Safe Return Doubtful

63 miles (101 km) – Total so far: 1,298 miles (2,089 km)

While Walden certainly is not,picturesque it is that sort of town that provides services for the ranchers and community scattered over a huge range of land. There is a good atmosphere, until 9 pm when everything goes to sleep, and hour earlier than the rest of America. It wakes earlier also of course. The road was busy by 7, but as this journey goes on I get a bit lazier in the morning. No reason why either as as soon as I am riding my frame of mind changes certainly getting stronger day by day.

Today’s ride was of very high quality. Basically it’s route 125 south from Walden weaving its way through the mountains over a high pass to Granby. There are 21 miles until the little community of Rand and until then the road could still be in Wyoming. It is climbing steadily, with lots of deep rollers, but the farmland is barren and light green or yellowy brown. After Rand it enters the forest and climbs more acutely, and after a further 10 miles my penultimate Divide crossing and the pass is reached, at 9XXX feet, or 2940 metres. The downhill is almost all the way into Granby, except for one sharp 300 foot hill just before the junction.

This latter part of the ride is exceptional, and considering only about 6 cars passed me all day, it ranks amongst the highest of this and tour. Fantastic scenery and moose, elk and deer abound. Who would choose Yellowstone over this?

I am fairly close to the finish line now, in Boulder. I have an overnight there, then meeting my brother a good friend in Denver on Tuesday next week. There’s less than 150 miles to go, but the Trail Ridge road reaches a height of 12,183 feet, or 3,713 metres, so the biggest challenge awaits.

Distance 63 miles, Ride time 5 hrs 8 minutes, Average Speed 12.1 mph, Max Speed 35.5 mph, Departed at 9:20 am, arrived 2:30 pm Altitude 2440 metres.

It’s been a good ride so far, but about to get a lot better – approaching the town of Rand after 21 miles

I am guessing Rand used to have a bigger population than 27

The store was closed, but leaving drinking water outside is a great gesture

Lunchtime

Penultimate Divide crossing and second highest at 2952 metres

I’m back on the Pacific side for another couple of days, before the big one on Friday, above 12,000 feet

Some shots of the landscapes on the downhill – a tremendous ride

The town of Granby. Just a functional place for the local ranchers. There’s lots of winter tourism here with snow, and plenty of holiday homes dotted around the local hills – but really not a great place

There’s no camping or RV parks at all, and stealth camping is illegal and policed strictly. The sites are all up towards Grand Lake where I’m headed tomorrow

Good selection for tonight though. Alaskan brewery hardly local, but all that they do is excellent. The other two are. IPAs and the Plaid Bastard is dark as you may have guessed.