Lanvin & the Chipmunks

Day 33

Kremmling, CO to Breckenridge, CO

Distance: 59 miles

Elevation in Breckenridge: 9,600ft

Punctures: one

Pizza slices: 5

Chipmunks, chipmunks everywhere but ne’er one still for long enough to take a photo… unless you hide, and wait… a long time.

Yes, it was just as I was lurking surreptitiously and snapping photos in the opposite direction to the beautiful view across the reservoir that I was rumbled by a couple of Canadian cyclists, Robin and Jake from Calgary, who approached like Ninjas and took some convincing as to what on earth I was doing…

But after a few minutes of dialogue, we established that they were doing the Great Mountain Divide Route on Mountain Bikes, and I was doing the TransAm, plus (importantly) that I am a shameless fan of the cute little chipper critters. And once all that was sorted, we happily cycled along together for a few miles chatting away, until I headed off to try to make the most of the dry spell (it was forecast to rain all day and had done so all night).

Riding directly into the rain (clever, Kat), I decided to stop for lunch in a town called Silverthorne, replete with coffee shops and also various designer and sporting outlet stores. Resisting the temptation on this trip, I mentally bookmarked it as a place where my Amex card and I could have a raucous vacation in the future…watch this space.

All was good until I set off again and realized that I had a puncture in my back wheel -  love those puddles full of floating detritus.

The worst time to change a metal-beaded tyre is when it is cold. That is, when it has not been ridden on for a while. And so when I pulled over to deal with the puncture, I could barely budge the tyre off the wheel to get it sorted.

I quickly found the offending wire from a truck radial tyre blow-out, and removed it from outside and in, but the process of position the inner tube and forcing the tyre back over the rims was long and messy.  It must have taken a good thirty minutes of hopeless grappling, grasping it in my hands, between my legs, anything to try to hold it firm, and I emerged looking like I had spent the afternoon crawling through one of the coal trucks I saw yesterday’s freight train pulling along the tracks.

Deciding to put it behind me mentally, and ignoring the ragamuffin look, I pressed on and, after a few rogue turns, located the beautiful bike path that runs all the way from Silverthorne to Breckenridge.

I soon found that Matthew, the Aussie from the bar in Saratoga, who I’d also bumped into at breakfast, had caught me up.  We rode along together for a few minutes until he decided to press on to get himself a coffee, and I pulled over to take a few shots of the flowers and plants that I had been seeing growing beside the road but been unable to stop and photo, but which I could now snap to my heart’s content, rummaging through the undergrowth David Bellamy style.

It was around then that I also realized that Steed had gone all Doctor Doolittle on my ass, and started some unauthorised talking with the animals. Yes, a bit like one of those mocking birds that mimic the noises that they hear, Steed has developed a squeak that sounds just a like a chipmunk. Presumably whispering sweet nothings in some kind of chipmunk patois, it’s no surprise that the chippers have been scampering around like crazy over the last few days. I haven’t found the source of the squeak yet, but I will.  

Continuing up the bike path towards Breckenridge, I was amused by the procession of fast-moving cyclists flying past me in the opposite direction, heading back down after being up in the town to watch the USA Pro Tour finish there earlier today. The contrast with my slow-moving, weighed down, climbing against a head-wind self as stark as can be.

But eventually I made it into town and picked up the key to the great condo that I managed to book for a couple of nights, then met up with Matthew for pizza and pasta in town tonight.

Rest day here for me tomorrow – yay! Including another leg massage to get me ready for Sunday’s ride to over 11,000ft. I wonder if the little critter chippers will be up there too. Steed…. Steed??!

Me x