Great Divide Mountain Bike Route Day 52 & 53

Monday, September 14th, 68.1 miles and 3901 accumulated vertical feet up.

It’s Raining this morning, first breakfast with Jeff around 7 across the street, then in between rain drops Jeff, Scott and I rode up to McDonalds for 2nd breakfast and finally got to pull out around 9. Jeff was not willing to risk another shower so he made his way home….

Dillon Reservoir Recpath just out of McDonalds, the sky is starting to give way for us

Cool bridge on the Dillon Reservoir Recpath

Turtle Creek runs into Dillon Reservoir near Frisco, man that water level is low!

Crazy stuff on the Temple Trail out side of Frisco

Summit County Recreation Pathway going up to Breckenridge

Denver Leadville & Gunnison Rotary Snowplow

Ski slopes at Breckenridge from the GDMBR going up to Boreas Pass

Boreas Pass road, originally it was a railroad bed

Goose Pasture Tarn, the only lake we have seen in weeks
that’s full

Railroad relic, Bakers Tank, rebuilt in 1958.

Road conditions got much better near the top

11,482 feet above sea level and the Continental Divide

Railroad Section house, this is where the folks lived that took care of this mountain top section of the railroad, they did things like fix washouts, remove fallen trees, clear animals that were struck by the train….

Old section of this narrow gauge railway tracks

On the way down, Aspen leaves looking good!

Beautiful on the South Side of Boreas Pass

Great roads at first as we left the little burg of Como Colorado — Story 4 U, so in our information we found that there was water available in Como at the post office and the community center, this place is so small if you blink while riding your bicycle thru it you’ll miss it! So I see a guy pulling up to a small garage and I ask him if he knows where the post office is “that building right next to us” well there sure enough is the hose bib right in front of me, (this was the supposed water bottle fill place, “hose bib on side of post office”. But this guy insists that we follow him into his garage, inside there are about 6 bunk beds, kitchen, bathroom and large laundry (he now runs an Air B & B service business) but this cool garage was a place for GDMBR riders to overnight. Outstanding facility but he didn’t explain exactly why he doesn’t do hosting anymore. There was also the coolest old wood stove in there that I have ever seen!

About 10 miles north of Hartsel Colorado there is the weirdest neighborhood of shacks and trailers🤔🤔

Because of forecasted rain we decided to camp at that ranch in the distance, excellent choice! There was also a Merlin flying here , I thought I caught it on this picture but I can’t find it

We are camping in the party barn… I slept very well. This barn is located on the middle fork of the South Platte River, sorry no pic.

Tuesday, September 15th, 50.6 miles and 2566 accumulated vertical feet up.

Normally I would not say anything negative about this adventure, not that I am keeping the negativity from this literary publication, but most of this adventure’s negativity is erased by the overwhelming positive experiences before I can record them in my mind or this work. But! Today I was completely RATTLED! We rode this morning on undulating gravel roads for about 15 to 18 miles of the most washboard textured gravel road I have ever encountered. Not to mention that late yesterday we encountered about 5 to 7 miles of the same. My left arm was hurting (the one I broke in March, the one with the 2 titanium plates and 13 screws, the one with the nerve problems) so bad that I couldn’t keep it on my handlebar. I found myself cursing and thinking this wasn’t worth it. I was greatly disappointed and overwhelmed with negative thoughts about the day!!!