Listening to my body!

Stunning climb up Ute Pass this morning

I had a great nights sleep at the hostel Jake and I were staying in, tho I was acutely aware of an internal niggle all night, a sense of dis-ease at the journey ahead. The last few days had really tested me mentally and physically and I simply was in no mood to launch in to another week of trail, wild camping and discomfort. I was also a bit alarmed at the cost of any accommodation at the next planned zero day in a town called Steamboat Springs. The first place that came up on Booking.com was $6,000 for two nights 🤣🤣. Starting the next leg without nothing to look forward to was not something I wanted to do!

I spoke to Jake in the morning and decided I wasn’t ready to hit the road today and needed time to properly recover and to plan forward, to ease my own anxiety of not being clear where I was going and when. I am also quite unsure how I’m going to go once Jake heads south from Streamboat. We have become good friends and we have found each others strengths to support the other when times are tough….plus being an American he’s a great understanding of how things work here! He’s also bloody funny and fun to be around.

After speaking to the hotel manager and twisting their arm to get a great deal, a deal was struck for one more night. Relief. I immediately felt more confident and settled. And was quickly able to locate a place to stay in Steamboat. Still stupidly expensive but after camping 4 nights I’m always happy to pay for a shower and a bed!!

After some breakfast I headed to a bike shop to get a part for Bob – I’ve a busted headset and a knackered bottom bracket so both needed some attention. Also popped in to a thrift shop and bagged a thermal Marino wool top and thermal leggings – some additional warmth at night 😊. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing in the hot tub, reading, planning and sorting Bob out. Michael, who we last saw a week ago in Horca joined us mid afternoon which was great. He’d been through some tough days too and was exhausted. We agreed to ride together to Steamboat.

At this stage I think that past Steamboat, I’ll take a road trip rather than trail. Some of the stories emerging from Divide riders are pretty challenging, and as the Divide guide states, the minimum group size should be three…..’never ride the Divide alone’. Based on some of the stories I’ve heard I fully understand why! There have been so many abandonments due to heat, water shortage and foul weather. Tomorrow starts the Tour Divide, when nutcases start in Banff and head to the border in New Mexico, unsupported, in a race! The fastest is just a shade under two weeks…two freaking weeks!! That’s insane. They are in a league of their own those competitors. I can’t comprehend how they do it, knowing that what I have already ridden they’ll do in a few days. Bonkers!!

Time to roll on;
Friday 13th 🤣. The three Amigos headed out of Silverthorne at around 8, with a campsite marked at 37miles along the shores of a huge reservoir. The first section was on a bike trail and then road for around 13 miles, which we ploughed through, all feeling better for the rest. Then the fun started with a 5 mile climb gaining 1500m in altitude. It was paved, so that was a blessing. I was feeling Perry good so found my rhythm and went on ahead, cresting the climb about 20 minutes ahead of the lads. It was damn hot so a rest was needed at the top before the descent. We headed down a sublime descent past a huge dam and mine before the tarmac turned to gravel. But wonderfully it was pretty compact so we were able to hit a good speed. Around 11 we needed food so found a camp site on the river and smashed through some food. Jake decided he’d take the plunge and went in to the freezing water….i was shivering thinking of it! We got going again but shortly after met a ‘trail angel’ with water and snacks out for us. He wanted us to stay camping at his place but a quick look around signalled to us it wasn’t a good option! We headed off to our identified camp site which was 11 miles away! We had done the bulk of the climbing so it was a very easy 11 to the site which was right on the shores of a huge reservoir. We arrived around 2:30 and sat chatting for a while trying to work out where to camp as it was very exposed to the wind. After 30 minutes we decided we’d try get to the next town, Kremmling, 14 miles further on. Whilst it was undulating and on gravel it was still fast riding. After 56 miles we rolled in to Kremmling. It was an RV park which allowed camping, but more importantly it had showers!! And toilets! And mosquitoes! Feck they were brutal.

So after a retched few days on the trail, today was glorious in every way. I felt stronger than before but I also know today played to my strengths- long climbs on tarmac and hard pack gravel. Tomorrow and the day after are brutally tough with over 5,000 ft of climbing in 27 miles. We have decided to just head out and see how far we get -it’s a rocky trail with 14% parts of climbs so we know they’ll be a lot of hike-a-biking going on! We have three days to get to Steamboat and it’s less than 60 miles but it’s gonna test us all the way. Let’s see how it goes 😊