Into Colorado!!
After a beautiful and relaxing evening, despite not reaching our goal of making it to Brush Mountain Lodge in Colorado, we were up early and ready to tick off another State!
We quickly found that our stay at altitude produced the result most often found in the morning. Our respective tent and rain fly were completely soaked. This is one of the time killers for us on the nights we camp, as we hang our tents/flys on small trees or bushes so that the morning sun can dry them off before we repack. We never want to put a wet tent into our front bag, along with our other gear, as it winds up in a wet and, if not quickly dried later, musty mess.
As the tents dried, we quickly had breakfast and packed up the remaining items back on our bikes, and broke camp.
We were soon on our way and continued gradually climbing for the nest few miles until we started descending towards the Wyoming/Colorado state line, somewhere down the road.
Our journey today took us towards the small town of Savery, WY, though we would turn south into Colorado just short of the town. Recall that our original plan was to make it to Brush Mountain Lodge (BML), but as we camped short of our goal, one thing was true. We were very short on water.
As we neared the border, we came upon a small RV park. We decided to pull in and see if they had a water supply we could beg water from. The guy running the park was very nice and invited us into his house to get water. He actually wouldn’t let us use tap water as it was very sulfur smelling. He pulled out a pitcher, that he refilled several times from a 5 gallon water bottle. We were informed that this water was transported from a town (guessing Savery) so they had drinking water. We finally convinced him to take some money for the water, and we were back on the road!
As we exited the pavement we were riding on, we quickly started ascending what we anticipated would be about 20 miles to BML. After a couple of miles of riding on the incredibly smooth road (Mag’d) we met two north bound riders. Tara Patterson and Sophie Dickinson are riding the GDMBR north in an effort to raise $$ for CASA of Orange County - Court Appointed Special Advocates. Their enthusiasm, friendly natures, and joy were a great start to the day and a reminder that it’s difficult to be unhappy on a bike. (A quote from Ray, “You can’t be unhappy while riding a bike. You can be miserable, but not unhappy!”). They told us that BML was only 12 miles away! After a quick conversation we were on our way.
At this point, I was on a mission and simply put my head down and started a big effort to get to BML. Ray and I were soon separated by a bit as we both rode our own pace up the 3-4% grade that would take us to our meal, hopefully (now lunch).
I kept checking my cycling computers to try to determine how close I was getting to the 12 mile mark that Tara and Sophie had estimated to BML. As I ticked off the miles, I noted several large houses or lodges in the distance and was wondering if one of them was BML. Each of the ones I noted were across the canyon we were riding up, and atop VERY large and steep roads. I started to dread the climb to lunch.
At about the 11.5 mile mark, I got a text on my Garmin inReach satellite system. It was from Ray. It had three words…”You missed it”. I had passed several turns, and guessed that one of them must have been the turn-off to BML. I turned around and started back down the road I had just ridden up. After a minute or two, I saw a rider coming my direction. He said “Are you Shane?” WTH ?? He was one of the volunteer workers at BML. When Ray told him I missed it, he started off to try to catch me. He had only gone about 1/4 of a mile when we met. So we rode back to what I expected to be a turn-off to the lodge when, THERE IT WAS!! I had ridden right past it!! ( and I mean within feet of it!!) It is a VERY LARGE and VERY BRIGHT place. How I missed it I will never know. I believe I was looking at a road directly across the road from BML and just didn’t see it, but c’mon man! It’s right there!!! See the picture below for a view of the place.
At any rate, looking like a moron, I pulled into the lodge, parked my bike and quickly went inside to find Ray sitting at a dinner table.
It was at this point that I had the pleasure to meet Kirsten, the proprietor of the lodge.
She asked if I wanted something to eat in the form of Ham and Cheese sandwiches. I readily agreed and was soon enjoying a FULL plate of lunch. She also brought over hot tomato soup and glasses of water. She informed us that if we wanted a beer, we would first have to drink two glasses of water. She also guessed correctly that since we looked to be moving on for the day, we would pass on the beer. (Us passing on beer, who would have imagined??!!)
We spent over an hour at the lodge. It’s a difficult place to leave!!
In the riding season, the lodge provides rooms, laundry, meals, etc. for any GDMBR coming through. Incredible place, so welcoming and friendly!
We finally asked what we owed her for lunch and she answered, whatever we want to pay! She does this for EVERYBODY!!!! Ray and I quickly offered up what we thought fair. She was very surprised and thanked us for our generosity. One thing Ray and I believe is that folks on the GDMBR that are helping out riders are incredible and need to be well compensated for their hard work and spirit. We quickly took some photos (she always posts photos of all her guests) and were on our way. Incredible place and incredible people!!!
