DAY 17 – Del Norte to Brazos Ridge camp (89miles)

After stretching at every opportunity yesterday to fix my achilles my legs are feeling full of energy as I turn out the first few miles. My achilles is also on the road to recovery and no longer a worry. I just have to focus more on the steady climbs to not tense my calf, but suffer the pain in my shoe instead. The route today starts with a 15 mile climb ascending 11,910” Indiana pass, the highest part of the route, and rolls along in the thin air to Platoro at only 10,000”. It is brutal.

The restaurant at Platoro is a welcome sight for a mid-afternoon break. The store is limited but has enough and I fill up all my water containers not wanting to rely on anything out there from here. I sit down with Matt and Bruce in the restaurant on some very uncomfortable chairs. The waitress tells us Alex was here last night for dinner, but just grabbed a shower and headed on. I hadn’t heard about him for a few days now, but follow his tracks all day in the dirt wondering how old they are and how far in front he is.

The twenty-three mile downhill from Platoro is hard work over a very loose gravely road, and not at all the free ride I expected looking at the map, but it is down and I have to be grateful for that. I make my call-in from Horca and drink some more at the store. The air is thick with billions of insects in the air as dusk comes and we climb up a steep pavement road for 10 miles through an insect cloud. At the Colorado/New Mexico border its totally dark and the three of us pitch up for the night. It’s a short day for distance but has been incredibly hard with more hours than usual in the saddle, so I don’t feel bad about making less than 100 miles.

DAY 16 – Sargents to Del Norte (100.4 miles)

When I wake up in the morning my left achilles is agony. This is as a result of me tensing my calf to help take pressure off my left foot injury, and the long steady climb last night was the cause. I’ve lived with this problem for many years, and can usually walk and stretch it off in a couple of days. This time however, I have about an hour.

I order breakfast in the café and while waiting I go outside and try to shim my front brake to stop it from screeching. As I’m doing this I see two tourers pass heading south. I hear one of them say, ‘It is, it is!’, or something similar, and they swing around. They have Bob trailers and I work out the tracks I’d been following for a couple of days were theirs. Aaron and Janet are out doing the GDR Colorado section, and Aaron seems really pleased to meet the GDR ‘Brits’, and had read about us on the website. I soak up my 5minutes of fame.

As I mount up my achilles is a little better after lots of stretching, but still bad. I can only hope like other GDR twinges and niggles I can ride it off in the next 50 or so miles. This turns out to be a rough day, but some awesome scenery.

There is a bit of a kick in the teeth the last few miles into Del Norte; as I think I’m in the clear to roll into town, a twisty two track winds around over the final ascent and I’m really not feeling up for it. On any other day it would be good mountain biking, but not what I needed after 95 miles. We reach town and there are no restaurants open so stock up at the gas station. It’s not the town I expected at all and I’m really disappointed. The motel owners take pity on us though and make us some good pizzas.

DAY 15 – Boreas Pass camp to Sargents (117.4miles)

Josh, Matt and I clip in and are rolling down the pass early. It’s still very cold in the shade of the mountain. We arrive in Como just as the day is warming up, but nothing is happening here at all, so slightly disappointed we press on to Hartsel for a later breakfast. Outside the café we see Bruce’s 29er and get breakfast together.

The four of us push on toward Salida together. Bruce again needs to go to the bike shop here and I’m wondering if he is just on a bike shop tour of America. As Bruce heads to the bike shop Matt and I get a meal in town. There is no sign of Josh who usually rocks up shortly after us, and I’d been kinda keeping an eye on him back there when the views were good and he hadn’t been that far back.

There is still no sign of Josh as Matt and I leave the restaurant and head on to hopefully make Sargents before dark. When I see no tyre tracks in the dirt I figure he must have had a mechanical and be walking into Salida. I feel bad about leaving him out there in the heat for a brutal walk with little water. I hope he’s okay, but dare not presume anything about whether I will be riding the trails with Josh again, as he’ll only get out in front tomorrow.

From Salida Matt and I chat as we spend four hours climbing up near 11,000ft Marshall Pass and the time passes quickly. The descent takes only an hour and we make all but the last mile into Sargents in fading light. The road is closed where it is washed out and we have a technical carry across with the bikes.

I just catch the cabins guy leaving the premises at 9pm and get a cabin, he also lets us grab some microwave meals from the store for dinner. I’m over the moon for this one after three days camping. The power of a recovery shower and healing sheets cannot be underestimated. And as a bonus there is a washing machine too. Bruce arrives some time later.

DAY 14 – Mugrage Campground to Boreas Pass camp (100miles)

Although Kremmling is a couple of miles off route, it offers good GDR services and is worth the detour for a big cooked breakfast. Several miles out of Kremmling we meet Josh again. I can’t believe it. Nothing can break this man. He camped up only a few miles short of the campground and was in Kremmling at the same time but at a different restaurant.

