Day 47 - Section 4A - Colorado
09/10/06
Salida, CO 113m = 0 miles
Hard Head and my Broken
Helmet - Rest Day
After breakfast I decided to take a rest
day, do laundry, perform some bicycle maintenance, and
buy some groceries.
Salida is an excellent place to take a
rest day and restock. Absolute Bicycles is a great bike
shop and they have a Safeway, Wal-Mart, and some great
restaurants. While I was cleaning my bike, I noticed my
helmet looked a bit odd. When I picked it up I realized
that last night I had broken my helmet and it was now in
little pieces held together by the glued on top cover.
I went to Absolute Bikes, which is a
great bike shop. I talked to
Scott, the mechanic who is also into vintage steel
mountain bikes, and he helped me find a new helmet.
Day 48 - Section 4B - Colorado
09/11/06
Salida, CO 0m to Sergents RV/Campground, CO
43m = 43 miles
Marshall Pass
As I was leaving town, I met Chris, who
is doing a section of the GDMBR from Salida to Chama, NM.
We rode together for the rest of the day. His
companionship was nice to have and we had almost the
same pace.
 Today involved going up Marshall Pass,
almost a 4,000 foot ascent. For a long time, I dreaded
riding up this pass. I thought it was going to be pure
hell going up. It turned out to be a fantastic and
beautiful ride. I never really noticed the climbing too
much. The trail used to be an old narrow gauge railroad,
so the grade is nice and gentle. In general, the trails
in
 Colorado are in amazing condition.
But trouble brewed as I started the
ascent. I heard a pop and I felt something snap. At
first, I thought I had broken a weld on my frame.
Instead, my rear FOX shock blew and it collapsed all the
way down. Fortunately, I packed two emergency hose
clamps
 in my spare parts bag. I removed the shock from
the frame and installed the hose clamps around the
piston to keep it from collapsing. The temporary fix
worked and I was able to ride in to Sergents. My bike
rode like it was hard tail. Thank goodness the trail was
not too rough.
Day 49 - Section 4B - Colorado
09/12/06
Sergents RV/Campground, CO 43m to Improvised
Camp Site, CO 105m = 62 miles
Change of Plans
 After breakfast I called Eric, at Great
Divide Cyclery, and he said he would ship out a
replacement shock off one of his demo bikes and send it
to USPS General Delivery in Del Norte. I didn’t want
another used shock, but I didn’t want to be stuck here
for a week till Fox sent me a replacement.
Chris and I headed down the road towards
Luders Creek Campground past Cochetopa Pass. The ride was mostly up hill but
it was absolutely beautiful. When the trail is this nice
and the scenery is this beautiful, I don’t care if I
have to ride up hill all day, I just feel privileged to
be here.
The Aspens are a brilliant yellow and I
feel great. I love riding among the trees again. I
really don’t like the open ranges, but when I am among
trees, I feel so much more positive about everything.
We arrived at Luders Campground as
planned with two hours before dark. We
 picked out the
camp spot and just before we were about to pay the camp
fee, we realized the forest service had closed the water
pump for the season and there is was no water anywhere to be
found. This was bad news. Chris was out of water
and I had half a bottle left. So we hit the trail again
in search of water. We had to ride for another 10 miles
before we came to a water source. But instead of
filtering from a creek, I decided to go to a local farm
on the roadside and ask for water and if we could camp
out on their land.
Great call! We tanked up with enough
water for cooking tonight and for tomorrows ride. The
rancher allowed us camp on his land a ¼ mile down the
road. It was a great spot! I have learned that people
love to help, especially if it doesn’t cost anything,
like asking for water or camping on someone's ranch land.
I just have to get over the un-comfortableness of
asking.
The camp site was fantastic and it came
with a bunch of noisy coyotes for that real outback
feeling.
Day 50 - Section 4B - Colorado
09/13/06
Improvised Camp Site, CO 105m to Del Norte,
CO 153m = 48 miles
Volcano Mesa
 Today the scenery and terrain was
astonishing. I feel so blessed to be riding this section
and able to experience all that I am seeing. We rode
from desolate desert valleys up into golden yellow aspen
groves to thick pine forests and back down into the
desert of the Rio Grande National Forest with towering volcanic mesa like outcrops.
 The last
5 miles into Del Norte were not
so nice. The trail turned into sand and there was a lot
of broken glass on the trail from people shooting
bottles. The place was littered with old furniture,
refrigerators, and junk from years of dumping. Del Norte
is an old town with lots of litter and is in disrepair.
It appears that the town’s people lack pride in their
city.
Day 51- Section 4B - Colorado
09/19/06
Del Norte, CO 153m = 0 miles
Rest Day - Waiting for parts
Day 52 - Section 4B - Colorado
09/15/06
Del Norte, CO 153m to Platoro, CO 202m = 49
miles
Indiana Pass
 This morning after a hearty breakfast I
picked up and installed my replacement shock. By 10am
Chris and I were on the trail headed up towards Indiana
Pass. Today was one of the most beautiful days on the
entire trip so far. We climbed to the tallest peak on
the route with the most single day elevation gain.
By 11am the sky’s clouded over and it
begun to rain. But it was a nice misty rain,
 amounting
to nothing more than a wet fog. I suited up into full
rain gear knowing we would hit heavy rain soon. I almost
felt like was riding in the early spring time.
Everything was in a misty fog, the flowers were in full
bloom and everything was a lush, rich, green. The
terrain was opposite of the northern desert side of
Del Norte.
It rained almost the entire day. The
climb was long but easy.
 Once we hit the top of the pass
the head winds must have been gusting about 60mph. I
could hardly stand up, yet alone pedal. Chris and I were
disappointed to have ridden up this huge pass and not
have an elevation sign to take a picture of! We felt a
ripped off.
A mile down from the Pass we hit trees
again and they shielded us from 90% of the wind. It was
amazing to see the tops of the tree’s getting thrashed
about by the
 wind, yet I hardly felt a breeze on the
trail. The trail turned into a slimy, muddy, mess and it
became hard to travel at any decent speed for fear of
sliding. Then it started to rain very hard. As we
arrived in Summitville, it started to snow. It was very
cold but a wonderful experience.
Summitville was beautiful and
interesting. There were a lot of abandoned log cabins
along the route. There are
 a lot of
natural occurring heavy metals in the area so the water
is heavily contaminated with lead, selenium, and mercury
ore. The mining operations also contributed to the
contamination of the lands. This area is also a
superfund site.
The weather turned so cold that I had to
barrow Chris’s extra pair of mittens to wear over my
bike gloves. My fingers were painfully frozen. The
temperature was in the range of 40 to 20 degrees for the
whole day. By evening, the temperature dropped to 0
degrees.
We were going to camp at Stunner Pass Campground, but it
was so cold and muddy, that we decided to press on to
Platoro and we split the cost of a motel room at the
Skyline Lodge. It was a very nice lodge with a huge
fireplace and the food was good.
Day 53 - Section 4B - Colorado
09/16/06
Platoro, CO 202m = 0 miles
Stormed In at the Skyline Lodge
 We got stormed in. The winds howled with
a fierce vengeance and the rain poured. Today would have
been a miserable day to be on the trail so we stayed
here one more day. We heard that Indiana Pass received a
heavy snow last night.
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