Tour Divide Update: Day 17

183km - Frisco to Salida, CO

After a good night of sleep in Frisco, I headed out early the next morning in order to hit one of the big Colorado climbs before it got too hot.

First, I had to continue on the cycling trails through Breckenridge, then onto a road leading out of town for the first portion of the climb up Boreas Pass.

As the route switched back its way up toward the summit of the pass, I was treated to some beautiful views back down over the town and the mountains on the other side of the valley. Absolutely stunning, and I can see why it’s such a popular area.

The gradient of the road itself was fine, and not too challenging. Before too long, the road ended and turned into a dirt-topped forest road, which continued its way up into the mountains.

One thing I didn’t know beforehand was the number of campsites that lying to the trail. Looks like they were first come, first served, and they provided beautiful views of the valley - I saw numerous people just sitting in camp chairs, gazing out over the landscape. Definitely a place to consider camping in the future, and for any riders considering pushing beyond Breckenridge these would be good places to crash for the night.

Approaching the top of the climb, I stopped to snag a photo of a historic water tower that used to feed engines on the now disused railway.

From there the trail continued to be completely manageable, and before too long I found myself at the top of the pass.

One of the things I was warned about before the race was the easy-to-miss turn onto several kms of singletrack (the Gold Dust Trail) shortly after the summit. Being forewarned and with my GPS computer doing an admirable job, I found the turn with no trouble and descended onto what for me was very difficult terrain for the next 6.5km.

For people who are used to singletrack of this nature, or those with suspension forks (or at least not fully loaded bikes), I’m sure this would seem very manageable but to me, on a rigid frame, with minimal single track experience in the last 20 years, it was an extremely challenging section of the route despite some fast, flowy portions that I’ll admit were quite enjoyable. I certainly uttered a few four letter words in the meantime though!

For me, concern about scrapes and bruises was secondary to the risk of doing some catastrophic damage to the bike that might cut short my ride. Fortunately, despite a few near misses, I made it down with no issues, and continued on dirt roads for the remainder of the descent.

Eventually, I reached the small town of Como, which I skipped and instead made a beeline for Hartsel where I snagged an early lunch. Along the way, headwinds started to pick up, and the last 20 km or so before the town were quite tiring.

The terrain itself was nothing too challenging, but the weather made it moreso. Additionally, the washboard road surface covered what felt like 90% of the route in the morning made it not very fun or comfortable to ride.

If you haven’t encountered washboard on roads before, picture a wave-like surface that goes up and down every foot or so. Alongside being extremely uncomfortable (and potentially painful if - like me - you happen to be suffering from saddle sores), it also kills your momentum as your wheels are constantly being flipped into the air and thus unable to gain any traction while you pedal. Not fun.

After pushing through that section, and resupplying and grabbing an early lunch in Hartsel, I headed back out again. As I did, I chatted with a couple of northbound riders who assured me that the headwinds and washboard would continue for the rest of the day. Sure enough, that proved to be the case.

Beyond the road surface issues which became standard fare for the rest of the Tour, the rest of the day was relatively uneventful. That said, the final climb before the last descent of the day into the town of Salida was an unexpected kicker with sand, loose dirt, and a steep gradient. That was unexpected, but the subsequent glorious, fast descent into the town with wonderful views made up for it.

Pulling into Salida, I scanned for places to stay for the night, and ended up picking a hotel on the far side of town near a Walmart where I stocked up for what promised to be a challenging next day.

Total distance for the day: 183km (Strava)