October 6th-Sargents, CO to Del Norte, CO

Well, the snow never materialized, but yesterday's rest day was welcome nonetheless. Left early this morning very eager to put in some miles. After turning off the highway around mile 15, I was greeted with a nice tail wind which helped push me over the first pass by 1:00. So I pressed on and cleared the second pass by 4:00.

This put me at about 80 miles for the day, but the weather was terrific and with 35 miles to Del Norte, I figured with a 2000' drop and a tail wind, I could make it by 6:30.

So I rode into Del Norte as the sun set. Asked the local police if I could pitch my tent in the city park. They said "no problem". But then added "just for one night, o.k.?"

Translation: We'd rather know where you're going to be and could you please leave tomorrow.

So I hit the local gas station to put hot water in my instant dehydrated meal, which saves camp fuel and avoids violating any rules about fires in the park. And to be a good citizen I purchased a Starbucks iced coffee to mix with my whiskey later that night.

Spent the night listening to all the dogs in town bark at each other.

Oh, and the picture of the dehyrated food is one of my new concoctions. Add 1 bag of rice and chicken to one bag of eggs and bacon, dash with some "slap-ya-mamma" cajun spice (shipped from home) and you get something that tastes like pad-thai.

October 5th-Sargents Colorado to Nowhere?

That's right. My first full day of rest.

I rode into Sargents yesterday afternoon and the weather was looking pretty ominous. The forecast was for 6-12" of snow over the next 36 hours.

So I decided to see about camping here in Sargents through the weekend and wait out the weather.

So the campsite operator informed me that campsites were $20, but for $25 I could have a Teepee with a gas fire pit. Hmmmmmmmm. Sold.

So I've been reading and catching up on some audiobooks. No snow yet, but I have another pass to climb tomorrow, so I figure I should wait for some sunshine to clear the route before pressing on. Plus they have 75 cent tacos during the broncos game today. What would you do?

October 4th-Salida to Sargents

After my blog update last night I rode down to the only campsite in town to find it was closed. Or at least there was a closed sign on the gate, which was unlocked. A couple of RVs were still inside, so I setup camp and figured I'd ask for forgiveness if I broke some rule.

Anyway, no one came to rush me off so I stayed the night.

Also, there was a Walmart and Sonic close, so after eating a sonic burger with jalapenos and tots with chili and cheese, I walked across to Walmart and bought a box of 10 chocolate chip pecan cookies and managed to eat all of them before I fell asleep. I should write a diet book.

1. Ride 80 miles
2. Eat

Got up in the morning and rode to Sargents. Had about a 3000' climb and about 1000' in another mountain biker pulled up beside me. He was driving from Portland, Oregon to Maine and riding/hiking along the way.

He asked about my sabbatical, so I told him about the ride, New York, Peru, yada yada.

He listened quietly and then told me about his plans to fly to the far corner of Australia and then walk to the other side of the continent. Not my idea of fun. But not bad, sir.

October 3rd-Como to Salida

Started out the day by heating up the wood stove in the cabin. Rolled out about 8:30 as the sun was just hitting the road.

Had some rain today around midday and some fierce wind, but was able to top out over the watershed divide (10,050') and descend into Salida by 5pm.

I'm at the library now. It's about 5:30, but I need to run. It gets dark by 6:30 and I haven't scoped out the campground yet. Also need to get some grub.

I'm heading to Poncha Springs in the morning to grab the mail package and then off to Sargent in the afternoon.

Gonna have to watch the weather in Sargent. There's supposed to be a good snow storm coming on Sunday.

See ya'll next post.

October 2nd-Breckenridge to Como, CO

Easy day today. One because I drank too much whiskey last night, but mainly because the next campsite after Como is 70 miles away. So after grabbing my mail pickup in Breckenridge there's just no time to do the 20 miles to Como plus another 70.

So I zipped over the pass to como (11,600') and zipped down just ahead of a big storm. Did get snowed on at the top, but was able to get into the Como restaurant prior to the serious weather hitting.

At lunch I was talking to some fellow patrons and I was invited to stay at a cabin in town with a guy who just graduated from Ole Miss. (Sorry Man, I forgot your name, but feel free to post it as a comment. Need your email as well.)

So I stayed at the cabin and we talked religeon until late (8:15 pm).

October 1st-Radium to Breckenridge CO

Headed out early today to try to make the 75 miles and 9600' pass before dark. I was hoping to catch up with Jamie and Tiff in Frisco, but when I called Jamie at midday, they were unfortunately unable to join. But he did give me the contact of a friend in Breckenridge that might be willing to put me up.

So after arriving in Frisco to find the campsite closed, I call Yvonne and Drew to see if they would let me couch surf for the night. I would have been happy with the Motel 6 treatment, but they were truly 5 star hosts.

So after a quick shower and laundry, they took me over to Drew's parents condo where I proceeded to eat everything in the house (they insisted). Then we hung out and talked politics for the evening.

Thanks Drew and Yvonne!!!

September 30th-Steamboat Springs to Radium CO

Had breakfast with my new friends, Ian and Craig, then after checking email at the library, rode off to try to catch Craig.

Craig and I hit Radium after a gnarly 2000' descent into the canyon at sunset. They just as Craig was lamenting the fact that without our Native American friends, we were beerless, a couple guys pulling their boat out of the river at the campsite walked over and gave us 6 beers. Wierd. I immediately commented on how I was lacking spiritual enlightenment, but I don't think anything happened.

The view of the stars was Sofa King awesome. You could see the milky way crystal clear.

I fell asleep shortly after the train rolled through at 9.