July 1, 2006
Day 52: Silverthorne to Arapaho National Forrest
Woke up in my nice indoor bed, snuggled in my sleeping bag and determined to sleep in after conquering Hoosier Pass yesterday, but I finally got up around 7 when I couldn't sleep anymore. Putzed around getting ready, ate some leftovers for breakfast (half a bagel from Guffey, chocolate chip cookie from Subway, and Cornuts), listened to the rare good radio station, and finally headed out sometime after 8, 8:30 by the time I left the local 7-11 with fresh veggies and snacks for the day. I was tempted to stick around town for a while and check out the Pearl Izumi outlet center, but I'd also gotten this wild idea that maybe I could catch the AC group in time for fireworks on the 4th. I love the 4th and don't really feel like spending it in Podunk, Wyoming alone. And Lander is supposed to put on a great show. I'll have to do big miles, but maybe it can be done. I'll have to add it up tonight.
The dream was helped along by some awesome downhill for miles and miles as I left Silverthorne-good shoulder, 20 mph on the speedometer without hardly trying I thought I'd be the 40 miles to Kremmling before 11 even with the late start. Well, I lost the consistent downhill but was still making pretty good time.
Decided against a slight shortcut when the shoulder all but disappeared on the busier highway and the sign for an obligatory TransAm photo op reminded me why I needed to take the backroad.
I saw the first touring bikers since Pueblo on that road, but they just went flying right by, which was annoying because I wanted some biker company. I mentally told them to enjoy that little spot of downhill where they'd passed me because they had two days of uphill coming. Take that. But then I saw two more who pulled over and chatted for a while-Roger and Chris from London, who I ended up not getting a picture of after exchanging website info and such. Bummer.
Bummer #2 came when I pulled onto the Green Mountain Reservoir dam and broke another spoke. It was a 'ding-thwing, thwing, thwing' I didn't want to hear. When I pulled off to a wide spot to see that OF COURSE it was a drive side spoke (broken at the nipple again?), security man swooped down upon me and my terrorist ways and said stopping wasn't allowed on the bridge thingy. Excuse me! So I tucked the broken end behind my reflector and cruised off the bridge, breaking my reflector in the process. Mr. Security made sure I was off the bridge far enough before approving my new fix-it spot. I had less than 15 miles to Kremmling and a bike shop, and the wheel hadn't untrued too badly, so I secured the loose end and rode on without taking things apart. Ran into a support vehicle for a group of 27 doing a fast XC from San Fran to DC as a fundraiser for people with disabilities, but they didn't offer any help, so I rode on, watching my wheel untrue itself as I headed hopefully to a bike shop in Kremmling.
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I barely made it to Motion Sports ahead of the rain and hail trying to cut me off from my destination and I watched as John attempted to fix my wheel, me losing faith in his abilities moment by moment as he said he'd only worked on road wheels a couple of times, hadn't replaced a spoke in a while, couldn't find some of his tools, and exalted joyfully that he had the wheel fixed when I could clearly see it wasn't. He backtracked and said he only meant it was getting 'closer' to getting fixed, but eventually I had a true wheel. I was worried about the tension on the spokes, especially since that was the second to break at the nipples, but he wasn't the man for that job.
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Some motorcyclists at a nearby Subway asked a bunch of questions about my trip, so that put me in better spirits and I headed up the road toward Parshall. There I was thirsty for something cold and sweet and stopped at JI's bar for a 7-Up, which a local guy paid for after finding out how far I'd ridden. I'm not sure he believed me, but he paid my dollar tab anyway and warned me to watch for falling rocks in the canyon just before Hot Sulphur Springs.
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The downhill through Byers Canyon was gorgeous, and no rocks fell on me, but I had to make a decision about stopping location in Hot Sulphur Springs. I knew I had a long gradual climb ahead of me, but I didn't really want to stop for the night yet. It was over 60 miles to the next town, but the map had some national forest campgrounds listed about 20 miles on. I confirmed their location with multiple locals, stocked up on food, loaded on extra liquids, and got ready to head out, but not before the guy from JI's caught up with me and handed me another 7-Up. I never did get his name, but I could tell he cherished the opportunity to help someone. I think his wife had died and life had handed him enough hard times to make him a little rough around the edges, but having the chance to help someone who didn't judge him for that brightened his day somehow.
I went west a few more miles before making the turn North toward Wyoming. Except for the rain (yes, rain again), 125 became a nice quiet road (uphill, of course) leading into the national forest. I was getting pretty tired and wanted to set up in time to be in the tent and done with dinner before dark since I anticipated a cold night at this higher elevation. As I rode toward the entrance, I saw an empty picnic table and a nice tent spot. Only problem was that the whole campground had five spots total (all occupied), and the empty spot wasn't really empty at all but the 'backyard' of a giant RV spot. There was supposed to be another campground a few miles up the road, but I didn't really want to get back on the road, so I went knocking on the RV door, only managing to rouse the dog and not the human inside, but as I pulled my bike toward the table to wait for the occupants to return, I heard human noises and stopped to ask through the open window if I could share the site.
I must have been pretty tired because asking for help put me on the verge of tears, but the guy said he didn't see a problem, so I started setting up. After a while, Larry and Brown Dog came out to check on me. I offered to pay for Larry's site for the night, but he said he'd only paid half-price since he was a Golden Passport holder and told me not to worry about it. Come to find out that in a former life, Larry had done a little bike touring of his own, although it sounded like he hitched more than biked. He wanted to know if I had $40 Conti tires and stuff like that, so we talked gear for a while and I petted Brown Dog while Larry talked, telling me about his retirement travels alone and how he was so happy to have finally gotten a doggie companion to ride along.
I almost knocked on Larry's door again in the middle of the night to ask to borrow Brown Dog at a tent warmer since it was getting so cold. I thought that might be pushing his hospitality, though!
Today's ride: 78 miles (126 km)
Total: 2,572 miles (4,139 km)
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