Today we rode from Hartsell, Colorado, US to Salida, Colorado, US. Sunny weather with little clouds. Road conditions included some paved roads and good gravel roads. Highlights of the day include a very good a long downhill, and the town of Salida.
Riding statistics: on Monday August 29, 2022, the 29th day on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route route, it took 09:34h (05:05h moving time), between 07:27 and 17:03, to cover 81 km (51 miles), including 785 m (2576 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 16 km/h (10 mph). During today's ride the average temperature was 30 °C (90 °F) with a minimum of 5 °C (40 °F) and a maximum of 43 °C (116 °F).
Totals: So far, it took 8 days, 13 hours, 23 minutes and 18 seconds of cycling time to cover 3022 km (1878 miles), including 35126 m (115248 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14.9 km/h (9.3 mph).
Leaving Hartsell
We were glad that we have opted to stay in the barn. It was a night with lots of hard winds and some rain. O yeah, it was pretty cold too,even inside the barn. We did not set our alarm clock since today would be a shorter day and we wanted to make sure we got a good night of sleep. Eventually we were still awake quite early and by 6:30am we were both packing our tents and gear. We already decided that we would have breakfast at the local restaurant that opens at 6am. It is the only place in town (10 houses), a bar/restaurant, and a mercantile that is closed from Aug 1st onwards. We needed to ride about 2km to the restaurant from the barn we stayed in. I felt my knee, but at least I could use it more than I could yesterday. For breakfast I had three thick pancakes, and that was more than enough to start the day with. When we left, we saw a few more bike packers, they all stayed at the yard of the bar.
The pass of today
After leaving Hartsell we soon had a turnoff onto a gravel road. It was a road we would travel on for more than 30km. It was a nice winding road trough the landscape. Sometime a bit too much of washboarding and rough sections, but all-in-all a great ride. The first kilometers we saw some house / cabins, of which many were not finished. Also there were lots of lands for sale. It seemed that one moment this was an area which might be promising? But something happened and now it seems nobody wants to stay there anymore. There was also junk, for example I saw (probably) and RV upside down and completely smashed. Maybe by bad weather, I can’t think of any other cause. This first section of the road went through a landscape of green hills. Not the same as in Wyoming with only sagebrush, but green. However, no trees, only a few patches of land that contained trees. Gradually the scenery changed to more rocky mountains with forests. That was nice and that is what I prefer over the smooth hills. The downside is, the biking will become harder again. Also in this case. In the afternoon we had one real climb (besides all the rolling hills) and that was a test for my knee. So far I have been able to use it, although I tried to do most work with my left leg. I only had to walk a very steep section, but it was not that long. And I even was not the only one walking that section. On top we had a great view, and we took time for some food and drinks. We also met another couple from British Columbia, Canad who were riding this route as well. Now we had a downhill coming. We put on some more layers of clothing because downhills could be cold. The downhill was nice, on a good gravel road. We had beautiful views of the mountain range that was at the other side of the town of Salida.
Salida
After the 15km downhill, where I hardly had pedaled my bike, we were in the town of Salida. We went to the city center and parked our bikes to walk around. Salida is again a great little city with a very nice downtown. Old (brick!) buildings, of which some of them still have very old advertising paintings on the walls outside. There were many great shops and it was nice to walk around. We asked for a good food restaurant and someone recommended a pizza place / brewery. They made their own beer and sodas. We decided to share a medium (14″) pizza. I tasted great. We decided to stay at a cheap motel for the night because coming nights would be primitive again. So we reserved a room with two queen beds in the Circle R motel in Salida. After finishing the pizza, we walked to the Safeway to already do some groceries for the next day(s). With our bikes and bags of groceries we cycled to the motel and checked in. There we did some cleanup of ourselves and went to the laundromat, which was very close, to do laundry. After laundry we bought some more snacks (and ice for the knee) at a nearby gas station. Conclusion on the knee? No conclusion yet. Better than yesterday, but still not OK. Hopefully another night of rest (and some cooling with ice) improves it again. Depending on how we (or my knee) feel, we go either to Sargent (shorter day again) or continue into the more remote section after Sargent.
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