Tour Divide Day 15.

114km. Brush Mountain Ranch to Stagecoach Reservoir.

Getting on the road this morning took a lot longer than planned. I think that it had something to do with the blueberry pancakes that Kirsten fried up. And eggs. And sausage. And toast.

I had predicted that clearing the pass in the morning would be easier because the ground and snow would be frozen. I was wrong. The mud was squishy and the snow was soft. 8km of pushing my bike through soft snow. A patience test.

I stopped in at the Orange Peel bike shop in Steamboat Springs. My gears have been skipping and I wanted to check on my brakes. There were six other Divide riders there in front of me, so it took a while to get through there (hours). Nice people and cool shop, but quite an expensive tune up. At least the bike seems to be running well now.

I also ran in to JohnnyP. Here is a guy with strange luck. The dude is clearly a strong rider and has no issues with night riding. He should be well ahead of me, but I keep seeing him. He passed me early in the race but then broke a crank and had to do an 11 mile hike-a-bike just to get to the highway. While he was getting that fixed, I moved ahead. And then he caught up and passed me around Jackson Hole (going the other way up Teton pass, strangely). Later, when he was leaving Rawlins, he realized that he'd left his GPS at the restaurant there and had to back track 20 miles and then stay the night until the restaurant opened in the morning. So, once again, I move ahead of him. He passed me again yesterday as I approached Brush Mountain Ranch, but his plan was to keep going over the pass and make it to Steamboat for last call. He didn't make it and camped on the pass. When I saw him in Steamboat, he was heading out for a beer and a pizza to take on the road. Maybe I'll see him tomorrow.

The bike stop ate about four hours of my already short day. Once again, my goals for distance for the day would have to be revised. Downward. I left Steamboat unsure of where I could camp, since the next campsite shown on the map would be another 70kms or so.

The Yampa River, which flows through the town, was severely flooded and just raging through Steamboat. Huge patches of the path were underwater, giving me the opportunity to take my freshly tuned bike for a swim. Poop.

About 30km out of Steamboat, there is a nice reservoir and park. I caught up with John, Dan, Luke and Markley, who were also there and set up camp for the night. Beautiful spot overlooking the lake. Some kids at a nearby cabin are setting off fireworks. Clear view of the stars. It is nice.
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