DAY 22 | 8.22.17
100.37 mi | 3,638 ft
Boulder, WY to Oregon Buttes, WY
Here’s the thing about pioneering a route. There are unknowns and sometimes things go awry. Sometimes you plan to ride 70 miles, and the key linking road that appears on all maps simply doesn’t exist. So you ride 100 instead, in a desert landscape. Oof.
DAY 23 | 8.23.17
77 mi | 1,739 ft
Oregon Buttes, WY to Wamsutter, WY
The REAL Ride Safari
DAY 24 | 8.24.17
80.50 mi | 2,664 ft
Wamsutter, WY to Brush Mountain Lodge – Slater, CO
Climbing to Colorado and cycling nirvana. We’ve stumbled upon the exemplary Brush Mountain Lodge and Outpost just over the Colorado border. What a treat. It’s hard to overstate the awesomeness of this haven for cyclists. Thank you Kirsten!
DAY 25 | 8.25.17
49.09 mi | 3,323 ft
Slater, CO to Steamboat Springs, CO
DAY 26 | 8.26.17
67.48 mi | 5,108 ft
Steamboat Springs, CO to Radium, CO
After climbing two big passes and multiple grueling “kickers” and pretty much running on fumes, we found ourselves standing at 9100′ looking straight down into the valley where our campsite was located on the Colorado River. We watched a freight train roll through below, with the aspect of a child’s toy. And then we began to descend a series of switchbacks that no photo or video could adequately capture. We lost 1000′ in the first mile and another 1000′ in the several that followed. It was a both fists full of brakes, ease up in the slightest and the bike explodes from under you like a wild horse, outer edge drops off a cliff, inner edge a quickly transitioning montage of gorgeous canyon vegetation, red then yellow gravel road, everything bathed in golden hour light, 20% grade, arms shoulders calves screaming whirlwind of a descent. When we bottomed out, I was nearly teary at the lifetime singularly of the all-too-brief experience. This may sound like hyperbole. It is not.
DAY 27 | 8.27.17
61.7 mi | 4,104 ft
Radium, CO to Grand Lake, CO
DAY 28 | 8.28.17
57.38 mi | 5,620 ft
Grand Lake, CO to Allenspark, CO
The Rockies were nothing short of spectacular. We climbed the Trail Ridge Road between Grand Lake and Estes Park, and enjoyed the rarified air and amazed look of motorists at a perch of over 12,000′ elevation. It’s an experience none of us will soon forget.
DAY 29 | 8.29.17
66.91 mi | 4,167 ft
Allenspark, CO to Denver, CO
DAY 30-31 | 8.30-31.17
REST DAYS
Denver, CO