You Don't Need to be a Weatherman to Know Which Way the WInd Blows

Wednesday July 15

What a difference a day makes! This morning we hung around the Eastin Hotel until after 10:00 doing wifi and enjoying our breakfast that we purchased at the grocery store yesterday as we entered town. This consisted of chocolate muffins, bananas, plums and some mexican style pastries. The weather forecast was for temperatrures in the 70’s with increasing winds. No mention was made of which direction the wind would be from today. But we just didn’t care. That is the attitude to take because you cant control the weather.

Our destination today was Breckenridge Colorado. This was a 55 mile ride with an elevation gain of over 2000 feet from the time we left Kremmling. We were prepared for the worst and ended up getting the best. The moderate winds during the late morning were directly behind us, pushing the the bikes. We hit our first community of the day, Silverthorne, after 35 miles which took a little over 3 hours of riding time. After visiting a bike shop to look for some replacement tires (no luck) we hit the Burger King for a late lunch.

The remainder of the days ride was done on paved bike trails that connected Silverthorne to Frisco and then to Breckenridge. This was such a refreshing change of pace that we were hardly aware of the fact that we were continually gaining elevation. The winds did in fact intensify over the course of the day but they remained at our backs! Colorado has redeemed itself.

The only downside of this day occurred after we pulled into town. The Hostel that we hoped to stay at was full. It turned out that their rate of $28 a head would have cost us over $80 plus tax just to stay in a dormitory setting. There was no camping to be found in Breckenridge as we had passed the only campgrounds about 8 miles before hitting town. If it would have been just me, I would have hung out in town enjoying the microbrewery and then just before dark, set up behind a church or school. I suggested this to Donna but I knew before the words were out of my mouth that she wouldn’t go for it. While she may have the physique of a touring cyclist, she has yet to master the mindset of one. Oh well, it’s the price I have to pay to bring the family on an adventure like this. We were directed to the visitor center in town where we found a ski lodge just outside of town where we could get a room for $79 plus tax. This was the absolute lowest price for an establishment that still had vacancies. So we told the lodge to hold the room as we would be arriving by bicycle. The visitor center lady gave us a map that indicated we had about 3 miles to get to the lodge. What the map didn’t indicate was the topography. We had to climb the entire 3 miles to get here. Oh well. That’s the price we had to pay in order not to be sleeping behind the Presbyterian Church! I’ll be posting this tonite as there is wifi in the lobby and in the morning we get to enjoy the continental breakfast. Tomorrow comes Hoosier Pass (elevation 11,542 feet) and our final crossing of the continental divide. From there I’ve heard that it’ll be all downhill until we reach the Atlantic ocean!