The ride from BML towards our goal of Clark and then Steamboat Springs, CO was going along smoothly on a great road, and the previously mentioned 3-4% grade. Then it all changed!
We made a left hand turn onto a forest road that would take us up, over, and down one of the hardest climbs we had done thus far! I don’t even know if the “pass” has a name. Here I’ll refer to it as Brush Mountain Pass, but while climbing and descending it we called it every name in the book!! I won’t repeat them here, but it SUCKED!! The road was at first steep and rocky, and then turned into a completely unridable mess of gullies, rocks, roots, and boulders! On top of that it had to be at least 30% in grade. It was basically mountain climbing while pushing a bike in front of you. It finally leveled off, but was still a complete mess, as we alternated between riding for 100 meters, then cussing, then pushing for 100 meters, then cussing, then riding for 100 meters…you get the picture!
As if the horrible road wasn’t enough, it happened again. It started pouring on us. Once again we found ourselves seeking shelter under trees (but not the biggest trees, as it was also lightening). After a while, we started pushing/riding again, until we finally topped out at about 10,500’. What happens at that altitude during a storm? The temperature drops. We estimated that it mush have been about 35 degrees at the top and raining again.
Now one would normally be happy to reach the summit of a climb, but we had been warned by Kirsten at BML that the first few miles of the descent were rough. HA!! Rough doesn’t even come close to describing it! So after adding even more layers of clothing, trying to get warm, we started down the descent.
In my life living in NM, I have ridden a lot of rough and rocky roads. This was something entirely different. 35 degrees, wet, cold, and deserving of the name Rocky Mountains!! There were loose rocks, embedded rocks, point rocks, smooth rocks, round rocks, …just ROCKS, no dirt in between! It was 4 miles of the most bone jarring, teeth rattling, gear breaking hell I’ve ever ridden. Keep in mind another complicating factor. We’re riding this on rigid bikes with an additional 30-40 pounds of gear, much of it on our handlebars!
The ride did afford me one opportunity for growth. As I stopped occasionally to recover and assess whether or not I had a TBI or detached retina (something I actually thought about as it was so rough it was difficult to get my eyes to focus!), I would hear it. The sound of cursing and yelling flowing down from the road above. I learned new words and phrases unbeknownst to me until that time! It was Ray, making his way down the same drop! One one occasions when he arrived where I had stopped, he informed me that his Garmin had bounced free, in addition to his tent poles coming loose. He had taken the time to re-affixed them now that we had stopped. All in all, it was a miserable 4 miles.
After finally completing our controlled crash down the 4 miles of garbage road, the surface finally smoothed a bit and we were making our way towards Clark CO, and a convenience store where we could get some snacks for the last 2 hour ride into Steamboat. It was now “about” 8 PM. Turns out, when we got to Clark, it was 8:20 PM. We knew because the lady at the convenience store told us that, as she was locking up after having closed at 8 on the dot! NO food for the weary in Clark, CO!
We simply hung our heads and headed towards Steamboat.
The road was at least paved now, as we chatted about the day and joked about our verbiage on the descent.
As we got within about 12 miles of Steamboat, thing took another turn, quite literally! Instead of just a 3 mile paved trip into Steamboat, the GDMBR took us off route and onto a dirt road that headed AWAY from Steamboat. After several miles, it turned and took us right back to the road we had been riding, albeit about 2 miles from where we left it. Frustrated at the end of a long day does not describe our attitude!! We finally made it to Steamboat Spring CO at 9:15 PM.
The first thing we saw open was a brewery and pizza place. We rolled up, took off all the layers we had adorned ourselves in, except for our puffy jackets which we kept on, and went inside. The first thing we heard was : “We close in 15 minutes and the resturant is already closed”. So it was that Ray and I ordered a single beer in Steamboat and started trying to find lodging on phones.
The bartender was initially pretty stoic, but after a while started talking and being really friendly. As we were looking at motels on the phone, we found a relitvely cheap one. We asked the bartender if he knew if the “Rabbit Ears Lodge” was any good or a dive. He assured us it was old, but recently remolded and really clean and nice. We took his advice, called the lodge and saved a room. At this point he walked over and said, “Here’s a free beer for you guys”! Free beer?? Free beer is awesome!!
After finishing our drinks, we rode the final 2 or so miles to our motel and checked in. Our fare for the evening was once again delivered pizza and wings (the only thing open in Steamboat Springs after 10PM). A successful conclusion to a great and rough day.
We’re South bound and down!
Shane and Ray
