Tour Divide: Colorado

Left Rawlins and aimed for the Colorado state line. The goal was to make it to Brush Mountain Lodge.

The first half of the ride was on pavement and went by quickly. The sun started cooking us on one of the big climbs. We ran into several CDT hikers who seemed very concerned about water. On one climb, I looked over and saw a woman leaning out of her car holding a bottle of water for me. I told her I was actually carrying a bit too much. In hindsight, I probably should have accepted it. She then offered me a cold apple, which I gratefully accepted. It was a nice surprise!

Shortly after hitting the gravel, we were amazed to find a beautiful creek. It felt almost magical to jump in and cool off. We instantly felt better, and to top it off, a guy stopped by and gave us cold sodas and candy. What luck!

We made it to Colorado and had one long gravel climb up to Brush Mountain Lodge. It went by quickly, and we were welcomed with cold water, hot pizza, and new friends. It was great hearing everyone’s stories. We met Silvio from Paraguay, who had encountered grizzlies, moose, and mountain lions over the past few weeks. We were incredibly grateful to our host, Kirsten, for providing such a wonderful place to camp.

The only issue with the place was the fat chipmunks! We watched one grab an entire package of peanut butter crackers and run off, with Ashley chasing after it. 😂 Then I caught another one unzipping my top tube bag! When I ran toward it, it just started opening the zipper even faster. It was wild to see. They even ended up chewing holes in our feed bags.

We woke up at Brush Mountain lodge. 6 of us riders enjoyed a pancake breakfast, courtesy of Kirsten who has been running the place for 20 years! She even had the Tour de France on in the background, which we’ve been trying to follow as much as possible while doing our own bike tour. Super amazing experience. 

After days in the relentless sun, we were grateful for some cloud cover as we rolled out that morning. We started climbing almost immediately, but the mountain scenery was beautiful, so we didn’t mind too much. We were warned about a hike-a-bike section, which we hit about 14 miles in. It was very steep and rocky, but went by quick and the next thing we knew we were at the top of our big climb for the day. We started our decent and man oh man was it rocky! It was the toughest decent I’ve ever done and it took every bit of my focus. I was super grateful when it smoothed out and we got to have a more enjoyable ride down to the highway. 

We stopped at the Clark County Store before continuing onto Steamboat Springs. Our friend, Ryan, had the same idea and arrived shortly after us. We were served massive cups of ice cream by two 14 year old boys, who were more concerned with the tips they received for serving such large portions, over company profits. 😅 For 3 hungry cyclists, it was great! 

On the way to Steamboat we ran into Ryan and Ilse, who have been biking from the Southern Tip of South America and are headed to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. This is roughly a two year trip. So inspiring and amazing! 

It felt odd to be enter such a populated area after so many days spent in more remote areas and small towns. The roads were busy and there was barely any shoulder. After the tough decent earlier in the day, I had grown a bit complacent riding on pavement. While trying to get over for a car coming up on my left, I didn’t notice that there was no shoulder to get over on. Instead the road had a rough edge and about a 4 inch drop off. When my tire went over the edge I went down. This was a scary moment that happened so fast, but other than a few scrapes, me and my bike were thankfully okay. It could have been a lot worse and I’m grateful that I was relatively okay. Richard and Ryan both gave me hugs, which was what I needed more than anything else at that time. A good lesson was learned in that moment to not loose focus, even when the riding seems more straightforward.

We continued on into town, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our hotel, preparing for the days ahead. 

We left Steamboat Springs around 7 am, which felt late after so many sunrise starts. As we rode out of town, we watched a hot air balloon lift off into the morning sky. It felt magical and was a reminder that one of the best parts of bikepacking is never knowing what each day will bring. Before long, we were out of the city and rolling through the countryside, before climbing back into the mountains.

The biggest question mark of the day was whether our planned route would actually be open. A recent wildfire had left the situation unclear. The night before we had spent way too much time bouncing between government websites, Tour Divide social media pages, cycling forums, and even AI, trying to piece together the latest information. Everything we found was either outdated or inconclusive. In the end, we decided to take a chance on the original route after noticing that two riders on the Trackleaders website had made it through in the past couple of days. The backup option involved two busy highways, which we were eager to avoid. Thankfully, our gamble paid off and the route was open!

About 20 miles into the day, while climbing up Lynx Pass, we spotted our friend Silvio from Brush Mountain Lodge. We were excited to see him, and the three of us rode together for the rest of the day.

On the decent into Radium, Richard pointed out where he had crashed back in 2022, breaking multiple ribs and puncturing his lung. Knowing this is where his accident happened, we were all riding very cautiously. 

When we arrived in the rafting Mecca of Radium, we stopped to visit John, the town's only resident. Richard had met him back in 2022 and was sad to hear that John's rafting business had declined, but was happy to see him again. Shortly after visiting with John, we ran into our friend, Ryan.  Before tackling the climb to Kremmling, the four of us cooled off in the river, which was crowded with rafters ending their day out on the water. It felt amazing! 

The final climb of the day is almost always the hardest for me. By then the heat has built, fatigue has set in, and all I can think about is being done for the day. Even though the road was paved, it was steep and we were battling a headwind, which made every pedal stroke feel hard. But the climb had one unforgettable reward: seeing bighorn sheep for the very first time. This felt like a perfect metaphor for the Tour Divide itself. The route is full of highs and lows. The difficult moments can feel endless while you're in them, but they always pass. It’s the incredible moments like seeing unexpected wildlife, that stay with you long after the suffering is forgotten.

By the time we reached Kremmling, Richard’s good friend, Sam, was waiting for us at the local Mexican restaurant. Sam and Richard had become friends back in 2022, on his first ride on the Tour Divide. Along with an entire group of cyclists from that year, they’d stayed in touch. Sam now lives in Boulder and had come out to finish the ride with us. Silvio, Ryan, Sam, Richard and I shared an incredible meal and gas station ice cream, before heading to our campsite for the night.