Days 31 to 33

Kremmling to Frisco:

It was very foggy leaving Kremmling and the road out of town had no shoulder. Thankfully it was only 2 miles or so until I turned off on a dirt road.  (don't do this unless you have both a rear view mirror and a very bright flashing tail light)

About 20 miles out I ran into Aaron loading up his bike at an campground and returned the 1.5L bottle he lost on a pass almost 3 days ago. He was quite surprised to get it back.

After a couple thousand foot climb I enjoyed a long descent until the route rejoined hwy 9. From there it was a gradual climb to Silverthorne then Frisco.

Kremmling fog:

Aaron:

Various pictures from the climb:

Lake Dillon and a video of the best bike path I know of:

I spent the night at a campground on the lake.

Frisco to Hartsel:

The morning was very cold and getting out of the tent was not easy.  After the air warmed up it turned out to be a surprisingly easy day. I was expecting Boreas Pass to be quite a challenge but due to the relatively gradual climb it was a breeze. The back side had some very rough road but I still found myself in Hartsel in no time at all.

On the way up:

At the top a 70 year old who does this climb twice a week offered to take my picture with the marker:

Looking out toward Como and Hartsel:

The small town of Como:

Below is the solution that both Wyoming and Colorado have for damaged roads. I've seen this about a dozen times and it always seems funny that the fix is to throw up a sign warning that the road is bad, rather than to fix it.

In Hartsel (a town of maybe 50 people) I spent about an hour in the saloon then camped at the the free campground behind it with a couple of riders from UK and the Netherlands.

Hartsel to Salida:

Another relatively easy day. There was one very steep and rocky section but it was short. I got into Salida before the rain started and visited a bike shop and a restaurant before settling into a motel.

This bird woke me up in the morning in Hartsel. No idea what it is but they are all over CO:

Below is the result of my 2nd spill. No harm to anything but my pride. To avoid some washboard I was riding about 2 inches away from the edge of the road and the soft shoulder gave way. My phone dug a groove about an inch deep and a few inches long in the dirt but was completely undamaged.

Assorted pictures and video on the way to Salida:

No summer maintenance either:

Bicycling amongst the cows in Colorado (much safer than running with the bulls in Spain):