we had dinner at Rex's and played some cards.

Day 38: Friday, May 12

First thing in the morning, we crossed the Colorado River. It is weird to think that several hundred miles downstream, this same river carves through the Grand Canyon. We spent most of the day riding from Hot Sulphur Springs to Silverthorne. We gained close to 1,100 feet over 54 miles.









Along the way, we went around the beautiful Green Mountain Reservoir.









The gel pad that I bought in Oregon is not designed to handle this much use and it has been slowly deteriorating. I removed it this afternoon as it is actually doing more harm than good. I am hoping to stop by a bike store this weekend to pick up a new bike seat. Plus after 2,000 miles, I also need to replace my tires. We made it to Silverthorne by mid-afternoon where we met Doug. It was interesting trying to load both of our bikes and gear into the back of his truck with his hiking gear. With all of the melting snow, we had a difficult time trying to find a place to camp. The sun had completely set by the time we set up camp at the base of Copper Mountain.

Day 37: Thursday, May 11

My computer has a temperature feature on it, and when I woke up this morning it read 16 degrees inside my tent! That is the coldest it has been so far. Unfortunately, we weren't aware that there was a water outage scheduled in Walden this morning. Of course our water bottles had frozen over night. We rode the 21 or so miles to Rand, but everything in the town was still closed for the winter. We had no choice but to push on.

By late morning, we rode over the third highest pass on the trail, Willow Creek Pass (9,683 feet.) The next pass is Hoosier Pass, the highest point on the trip. Then it is all down hill to the Mississippi River (or so we hope!) The next town we came to was Hot Sulphur Springs, where we stopped for a well-deserved late lunch/early supper. As we were paying our bill, the server gave us a pass to get into the Hot Sulphur Springs Resort for free. We are really getting spoiled! This is the second day in a row that we have been able to soak in a hot spring. This resort is really nice. The water spills into 24 different pools built into the landscape.

We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the springs. I am certainly going to get a good night's sleep tonight! We set up camp in the city park that is across the street from the Resort. The plan is to ride the 56 miles up to Silverthorne tomorrow where we will meet Doug, Shayne's friend, who is planning on hiking in the area over the weekend. Then Saturday will be a leisurely day as we ride the 15 miles from Silverthorne to Breckenridge where we will meet Shayne's brother, Rex, who will take us back to their parents' place for Sunday. As I lay in my tent tonight, I am reflecting back on the seven days we spent riding through Wyoming. While it is hard to put into words, I would have to say that Wyoming's "theme" is the state that could have been a lot worse. Beginning with Yellowstone and the possibility of having to ride around the park to my stomach virus and the possibility of having to stop to the potential for 50 plus mph winds that either never materialized or seemed to always be at our backs.

Day 36: Wednesday, May 10

The sprinkler system went off in the middle of the night and sprayed water into the shelter where we were sleeping. Thankfully it only lasted about 45 minutes. This morning there were droplets of water frozen on the surrounding trees. Despite the nocturnal interruption, today turned out to be a great day! We rode the additional seven miles on Interstate 80 before turning off and heading south again. Twenty miles later, we arrived in the town of Saratoga. After eating a delicious breakfast, we learned that there was a hot springs run by the city that was free and open to the public. We went and soaked for about twenty minutes. It was a perfect way to let our muscles relax and our food digest.









The wind was at at our back's for most of today. By late afternoon...









...we crossed into Shayne's home state of Colorado!
There was a huge wooden sign that had fallen off its post, so we picked it up to take pictures. There was no place to camp after we entered Colorado, so we ended up riding an additional 22 miles to the town of Walden where we are camped in the city park. Today was our longest day of the trip as we rode 96.5 miles! Shayne's and my odometer are a little off. His says that we are over 2,000 miles from Portland tonight while mine says that we are about 14 miles short of that mark. Walden is above 8,000 feet and the temperature is really starting to drop as the sun sets tonight. Tomorrow we hope to cross Willow Creek Pass, which is about 32 miles from here.

Day 35: Tuesday, May 9

I woke up this morning and could feel the repercussions of my system "rebooting" two days ago. The good news is that my appetite has returned. Eating on the trip has become a delicate balancing act. It is necessary to eat enough to keep your energy up, but to not eat too much at one time to slow you down. While Shayne prefers to take a take a break in the middle of the day to eat lunch, I prefer to eat small snacks all day and then eat a big meal once I am done for the day.

I struggled this morning as we climbed to cross the Continental Divide again. However, I was feeling better by the time we made it to Rawlins in the early afternoon. I stopped by the Rawlins Post Office to mail home some pictures and another set of maps. (Rawlins marks the completion of Section Five.) We considered stopping, but it was still early in the day so we decided to push on. There was a city park in Sinclair, however with a "No Camping" sign posted, we figured we would be pushing our luck since the park was right next to the town's main street. From Sinclair, the route turned onto Interstate 80. We rode about six miles before we came to a rest area. The sun was close to setting so we decided to set up camp. Tomorrow we have about seven more miles on Interstate 80. I believe this is the only time we will have to ride on any Interstate for the rest of the trip. We are about 73 miles from Colorado, so we might cross the state line tomorrow, but definitely by Thursday.