Cross Country Recumbent
Thursday August 7, 2003. Walden CO to Silverthorne CO
Start time
|
7:04 am
|
End time
|
4:35 pm
|
Miles
|
101.7
|
Time pedaling
|
6:57
|
Average speed
|
14.6
|
| Odometer |
1878
|
Ahhh today makes up for yesterday's disappointing distance. The
morning news was saying that record temperatures were expected in
Denver; but the weather were I was overcast and cool. I climbed
up to Muddy pass (8700') with an ever so slight headwind that I thought
might turn into a repeat of yesterday. However descending down
from the pass to Kremling (7300') it was absolutely calm. I met
an older couple from Boulder who were doing a mini-tour on their
tandem. We chatted for a while, discussing the various
interesting aspects of our bikes. Their tandem has a really cool
feature that gives each person their own freewheel. This means
that either person can stop pedaling when they want, but they do have
to manage the phase of the pedaling. Apparently when they are out
of phase the bike wobbles. They had also moved the shifters to
the stoker position, so the captain gets to steer, but the stoker
chooses the gear. They even split the brakes up, front brake for
the captain and rear brake for the stoker. It seemed like a
pretty egalitarian setup. The gave me the scope of the road ahead
and we parted ways.
While the wind was calm I passed this tiny mountain lake which had such
a good relfection I decided to see if I could get it on camera.
I made Kremling by noon, checked in with work and had lunch.
While eating lunch I was looking at the map and planning how much
further I would go. There were several stopping options so I was
able to play it by ear. When I finished lunch I noticed an
enormous thunderstorm just about to descend on town. The calm
wind had also been replaced by a storm driven 15-20 mile per hour
wind. However the direction was in my favor so I raced away from
the storm, hoping to surf the winds on the front edge of it. The
route is basically a climb up the approach to Hoosier, so I wasn't
going that fast, but the wind really helped (If I could have put up a
sail I would've really moved out). I actually outdistanced the
storm, and the winds abated a bit.
At 93 miles I made it to Blue River campground and scoped it out.
No showers, and the rivers not quite deep enough to get clean in.
I checked in again with work (lots of stuff going on there) and while I
was on the phone the storm caught up to me, and actually went around
the valley I was in. I decided to go on to Silverthorne, only
another seven miles. The storm clouds were out in front, and I
was riding into the lightning. Just as I hit town it started
raining, with a little bit of hail tossed in for good measure.
The hail was small and rain felt good, so it didn't really matter.
Silverthorne is clearly a resort town. The map lists the
population as 1200 people, but I saw enough housing for at least
10,000. Clearly this is a resort town. I'm in a hostel
tonight, since the camping options were non-existent (and I wasn't
courageous enough to find out what a hotel costs here).
The big pass tomorrow. It seems weird to say it, but I think I'm
going to miss the mountains.