Phil and Shannon kept going on about the warmshowers.org bicycle touring Internet site, so I got on there, signed up, and found a host in Salida – Matt Burley. I emailed him in Breckenridge and got his response the next day when I stopped for lunch at the Eating House in Como, he’s up for hosting me and gave me his cell number.
The ride out of Hartsel was mostly flat but lots of washboard sections. Without front suspension this slows the ride considerably because your teeth rattle. Lunched at a spot shaded by Aspens and watched thunderstorms north and south of me. One nailed me with rain and hail but I found a big pine tree and waited the storm out next to the trunk, I stayed reasonably dry. After the rain stopped I hit the road again, crossing a treeless meadow…and suddenly CRACK POP BOOM SLAM a thunderhead let loose right above my head, scaring the living hell out of me. And I’m not the kind that scares easily. The sound almost knocked me off my bike…I hit the ground and huddled against the tallest thing around, which was a fence post, not too comforting. I take stock of my situation: Here I am crossing this meadow, the highest thing around, and I’m traveling with a metal bicycle towing a metal trailer.
After a few minutes I got back on the bike, figuring the storms were moving away from me, and while crossing under a power line it happened again CRACK POP BOOM SLAM. This time I was near some Aspens, so I got in among them and waited. I haven’t been truly scared too many times in my life, but this was one of them. Two cars went by, and the third one was a big Dodge Ram pickup, so I flagged down the rancher and asked if he would give a lift away from the storms. No problem he said – so I piled in the back and dropped me off about 3 miles down the road, at the crest of the hill between Park and Freemont counties.
From there a monster 9-mile descent into Salida – ostensibly the best downhill on the entire Great Divide Route! Had to stop a few times to let the brakes cool off. Views of the Sawatch Valley were spectacular. I crossed the Arkansas River and turned left on Rt. 191, and as I’m making the turn a guy was on the corner of this medical clinic waving to me – it was Matt from warmshowers.org! Turns out he’s a doctor and his new clinic is right on the Great Divide route. I guess I’m easy to recognize with the trailer I’m pulling. We greet each other – since we share a love for bicycle touring we’re instant friends.
Matt invites me to the local Rodeo where his son and daughter (Ethan 10 and Quinn 8) are going to be in the pig chase later that afternoon. I ride downtown to visit the local bike shop (Absolute Bikes), and grab a quick latte at Café Dawn, then Matt cycles by and we ride out to the county fairgrounds to meet Matt’s family (wife Leslie and kids) and spend the next few hours watching the local talent at various rodeo competitions, including the pig chase, sheep ride, wild cow ride, calf roping, and trailer loading! It was a great evening; we suppered on fairground food (pulled pork and ring fries) and then loaded everything into the family Toyota for the trip home.
Home for Matt and Leslie is a 40-acre ranch with some outbuildings from the 1800’s and a rebuilt farmhouse. My quarters were the bunkhouse – a building made from locally salvaged railroad ties.
