Fairplay to Kremmling, CO 100 miles

I rode my bike back out to the main highway, even though the road was rough. My bike is ill equiped to hang on a bike rack. It is quite harrowing to look out the window and watch it. The lack of a top tube is awkward and apparently the front tire had been striking the ground; bad juju.
Our great group before heading out.




Left to right: Ted, Sara, Janelle, Dawn, Bill and me!
An amazing house: thanks to Sara's sister and brother-in-law for the use of it.
Fabulous views!



At the top of Hoosier Pass



From Fairplay to the top of Hoosier pass we climbed 1,739 over 4 miles.
There were 2 miles of repaving going on. I waited patiently for them to let the traffic going my direction go, then began to climb again. But if you can believe it, they did not wait for us to get through before releasing the oncoming traffic! And they knew this! What a bunch of total idiots. Half the roadway was hot tar. They sent a flippin SEMI down at me. He took up every inch of pavement, so after refusing to get over so he had to stop, I had to stop, get into the deep gravel off the pavement and then get back on and try to start riding again. At that point I was so angry I refused to get off for anyone. Very choice words for the flagman at the top. He didn't give a hoot.
A little passive aggressive streak in me: I kicked over the "Pavtech thanks you for your patience" sign after the construction. A pretty big metal sign, it made quite a racket when it crashed. I HOPE THEY STRUGGLE TO RIGHT IT! Did I mention I think they are idiots? Rant over.
None of that could diminish my pride in our group for going over Hoosier. It was (group consensus) a little anticlimactic (pun intended). Don't get me wrong; it was a challenge. We just expected it to be more difficult. Bill asked me if I knew how much further and I said I thought 2 more more miles, then .2 later we were at the top. I thought it was a rest area and almost rode by it.

Bill's wore his fabulous socks just to go over the pass. They have sharks on them. Don't covet thy neighbor's socks.
Go Bill!






Sara: nice job!



Here is UPS delivering a package to me at Hoosier Pass.



Go Janelle! She pulled that trailer through that construction! My hero.



Dawn, bringing us supplies. Today is her last day with us and we will miss her. Who will bring us cool drinks and be waiting ahead of us to cheer as we go by? Seriously.









Carbondale to... Carbondale
Group consensus; Hoosier pass was a little anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, it was a challenge. It just wasn't as difficult as we envisioned. Part way up Bill asked me how much further the top was. I stated about 2 miles. .2 miles later we were there. We actually thought it was a rest area and I almost kept going.
In Breckenridge, Dawn cheered our arrival, the Alpine Sports (SHOUT OUT!) bike shop tightened my head set and we ate second breakfast. When Dawn leaves us tomorrow, who will bring us cold drinks and cheer us on? I'm accepting applications. Someone needs to step up to the plate.
We missed Ted in Silverthorne. He waited so long that he figured we must be ahead of him. Oh, yea of little faith; how quickly you forget our propensity to get lost. In Frisco, Bill, Sara and I decided to forgo the route and instead opted to further check out the beautiful bike path to Vail. In the rain. In fact it rained on us from Breckenridge to Dillon, while we haplessly wandered Frisco's labyrinth of bike trails looking for the one towards Dillon.
Regrouping in Silverthorn, we rode on to Heeley. Beautiful route, but we would have happily taken the shortcut propose by Ted in a voicemail had we had phone service. He had discovered there were no services there and moved on to Kremmling. Janelle said she was done for the day, but we know she lies!
Kremmling was one of those towns they move as you get closer. Dawn found us on the road and watered us up, while the mosquitoes sucked us dry.
In Kremmling I discovered, to my horror, that I was a mere 7 miles short of a century, so I rode 3.5 miles more up the road. Bill says this doesn't count and he is going to deface my blog if I claim a century. Please reminde to eke my revenge later.
Dawn drove some of us back to town, where we ate dinner and drank margueritas.








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