Heaton CG to Hoosier Pass. 24 miles, 2,829' elevation gain. 11 GBE 🍻. Elevation high point, 11,540'
Guess I Chose Bad Day to Give up blood Doping. Or, How to Suck Wind while Sucking Wind. Today's forecast called for a comfortable temps, 20mph wind, and a chance of light rain late in the day. Immediately upon catching the bike trail towards Breckenridge, we were into a constant headwind, and with a constant uphill gradient, progress was slow. But, we made to the busy town of Breckenridge and stopped at the Gold Pan Saloon for a second breakfast. The Gold Pan was a happenin' place , the food and service was good. We figured we needed some extra fuel for our climb up to Hoosier Pass, elevation 11,540'.
The skies were mostly sunny as we left town, but dark clouds appeared towards the Pass. As we continued up, it began to rain lightly. Rainjackets on, an up we went. At 4 miles to the Pass, the climb steepened, our progress slowed, and the weather was deteriorating. Steep switchbacks kept things interesting, and soon the temperature dropped, the rain picked up and turned to ice pellets, sleet, and snow. The final 2 miles were cold, steep, slow, windy, and the air was thin. According to my GPS, it was 31 degrees. As I rounded the final turn to the Pass, I saw the Sprinter van, which provided motivation to finish quickly! The sun broke out of the clouds briefly, but soon disappeared, and it was stormy once again.
With slippery road conditions, and cold temperatures we decided to load the bikes on the van and go down to the town of Fairplay in heated comfort! We found a camp for the night at the Middle Fork RV Park, and found the South Park Brewery nearby. After a relaxing beer, we went into town and had dinner at Milonzi's-an excellent Italian restaurant!
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J-Nut from Gmail
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