DAY 13 – Steamboat Lake camp to Mugrage Campground (95miles)

After only a few miles early in the morning we meet a shepherd on the trails. He is happy to see us and in Spanish tells us all about his gun, a ‘Winchester treinta’, and fumbles around in his pockets to pull out and show us some bullets. The way he is swinging the rifle around I’m really hoping it is not loaded. I want to take a picture of him but dare not ask. He's the only person I meet on the Divide filthier than me.

It’s a treat of a descent on a dirt road into Clark and we eat up the miles. Clark store is an ideal GDR pit-stop with a little café and good supplies. From here the road is pavement and a slight downhill gradient to Steamboat, where I can celebrate reaching the half-way point of this race with a visit to the laundromat. There are lots of other cyclist out on this warm Saturday morning and they are all super friendly towards us.

I’m keen to visit the bike shop in Steamboat for some roadie bar tape to put over my Ergon grips, new gloves, and a new chain and inner ring. Orange Peel bikes let me borrow their tools and couldn’t be more helpful. They know about the race and are keen to meet and help the racers. Matt and I set about our bikes in a frenzy outside the shop as he fits a new bottom bracket and I fit a new inner ring and chain. Josh buys a new headlamp off one of the shop guys. Bruce buys new Orange Peel cycling kit and bins his old stuff.

From the bike shop we all head for the laundromat across town, and I enjoy a ride along a nice cycle track next to the river with some friendly local riders. Steamboat is certainly somewhere I would like to hang out for the rest of the day, or maybe a couple of days. Oh to hang my sore feet in that cool stream and take an afternoon nap on the soft grass. This is my only regret of the race; that I cannot stop when I meet good people or see nice places. I’m far better at hanging-out than cycling.

At the laundromat we set-up camp and order some pizzas while everything is in the wash. I do my food and supplies shopping barefoot in my boxer shorts and T-shirt that I sleep in - pride and dignity are too heavy for this race so I didn’t bring them. As we are leaving Josh hurls in the car park. Clearly feeling terrible he still mounts up and cranks out 20 miles with us, but gradually drops off the back as the temperature and gradient rise. This time I really don’t expect to see him again, but to even suggest a goodbye, that I was judging his strength, would be wrong, so after over two weeks together I don’t even look back.

Still with Matt and Bruce at the end of the day we ride over a pass in the dark and begin a long and steep descent. With my limited lighting this is tricky, then Bruce flies past and whips up some fine dust that won’t settle and reduces visibility in my light beam to zero, and Matt and I have to slow to walking pace. Moving in the dark and especially downhill is so time inefficient. At the bottom we come across a campsite with toilets and decide this is the place to stay tonight and Kremmling can wait until breakfast tomorrow. Only 95 GDR miles but I’ve ridden over 100 today so can live with it peacefully as I rest my head.