Pizza for breakfast and then out the door as early as I could manage. The big pass for the morning is pretty much a railroad grade, as it used to be a railroad bed some time ago. On the way up I caught David, Steve, and Tim who had started much earlier than I had that morning. This would begin my acceptance of riding with them, and also using riding with them as motivation to keep going. There were times where I though I was a stronger physical rider than some of the guys, but this race is as much mental as it is physical, and they were definitely beating me in that area. After having ridden with Jackson so much yesterday I knew how, after riding alone for so many hours, riding with someone can be a great boost. I think that’s what I needed at this point in my ride.
We would go past the point where Sean and I got off the route in 2013, so today was truly going into the unknown for me. It would be nice to have others around for that, even if I didn’t say it out loud.
With Boreas pass done, and the fun, but flooded Gold Rush Trail finished, we road through the relatively flat area around Hartsel. The area is full of rolling hills, but not much in the way of mountains. Also lots of homesteads, and folks that just want to be left alone it seems. Other than the brief, but terrible section of highway just before Hartsel proper, there wasn’t much of note in today’s ride. A lot of the same kind of scenery, rolling hills, scrub, and mountain backdrops.
My goal for the day was to at least get to the base of Marshall pass, which rumors said, was suppose to be another “easy” pass. That meant we would go through Salida, and stop whenever / wherever seemed like a good place. There was a campground near the base of the climb that I thought seemed like a reasonable spot, but I was willing to just keep pushing until I was done for the day.
I don’t recall now why, but the other guys got ahead of me before we got into Salida, and thanks to the welcoming and directions of some locals I was able to track them down to the downtown area, and a burrito place just off route. My bike hadn’t been shifting very well and I thought it was probably time to change the chain out. After ordering my burrito, and then realizing what time it was I ran over to the last bike shop before the end of the route to grab a new chain. Thankfully I made it before they closed and got back to the restaurant to finish my burrito.
The other guys set off and I set about replacing my chain outside the restaurant. With that sorted, and my water bottles full I headed back out to catch up with the other guys. It wasn’t long before I did meet them and we started the highway ride toward Marshall pass. The sun was setting, but freshly burrito fueled we opted to keep riding until we all thought it was time to stop. Headlights on we kept climbing. The grade didn’t seem too bad, and at the end of the day with tired legs I’m sure that means it was just about as easy a grade as everyone seemed to indicate.
We made it to the top at nearly midnight, freezing cold. We took a few photos in front of the sign and while I felt like I could ride the whole descent still, the other guys were opting to look for a spot to bivvy. That idea was probably smarter in the long run, descending at night in the dark and freezing cold while tired from a full day of riding may not have been the best idea. So we found a relatively flat spot just off the road and threw down our sleeping kits. It was a cold and short night.
