Salida 16/9/08

Tis a lovely day here in Salida, Blue sky, short 25km ride here (of which about 15km were a wicked downhill :), great bike shop (Absolute Bikes), nice campsite, coffee shops... I wanna stay.
An early start, I was off at the unheard of 7:50am as we're not bothering to dry tents (will do so in Salida) or do much for breakfast.
A short climb to a watershed and then a sweet descent to Salida. It just goes on and on and on...
Great views of some 14,000ft surrounding mountains as well.
So in Salida by 10am and sifting at Absolute Bikes with a coffee. My kinda day.


Badger Creek 15/9/08
Crisp frosty morning as per usual made better with a nice breakfast at the Depot.
Great undulating riding to Hartsel amongst huge scenery. Too much for a photo to really express. A butterscotch milkshake with lunch and then off for more of the same great riding & scenery.
Kate had our first crash of the trip (err, something about a small tornado... true) but otherwise more nice riding.
('stealth') Camped at/near Badger Creek although not so stealthy as there are no tree's around and we were just off the road. OK spot tho.
A long'ish day at 92km's but quite easy and makes for a short day to Salida which should give a good half rest day.


Como 14/9/08
Another frosty morning (a usual) so a bit slow to de-camp (dry tents) and then off to Frisco for brekky.
For some reason I found the (very) slightly uphill bike path to Breckenridge a bit hard. Maybe I need more than a breakfast bagel to get me going.
Breckenridge is a more substantial and even more glitzy ski town than Silverthorne. Would be nice to come back for a ski sometime.
Groceries for a few days and then off up Boreas Pass.
Awesome riding.
Nice easy gradient (as it was a narow gauge railway track), good surface and great scenery. Lunch at the top by some historic huts and above the snowline.
Then a great descent to Como. Chris and I almost made it to Como without pedalling, but we got stopped by a driver saying that Hat had had puncture. So I had a wee nap by the road while waiting.
Just 2km's later and in Como, found Scott's tent (and Scott) at the Como Depot hotel.
Its run by David (from Wales) and Moya (sp?) who were really nice to us. Free camping and use of the facilities (much appreciated). Then a great dinner (soup, chicken burritto, bread pudding and a nice Pilsner for me. yum) while Moir even did some laundry for us. How good is that!
These guys rock and this place needs a mention in the ACA/map notes (why would you want to camp up near the pass or at the school I don't know).
Another good day.

Silverthorne 13/9/08Nice crisp blue sky Sunday morning (and no tents to dry). Great day for a ride.
The three huge pancakes beat me, probably shouldn't have had the big cinnamon roll first I guess.
Nice rolling riding this morning on typically good surface (hard pack dirt) with nice wide open scenery. Even the climb to Ute Pass (9,574ft) was easy (and mostly road :). Great views from the top of the freshly dusted mountains. Then a wicked road descent to the highway. And more road to Silverthorne which seems to be a posh ski village. Nice campsite overlooking the lake tho. 90km's today but relatively easy.