Today we rode from Radium, Colorado, US to Silverthorne, Colorado, US. Sunny weather with afternoon thunderstorms. Road conditions included easy gravel roads and paved roads. Highlights of the day include climbing Ute Pass.

Riding statistics: on Saturday, August 27, 2022, day 27 on the route, it took 12:44h (08:34h moving time), between 07:21 and 20:05, to cover 116 km (72 miles), including 1764 m (5788 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14 km/h (9 mph), while reaching a maximum speed of 49 km/h (30 mph). During this ride the average temperature was 18 °C (64 °F) with a minimum of 3 °C (37 °F) and a maximum of 35 °C (95 °F).

Totals: So far, it took 8 days, 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 12 seconds of cycling time to cover 2847 km (1769 miles), including 33356 m (109441 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14.9 km/h (9.3 mph).

Again, an early morning at 6am. Although it does not feel like it to be honest. Usually, I am already awake before the alarm. During the night it has been cold outside (not inside the tent though). Everything was wet in the morning, especially the ground sheet and the rainfly of our tents. Wet = heavy. It felt cold. The sun was already rising, but it was still behind some of the mountains. We go everything ready and left the campground together. Tiago would catch up.

When cycling away from Radium we could see that there would not have been any option for a while to setup our tents. We were glad the three guys allowed us on their campsite. More and more we got to ride in the sun, and it felt great. As soon as we had the first hills to climb, we got even warmer. Today would be a day with a lot of elevation gain. We were riding on a nice gravel road, but the amount of traffic surprised us. All morning we would see traffic because of the wild water canoe / rafting event. We heard that the event got cancelled (because of insurance issues) but many people decided to enjoy the Colorado River anyway. We could enjoy the Colorado River as well when our route followed the river for a while.

Because we started to run out of food and water, we decided to do a little detour to the town of Kremmling . It was a little off route but had services, including a large supermarket. We bought an enormous amount of food and drinks for lunch and some extra food and water for the rest of the ride to Silverthorne, our destination for today. We sat down at a table in the sun to enjoy the food we bought. Meanwhile Tiago arrived as well. The sun was bright and warm, so we decided to let our tents dry out. We took our time to enjoy sitting down in the sun and contacting our loved ones. After our lunchbreak we got our bikes ready and left. Again, Tiago would catch up. While riding out of town we saw a large gas station with convenience store, and we stopped. The lady’s restroom in the supermarket had long line, so this gas station was a good alternative.

After using the restrooms, we continued our ride. After about 15 minutes we were back on the route. For a while we continued to follow the Colorado River. Eventually the river and the route split and we cycled again through a recreation area where people enjoyed activities on a lake. Meanwhile, the weather was changing from a bright sun into developing thunderstorms with very dark clouds. Because of the mountains it is difficult to see if a thunderstorm will come into your direction or not. Some passed us, but one or two crossed our paths, including hard winds, and short but hefty rain showers. We used our rain gear for the rain, and sometimes the cold from the wind.

Eventually we reached the base of the climb to Ute Pass. The route to Uta Pass included some steep sections and passed a huge mining area. It is unbelievable how much this can have on the area. Large parts of mountains have been scraped off. We also saw a lake that nowadays is used for the mining activities. It did not look appealing anymore. There were also hardly animals in the area, but it could have been because of the weather. There were many sign in the area stating that you are not welcome on their property. After seeing this we also had to be honest with ourselves. Big chance we also have products that require such mining activities. Fortunately for us, the road passing the mining area was a paved road, make the final parts of the climb to Ute Pass a little easier. When we arrived at the top of Uta Pass we had an incredible view.

The road after the top of the pass was also paved. If we wanted, we could gain high speeds easily, but after reaching 70+km/h (43.5 m/h) on our loaded bikes we realized there are smarter things to do. It was a long downhill, which we enjoyed. Eventually the downhill ended at an intersection with a paved road, which we had to follow about 16km (10 miles) to reach Silverthorne.

When we arrived at Silverthorne, we stopped at the first gas station to decided where to eat and where to sleep. After checking some of the booking website we decided to book two spots at the local hostel (The Pad). A very fancy, modern looking hostel (combined with a hotel). Inside the gas station we asked for food suggestions. We got directions to a Mexican restaurant / supermarket. We enjoyed the food and people in this local establishment. After that we went to the hostel and checked in. It looked great. We were in a four-person room, with only one other person.

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