August 10

The noise of the traffic never died down and so it was a restless sleep. We were ready to head out at first light. First we went to City Market to buy food for the next couple of days and then headed to the route. The first 40 miles are paved so our speed should be good. The temperature is another thing. It is hot. When we try to find some shade for breakfast, the best we can do is utilize a large trash dumpster.

It worked and we also found a nearby cooler that had some cold water. Bikers and hikers use this route so kind people have put out coolers.

The road has a lot of ups and downs. At one point we were going over 30 miles an hour. A highlight this morning was finding another white cooler that had water bottles surrounded by ice. What a treat.

Later in the day a truck stopped and offered us two water bottles each of cold water. The driver said that

he always carries waters in his truck in case he sees hikers or bikers. Thanks!

On one of the stretches we met a northbound biker who said that we should stop at the Ladder Ranch, a working sheep ranch. We had heard about this ranch before and decided to check it out. Meanwhile we are making good time and have expectations of going far today. That is until we hit the gravel, which is about the same time trees were along side the road. We stopped and cooked up some noodles in the shade before continuing on.

Biking as long as one is moving is a lot better than hiking in the heat.

The day is getting late and we made it to Aspen Alley. The Aspen trees are beginning to die and the reason why is unknown.

It has been a long day and we are ready to camp. The challenge is where? There is a stream near Aspen
alley, but there is also a lot of cow signs.

Don sees what he thought was a forest service camp near the route. We go past the turn off and then head back to the road. Then the problem begins, the trail goes down and down. I think that we should turn around, but no Don is tired and doesn’t want to have to go up what we just went down. He takes off and I follow not so willingly. Eventually we do get to an informal campsite and there is water. Not much to do except eat and realize tomorrow we will start off with a big hike back up to the route.

Campsite Battle Creek informal campsite

Miles peddled 59

August 11

It was a peaceful night, no animals or humans came to visit. There was just the thought of wow, it is going to be a hike out tomorrow. We were ready to go by daylight and up the hill we started. Don pulled out the ear buds and we listened to Undaunted Courage again and realized that hiking up 1000 feet and pushing a bike was no big deal. The good news was that the ride to our night’s destination was going to be short and it was mostly downhill. We even stopped to have breakfast along the road and for once had some cell service that we could play wordle.

We got to the Ladder ranch about noon and were told where to go to set up the tent. It was only $10.00 to camp and $20.00 each for dinner and $10.00 each for breakfast.

The Ladder ranch is a working sheep ranch.

Complete with some sheep. Most of the sheep were out in the mountains.

Some sheep were milling around the farm.

We set up our tent near a big old farmhouse which we could use for showers and it had good wifi.

After a relaxing afternoon with a good nap and catching up on emails. We headed back up to the ranch to have dinner with the family and crew.

Dinner was cooked by John who was from the East and had been hired for the summer to cook meals for the crew and guests.

By this time we have biker hunger and easily ate seconds plus both options for deserts

It was a good and restful day we are ready to be on the trail tomorrow .

Campsite Ladder Ranch

Miles peddled 19

August 12

We continue the theme of getting up at sunrise and heading out. This time though we headed up to the ranch kitchen where we found John cooking up a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, coffee cake and orange juice and coffee to drink. Pat and Sharon, the owners were meeting with a group of people to come up with ideas about the dying Aspen. This group had gone to a climate conference in Glascow Scotland and realized that the work that needed to be done might be best at the grass route level. The crew of workers showed up and after eating, the work day began. It was time for us to leave the ranch and begin our day as well.

Today is all gravel riding. We pass old cabins and take in the beautiful scenery.

We mostly passed ranches except for one huge and very expensive resort.

As we rounded one turn in the road we saw a sheepherders wagon and lots of puppies. The sheep herder who was from Peru came out to talk to us. It was fun to use our Spanish.

He was training the puppies to grow up and protect the sheep.

The dogs were quite friendly in this stage of their life, but as they get older they will become very protective.

They all came running towards us including the lamb.

The next destination was the town or should I say store of Columbine. Several of the Northbounders told us of the ice cream that could be bought here. The ice cream is made locally with all local ingredients. We were a little worried when we arrived to the store and the ice cream trailer looked closed. Not to fear, once we read the sign we just needed to go into the store and the manager would come out to give us ice cream

It was a great store and the ice cream couldn’t have been tastier.

