9/4/15
The weather was looking fair when I poked my head out of the tent this morning. Had grand plans of riding 60 to 70 miles today because I needed to be in Silverthorne, CO by noon tomorrow (Saturday) to pick up a package at the post office, which contained my next two maps. If I didn’t make before they closed at noon, I would have to wait in Silverthorne until Tuesday because Monday is Labor Day.
Old Stagecoach stop
Of course, as the day of riding progressed so did the winds jamming me right head on AGAIN! This shit is really getting me down. Although I’m still optimistic of my goal this morning of ending today within a very short day’s ride of Silverthorne.
As I made my way to Radium CO, the place I had hoped to camp the night before, involved some tough climbs and not so friendly downhills. Radium is right on the Colorado River and stopped there to have some lunch. A pretty busy spot as many rafting tour companies pull out here. So as I made my way out of Radium the road is pretty busy with tour operators transporting clients and gear.
Colorado River near Radium CO
The way out of Radium also involved a 1200’ climb up to Inspiration Point, which has a beautiful view of the Colorado River, but combine my previous day’s trouble, that climb proved to be very tough for me physically and mentally. Now I knew my stop over for the night was going to be way short of my goal. Was now looking at staying in Kremmling, CO for the night.
Can no longer control the thoughts of; wondering what the F— am I doing out here? Just how far I am from Denver to catch a plane home? Although my thoughts are clear enough to know that the moment I’m on a plane, without making it to Mexico first, I would greatly regret the decision and feel like a major failure. Although I sure do wish I was riding into Antelope Wells tomorrow to be over with all this.
If I wasn’t having a tough time with the climbs, mother nature decided to add insult to injury by giving me some rain for my decent to Kremmling, making the busy dirt road a muddy mess. The downhill was going quick and all I wanted to do was make town to get something to eat, dry off and warm up. Had to use the breaks every once in a while to keep my decent speed below 30 mph. Did this to avoid the potholes and make sure I stayed upright on the bike through the turns.
Making my cold, wet decent I could see a car stopped alongside the road ahead… Another obstacle to work around. Just as I found the right line and speed to make a safe pass around the car and driver, who was standing beside the car, he was holding up one hand with something in it as he shouts out “do you want a beer?” I immediately squeezed both breaks hard coming to a skidding stop. My first words were something along the lines of; “You are my new best friend”.
If I remember correctly his name is Andre. Told him in my current oxygen deprived state I will likely forget his name. Buddy, if you’re reading this I never got your text so please contact me through this site or leave a comment to either confirm that I got it right or need to correct my error.
At any rate, he told me that a friend and himself had done the Divide and he wasn’t sure if this road was part of the route or not, but it did look familiar. Said when he passed me he knew for sure it was the route. We talked for a bit while I drank the beer he gave me and I was feeling bad because it was raining, getting chilly and he was in a tee shirt and shorts. But damn I was sure enjoying the company after the spectacular crap day I was having.
At one point he goes into his car and I can see he is getting something from the center console. When he gets out, he hands me a folded bill and says, “I’d like to buy you lunch”. Told him “dude I can’t take that”. He insisted saying that when he was on the route many lunches were bought for him and he would like to do the same for me. I took the money but had to give him a hug for his kind gesture.
We soon parted ways and I was back to speeding down the mountain again with mud flying everywhere, getting wetter and colder with every additional mile. My desires of reaching a restaurant in Kremmling ASAP also grew.
About a mile after departing Andre I was thinking about our conversation, his kind gesture of offering me a beer and wanting to buy me lunch. It was just too much and I was overcome with emotion at that point. Yes, dude, you made me cry.
My buddy Andre
I also got to thinking about the Elk hunters I met the past two days as well. Just as I had sunk to my lowest points on this trip physically and mentally these people appeared into my life at just the right time and changed that all around. The last three days have been the worst of times and the best of times. Hope all of you are using the web address I gave you so I can give you my sincerest thanks. Just for your company and conversations alone you helped me tremendously. Thank you!
