Sec 3 South Pass City WY to Silverthorne CO - D17

06/26 Day 17, Colorado  Slater – Steamboat (50 miles)

STB and I were the first to leave the next morning.  That was a feat in itself with the amazing breakfast and bottomless pot of coffee.  But, the route was still out there. 

We continued on the dirt road that had brought us to the lodge only it now climbed very steeply for miles out of the river valley.  After about 4 miles of climbing, STB stopped to make an adjustment to her seat – she thought it felt loose.  With only a small tweak, the seat post clamp bolt sheered off.  Well, only one option.  We turned around and headed back down – walking because STB did not feel comfortable managing such steep loose terrain speeding down hill on a loaded bike.  Fair enough. 

Kirsten was busy feeding the now awake boys and the S. Africans who had just arrived.  We waited (I had more coffee and 2^nd breakfast) and once freed up, she went into her barn and produced a selection of screws and bolts that might work.  STB set about making the repair, and soon enough we were off again.  Same climbs, just warmer.  The delay was about 2 hours.

We knew to expect 6 miles of snow push somewhere before Steamboat.  Back in Canada, we had not known where the snow was or how long it would last.  It was nice to have that knowledge when we hit the “extremely rocky 1.5 mile upgrade; a pusher”.  Pushing, pulling, grunting but the sun was out and we knew how long the effort needed to be.  We topped out at 9800 ft but continued in the wet snow for a few more miles. 

Only one way to get there from here

Snow gives way to green

The descent off this climb was a blast.  It was a couple of miles of twisty double track, baby head rocks, and snow melt drainage crossings.  I let it go and had a ball.  I stopped to pick up a map set that turned out to be Kevin’s and then waited to get some STB action shots. 

Hard to tell, but the surface was fairly rough and wet going down hill

Steamboat

Clean jersey!

Because of the delay and the snow, it was later than we would have liked when we got to Steamboat.  We had mailed packages there and needed the new brake pads, tires and supplies.  But the post office was closed by then.  We found a simple but very accommodating hotel (The Alpiner) where the manager Rubin let us do some laundry and gave us rags and a hose to wash the bikes.  The S. Africans arrived at the same hotel and we all had dinner together.  The waiter at the Italian place we chose had raised eyebrows at the amount of food we ordered.  I had leftover pasta for breakfast and a pizza to go to eat during the next day. 

We wanted to make arrangements with a bike shop so that when we got our supply boxes, we could get the bike work done and get out of town.  We called the shop recommended to us but they did not seem keen on being helpful.  So we called the Steamboat Bike Kare and man talk about rock star treatment!  We planned on being at the post as soon as it opened and the guys agreed to open the service shop early to get going on the bikes.  They directed us to the Mountain Brew coffee house behind the shop where we cooled our heels with awesome coffee and breakfast. 

In no time, we had new tires, chains, brake pads and happy lubed steeds.  Except for parts, they would not take any money from us.  We left them with cookies and gratitude (and later sent them a gift certificate from Mountain Brew).