Day 71 – 75 Miles

Silverthorne, CO to Middle of Nowhere, CO

Total Miles: 4037

We woke up this morning at 5:00 to be on the road by 6:00. It. Was. Fucking. Cold. I put on all the shirts that I had, threw my rain jacket over the top, I even wore my water proof socks as weird looking mittens but it was still chilly. Right up until the point that it wasn’t. The rain jacket is, of course, waterproof which means that water can’t get in or out so before I knew it I was damp with sweat and feeling a bit too warm. So I took it off. Big mistake. Now I was just wearing a damp shirt, riding along in cold air and, again, freezing my nuts off. I just can’t win -_- But at least the scenery is still absolutely stunning

Once we hit the first major hill of the day Sebastian and I peeled off from the rest of the group. On the flats and first thing in the mornings we all ride happily along at about the same pace but when we get warmed up or their is some elevation to contend with him and I get filled with rocket sauce and blast off into the sunset (errr, rise?). But being so filled up with rocket sauce can have it’s disadvantages, we were so distracted by our awesomeness and general badassery that we missed a turn. Oops. A little Google mapsing told us that we could stay on the same road and would eventually meet back up with the normal route and that we’d even save 3 miles. So, basically, even though we’re dumbasses we’re still mighty, high powered endurance athletes that can’t be stopped :p

We stopped at the 30 mile mark in the city of Kremmling to get some food and for me to get my daily dose of that sweet, sweet radiation green liquid smack. I have a problem. After getting fueled up we set off again. The road was excellent, lots of downhills and the scenery was amazing. I’ve ridden through some pretty amazing places these last few months but there’s just something about the mountains, the real mountains, that just sings to my soul. The crisp, clean air, warm sunshine and endless vistas as far as the eye can see, it’s where I belong. Anyways. After another 15 miles we meandered through this beautiful canyon and arrived in the town of Hot Sulphur Springs for a break and to get some dinner supplies for this evening. Right as we’re arriving we’re greeted by our friend, Robert. He’s the Dutch guy we ran into a week or so back and he’d stayed in the city the previous night. Under a bridge. He’s like the epitome of a care free cyclist, he’ll just wake up whenever, pedal until he finds a nice lake or stream to have an afternoon nap next to and then find a place to camp. No plans, no pressing agenda, no time constraints, basically just a badass.

I’ll just leave this here…

After we all got fueled up we headed out for the last leg of our day. There were a couple of steep climbs so Sebastian, Robert and I, being the super speedsters, got to the campsite first. Robert was planning on doing another 50 miles today but after seeing the spot we were camping decided to stick around and camp there with us. We all got our tents pitched, took a bath in the ice fucking cold stream next to our site and settled in for a quiet evening. The only bad thing about the campground was the swarms of biting flies everywhere. Bug spray didn’t help in the slightest, I tried covering my legs in mud to no avail but once we got a nice fire going it seemed to keep the worst of them at bay. All in all it was an excellent day. Stay tuned for the next edition of James and his Bike!

All natural bug repellant! Only it doesn’t work -_-

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Too Drunk; Didn’t Read (TD;DR)

-Surprise! It’s cold.

-I need to grow my beard longer and live in a mountain cave

-A wild Robert appears!

-Biting flies love me. The feeling is not mutual

River baths 🙂