On the climb up Ute Pass the dirt turns to pavement and I start to be overcome by tiredness. Despite my heart rate being quite high on this climb, I can barely keep my eyes open and am swerving around. I wonder if this is the start of things to come, so refuse to stop. Rocks start to look like soft pillows and I so need to be horizontal. Bruce slowly disappears up the climb as I fight with my eyelids. Eventually the climb tops out and I pull in to deal with my feet as I wait for Matt and Josh. The consistent pedal stroke pressures on long pavement climbs really aggravate my left foot problems, so I do what I can to relieve the pain with my magic roll of strapping tape. Hopeless! Two roadies pass me as I'm doing this and give me a very strange look when I give them a nod.

Josh, Matt and I roll into Silverthorne and enjoy a gas station meal on the pavement outside. Good times. Navigation from here to Frisco is tricky, but we eventually discuss the map instructions with enough hot girls out mountain biking (thanks to the girl in a Heineken top) to find the cycle track to Breckenridge. On the cycle track the local roadies pass us by and give us the well perfected arrogant blanking when we say ‘hi’. I find it hard not to chase them down but Matt pulls me back.

The only thing on my mind when we reach Breckenridge is getting a meal fast. The three of us dive in the first steak house we see to eat as fast as we can and get back out for more miles before dark. The climb out of Breckenridge is pavement to begin and the gradient is slight. The higher up the pass we go the easier it gets and I find myself flying along as the temperature is falling in the late evening. Eventually it’s lights on and we push for the top of the 11,482ft pass in the dark. In the dark the descent gets very cold quickly, and at the 100 mile point for the day we set-up camp at the side of the road in a nice sandy glade. A great camp spot and I sleep well in the cold air my sleeping bag was designed for.

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.

DAY 12 – Rawlins to Steamboat Lake camp (100miles)

Josh and I get up early to hopefully get an early start, but after Josh has been to the post office to collect a package and post stuff back, we eventually get away about 9:30. Bruce has to go to the bike shop again, and Matt has to head back to the motel to find his missing tools. Josh and I push on together.

Today feels tough, and as the sun rises so does the temperature until it’s in the 100s. It’s just draining the energy from me on top of the tiredness from a bad nights sleep. We stop for a powernap in the shade of some trees mid afternoon as the heat is too much to bear.

As we press on the map indicates we will be passing into Colorado any minute, so we keep our eyes open for the border sign as Josh wants to piss on Wyoming before we leave. Sounds like a good idea to me. Unfortunately there is no sign and we’re in Colorado before we realise it. Goodbye Wyoming, you will not be missed!

Josh and I are taking a break in the shade when Bruce and Matt roll up. We all ride together loosely and as evening approaches I’m climbing up a pass feeling low on energy. I’ve noticed Whispering Pine Lodge on the route instructions, but there is no symbol on the map for it so I’m wondering what to expect. As I round a corner I see Bruce drinking a Coke on the decking of a lodge with some other guys. This is life saver. We all get as much as we can eat for $10 including some birthday cake, and enjoy some excellent company.

Although I would have loved to kick back and have a few beers at the lodge, we leave just before dusk as the temperatures drops and I finally feel fully revived. The miles come easily until the light is gone and as the map says ‘1.5mile push up hill’, the minimum 100 miles for the day are done and it’s time to camp up for the night.

DAY 11 – Diagnus Well to Rawlins (112.2miles)

The only shade for over 100 miles today is an old water tank about half way at a road junction. We are all still together here and have a well earned break in the shade. It’s not long before I close my eyes and drift off as nobody is shouting to press on. The wind is cooling in the shade and we wait out the heat of the day. Somebody’s snoring keeps waking me up, which I find out later was my own.
From the tank there is a headwind along the last of the dirt road, but then its pavement stretching all the way 40 miles into Rawlins. Although I have plenty of water, I’m not drinking enough for what I’m losing and after 90 miles as the final climb of the day rises up in front of me I’ve had enough for today. The mental effort increases ten fold and I know I should take a rest to hydrate but just want to get to Rawlins so push on.

In Rawlins I find a great smoothie shop in town and drink about 4 pints of chilled smoothie and feel the life coming back to me. A huge ice cream later and I’m feeling good to go again. Not a bad main street but the rest of Rawlins is a dump! I check a few motels but all are full or very expensive for tat. Bruce and Matt find one but it seems that’s the last reasonably priced room in town.

Josh and I head back into town and get a great Thai meal, resupply at the supermarket and call in to MTBcast. Dark and getting late we consider the options of which ditch or bit of wasteland we are going to sleep in/on. It doesn’t feel safe in this big town so we find Bruce and Matt’s room and crash on their floor. I have a very restless night and wonder if I slept at all. Rawlins is just giving me bad vibes, and apart from a great smoothie shop and Thai restaurant I wish I’d carried on through.