hello salida, good-bye mezcals, good-bye salida

took a day off in salida, though it wasn’t much of a day off. i had an appointment with absolute bikes to check and/or tweak my bike which, other than a broken spoke in butte, has performed beautifully..

my arrival in salida came courtesy of an 8-mile, ripping descent, after one last nasty climb called the “billy goat climb”…a granny-gear effort up a 20% slope.

sleep in hartsel the night before was among the worst of the trip. i was suffering from an emotional hangover from the boreas pass “miracle” and arrived at the tiny bikepackers tent space situated behind the highline bar and restaurant. being a friday night, there were no quiet hours for the local rub-a-dubs.

i settled for the last remaining spot between two dumpsters. i woke up after little sleep, disassembled my tent and found i had been sleeping on broken glass and a used latex glove. given the clientele of the bar, an unseemly use of the glove would not have surprised, but for the purpose of closure, i’ll just assume it was used for food prep.”

the ride into salida included a 3.5-hour slog in a steady, cold rain, but getting to the top of billy goat meant a pedal-free downhill.

it was hard and bone-chilling and then perfect.

my sunday morning bike appointment resulted in a consultation with the shop manager and the mechanic. the biggest issue was how much “life” my victoria mezcals had left on them and if it was sufficient to complete my journey.

already, those tires have about 2,000 miles on them and have been issue-free. but, there are still many rugged miles left and a tire mishap, outside of the home range of a bike shop, could cause frenzied bikepacking issues. given that, i replaced both tires and was ready to complete the divide.

scott pulled into salida later and we had dinner at amica’s, courtesy of my favorite trail builders (and people), mica and adam harju, proprietors of dirt candy design. ironically, adam’s sister and family were in the restaurant at the same time as the two haggard bikepackers and so, i got to meet molly, steve, and the sprouting sam.

two thumbs up. many more if i had additional thumbs. thank you mica and adam!! ❤️

after a last night of bed-type sleep, i hopped on my bike and methodically pedaled my way over marshall pass, which it the bikepacking alternate to monarch pass. twelve miles and 2,200 feet later, i was at the top and ready for the descent.

that descent, however included road chunk, consistent washboarding, and headwinds and so, it proved to be more challenging than my arrival in salida.

onward and upward, with a preference for downward.