Next stop was to have lunch in Hahn’s Peak at the TNT restaurant before heading to Steamboat Lake State Park. We were glad that we had made a reservation here as the park filled up for the weekend. Unfortunately we went to bed at our usual time, but the campers who arrived at all hours were excited to make a campfire and talk. It is great to see and mostly hear folks out enjoying the outdoors. Two short days in a row and tomorrow is going to be another one.

Campsite Steamboat Lake State Park

Miles Peddled 29

August 13

As most of the campground was still sleeping, Don and I headed out to ride our bikes toward Steamboat Springs. It was a mix of gravel and pavement today .We hd been warned about a guardian dog in the area that can be quite protective. There were plenty of ranches with dogs, but none seemed to mind that we were riding past their territory. The area felt very peaceful and pastoral. When we arrived to the pavement that will take us to town, we stopped at the general store located in the town of Clark. The store that has been around since the 1850’s had the original wood stove in the corner.

There was also a post office in the building that had been opened since the 1800’s as well

We didn’t need to buy any food for our trip, but the store was well supplied if we needed to. There also was a counter to order hot food. A lot of people stop here before going to the State Park. The road to Steamboat varied between great with a berm to one needs to stay very focused as the shoulder has disappeared.There are several signs reminding the drivers that they need to give bicyclists plenty of room. Most of the drivers were quite courteous.

We had two reasons to spend the night in Steamboat. The first one was to pick up a resupply box that we had sent to our friends that live here and the second one was to meet up with some friends who were going to do a gravel race tomorrow .

We had no idea that this race was so popular. There were 3000 racers here to participate.

Today the vendors line the street. Tomorrow it will be the racers.

We headed back to our friends house who had worked with us at NOLS in Alaska during the 90’s. We got to catch up on their busy lives which was fun. We got our resupply box from them and repacked our bikes with new food. We received a text from our friends, Jim and Celia that they have arrived and are just down the street. Jim and Celia are our friends from the 80’s. We worked with them at NOLS Baja. Jim is a bike fitter now and fit our bikes for us before we left for the GDMBR. Both Jim and Celia are doing one of the races tomorrow.

Jim and Celia plus 3 other couples have rented a condo for the weekend. They have invited us to join them for a home cooked meal. The meal was fantastic and one of the riders brought fresh sweet corn. It was a great treat. The racers wanted to retire early so Jim and Celia took us back to town where we will be spending the night with our friends. More conversation happened before we headed to bed. It felt so good to be clean and sleeping in fresh sheets. It was another short day, tomorrow we will be back to spending more time on the bikes.

Campsite Sameta and Daves house

Miles peddled 28

August 14

We awoke early and left the house a little after 6 and made our way to the street where the racers were starting to gather. The first race was the pro race which had about 900 racers. Their route would take them 140 miles with 10,000 feet elevation. For this early in the morning there was lots of enthusiasm in the air. We watched as the count down started and the racers took off.

We took off before the next race started. There was another event going on involving road bikes. This is a biking town.

The first 15 miles were on pavement and we moved right along. The grade was slight so the miles went quickly.

We turned on the road to Lynx pass and the gravel began as the road steepened. The dark clouds were to the north of us and sounds of thunder in the distance could be heard. It started raining hard enough for us to take out the rain gear and then to take shelter under some trees. Fortunately the cell passed and we hopped back on our bikes.

The route took us on a variety of terrain. It was a fun section going around a reservoir and over a dam.

We continued on the road to Radium which had lots of ups and a very steep down hill.

We went by an old road house and even got to ride thru a stream.

We almost made it thru, but we both had to put our feet down. The result - having wet feet for the rest of the day.

The road to Radium….. A long, steep and twisty downhill.

We thought about stopping before Radium and then thought that perhaps they might have a store there that we could get some cold drinks and maybe just maybe some ice cream. Our hopes were dashed when we rode thru the town which consisted of some old railroad buildings and a a couple of cabins. No cold drinks for us. We checked out a BLM campground on the Colorado River, it seemed to be mostly used by rafters and there was no water. A forest service campground was a bit farther on the map. We talked to one of the rafters who said there should be water there. (Not reliable source) When we arrived to the campground it was closed and the bathroom locked, however one could tell that people had camped there. It was getting late so we decided for safety sake we needed to stop. We set up the tent and had a meal. Don headed to bed and while I was brushing my teeth a woman stopped near the campground and wanted to know if I could talk. She said her family had just bought a cabin in Radium and we could use it. It had showers, beverages and beds. Since we had already set up our tent and Don was in bed, I declined. She did. however, give me some water which was appreciated.

Campsite Near Radium

Miles peddled 58