Aug 4, Day 40 - Breckenridge

Silverthorne to Breckenridge, CO
Distance - 19 miles, Avg speed - 9mph

We begin our day purposefully early as we know we want to get to Breckenridge to enjoy a few hours of relaxation in this quaint mountain town, Colorado’s oldest mountain town. At 6.30, we arrive at the coffee shop, just across from our Super 8 motel, just in time to enjoy a warm latte…. and watch the storm set in.

Almost immediately, we are met by rain, thunder and lightning and are stopped cold in our tracks. We wait it out, for about 45 minutes, then cycle out in the rain. We join up with the bike route and cycle up to the reservoir dam. The morning is frigid and windy, like we have not experienced for several weeks, so that we are in full wet weather gear.  However, cycling across the reservoir dam wall on our paved bike trail helped make our frigid, wet ride enjoyable.

We cycled through the town of Frisco, wishing we had more time to explore this picturesque mountain town (which has its own brew pub).

Onward to Breckenridge, to meet Chip, with whom we have arranged to meet for breakfast in a café called Amazing Grace.  We have breakfast with Chip and enjoy every bite! The regular breakfast is not enough and we all end up ordering extra baked goods such as scones and chocolate chip cookies. The building which houses the café is one of the oldest functional structures in Breckenridge. We enjoy catching up with Chip and resting for a bit.

Our three bikes also enjoy a well earned rest.

We explore the town for an hour or so, finding more dehydrated breakfast granola. Whilst in the store buying granola, we say wouldn’t it be nice to have a quick drink before we leave town, and the guy serving us immediately suggests we try the local brew pub which is on our way out of town. Of course, as this is our mission, we have to stop at the Breckrenridge brew pub to try it out for a quick one.

As we enter the establishment, we notice the storm clouds which are once again, brewing on the horizon. However, we decide still to enjoy our beer, facing down the storm.

Upon the completion of our first beer, Dirtbaby notices a familiar figure in the parking lot – it’s BILL! Now Bill has our blog website, he has worked out how our spot tracker works and noticed we were still in Breckenridge but our current location seems to be in the local bike shop!

Reunited, we fix Bill up with a beer, and catch up with his latest adventures. Bill’s friend’s girlfriend’s parents own a condo in Breckenridge, so he is having a rest day here.

The storm now sets in with its full force, with pouring rain and large lightning strikes – there is no way we are moving forward today. It is as if Bill had appeared for a reason, i.e. to stop us from venturing up the pass in the midst of a severe storm. We do feel guilty that Chip is camping out there somewhere, though.

After several more beers and a few laughs, Dirtbaby and Numb Stuff check into the Great Divide Lodge (how appropriate) which has by far the biggest room so far and is fantastic, with a hot tub which we take full advantage of, as it has waiter service! Rumor has it that weather conditions will improve tomorrow – we are hoping so, as we are hoping to make up time after one of the shortest days mileage wise of the trip so far! Numb Stuff’s front tire seems to be holding up well, so much so that Dirtbaby can hardly keep up with him. She feels a little like a greyhound on a racing track, following the hare but never quite catching it.