Three Passes and I Didn’t Sit One Exam!

Today started badly, but then got much better!

It is said “An army marches on its stomach”. The same goes for bikers sitting in the saddle all day – they need their breakfast! I was feeling tired last night so I went to bed early. I woke early and sorted my pictures from yesterday, wrote my words and posted on my blog. Satisfied, I packed and went downstairs for breakfast. It was 9.05am and I was hungry. I walked into the hotel’s restaurant to be told that breakfast finished at 9am. This was my 72nd day on the road and the first time I had missed breakfast. No, correct that, it was the first time a hotel had been stupid enough to finish breakfast so early!

This pissed me off greatly and I told the hotel manager exactly what I thought about this when I checked out. For the record, this was the same strange hotel, the Delaware, that I wrote about this morning while breakfast WAS being served. My advice – don’t stay there. Anywhere that disregards its customers like this deserves no custom whatsoever. The hotel is too weird - one guy told me this morning that if he had stayed there as a child, he would have been put off hotels for life!

I left the hotel in a bad mood and went and ate breakfast at the only other establishment that had food in the town of Leadville – the local gas station. Stale coffee and a cardboard fruit bar. Yuck. Now I was in a really bad mood.

I don’t know why, but I decided to ride away from Leadville via some back streets and bizarrely, I found an old railway engine hidden away on one of those back streets.... I used to watch steam trains when I was a boy. They passed near to the first house I lived in....





















Many times on this tour, I have seen something and turned around to go back and have a look. This morning I did my now well practiced U turn to take a closer look at a lot of snowmobiles for sale or rent. They were a striking colour (US = color).... I was pleased with this picture when I saw it this evening on my laptop....



















Soon, I was riding over my first pass of the day – the 11318 foot high Fremont Pass. Beyond the summit, I stopped at Clifton Creek Lake. It was beautiful as it shimmered in the sunlight. I talked to two guys on bikes – one BMW and a Yamaha and I didn’t get their names, but save to say, we stood there for a while exchanging road stories. I like doing that. It is very easy to talk to other bikers!....



















I needed to find a restroom (but I didn’t need to rest), or a bathroom would have done (no, I didn’t need a bath either), so I rode quickly north hoping to find a toilet. Why don’t Americans call it a toilet? Luckily I soon arrived at Copper Mountain and I found what I was looking for. Relieved, I went for a ride around this mountain resort and I was surprised to see a golf course this high up. My GPS / Sat Nav told me I was at 9737 feet so I tried to think of how playing at this elevation would help or hinder your game. No doubt, in the thinner air, you ball would travel further, but you would get more tired walking the distance of the course. I looked for golf buggies but didn’t see any....





















I wonder if this is one of the highest golf courses in the US. Somebody will no doubt tell me.... !

On reaching the city of Dillion, I rode on top of the rock and earth dam that held back the Dillon Reservoir and headed for Swan Mountain Road. This wasn’t very high, but had an overlook. The view wasn’t great but I did see this little girl trying to feed the chipmunks.... she was getting near to a steep drop....



















Nearby I saw this good sculpture of an eagle....





















Next was Loveland Pass at 11,990 feet and on the continental divide....



















Riding down Loveland Pass, on its northern side, the road goes down at a steep gradient and meets I-70. I stopped on a bend, right where I shouldn’t and snapped this picture of the Interstate below. It was like being in a plane looking down....





















Before I left the UK I read about the Georgetown Loop Railroad, so today, it was on my list of places to see. How about this for a scary railway bridge.... and no, my picture is not at an angle – the track was inclined like this!....



















This was the same train at the nearby Devils Gate Station. There is something very appealing about the power of steam trains....





















A few pictures of buildings in Georgetown.....

It is made of wood and is 143 years old!....





















This church was built just 7 years later....





















My third pass of the day was Berthoud Pass at 11315 feet. This was my favourite as it had wide sweeping bends... yippeeee!.......



























For tonight’s stop I called into the Winter park resort and got a small condo for the night in this building.... being out of the snow season, it was remarkably good value....



















I went for a walk and soon realised this was a popular place for mountain biking. I liked this couples outfits....



























I rode the chair lift to the top....



















This mountain biker made me laugh. It was like he was saying something like “Shit, I left the oven on”.....



















This guy was going very quick over the rocks..... ok, maybe riding a motorbike isn’t quite as dangerous as this....





















It is remarkable how quickly these mountain bikers ride on such rough surfaces. No wonder they wear all that protection....





















A few shots from the top of the mountain....

































































I got back to the condo and took off my boots. After wearing them for 72 days in a row, they are beginning to get a life of their own. Here they are going out for the evening....





















I might need to buy some more boots, or at least leave these outside when I take them off!

I just re-read this blog post and realised there are no pictures of motorbikes. Note to self – take bike pictures tomorrow........