Stage 3

We woke up around 8 A.M., bit later than we wanted to again. It was very cold where we camped 1000 ft above Breckenridge/Frisco.  We both started our breakfast routine to try and warm our hands on our stoves.  It was cold enough that I opened the hand warmers we found in Kyles kitchen while leaving to discover it was expired and it wasn't working too well.  While we were eating two riders having a casual conversation passed our camp with bike packing gear, we were assuming these were the leaders of the race.  While packing up a third rider came through our camp with a bike packing setup.  We started what we knew would be a tough hike up the ten mile range, we passed through a meadow with water that in the future would be a better camping spot.

We reached the summit after a tough push and ate lunch while talking to a through hiker heading the other way.  There was excellent cell service at the top and we looked at the race leader map.  While yes the three riders that had passed through our camp were in the race and not too far ahead of us we were amazed to discover that first place had passed us during the night and was already closing in on Leadville.  We started our descent off Ten Mile, it was steep, rowdy, & fun.  We crossed the highway to Copper decided we should stop somewhere at the base to fill our water.

We figured we would stop by the base before climbing up it at all and found a public restroom in a parking lot with water and a vending machine.  We saw a bike with gear on it outside, a racer doing the same thing we were, filling up before the climb.  It was the third rider through our camp earlier in the day who was sitting fourth in the race.  He was mentally in rough shape.  He was shocked when we told him he was in fourth as he said he was struggling.  We told him to keep it going as second and third were just in front of him.  We filled up on water, I took a Euro shower, and got some drinks from the vending machine before heading up.  The ride cutting across the base of the mountain was very fun after the initial climb.  We crossed by the main village not even 100 ft above it and agreed if we did this again that we should have stopped there for water/beer.
The climb turned up the hill and was steeper but still for the most part ride-able.  We stopped to evaluate our water and when we started going again Kyle discovered his shifter died.  It could shift up into harder gears but not back down.  He pulled it apart and forced it into his climbing gear but couldn't fix it.  We decided to deal with it in the towns we'd pass through the following days and continued.
The top mellowed out in grade but got rocky as we neared Janet's cabin.  We ran into a fat biker who was on his way down, seems like a torturous trail for a day ride.  We summitted Searle pass a bit concerned given it was about 3 P.M. and we'd heard the storms in this area were rough this time of day/year.  We pushed on towards Kokomo pass. At the high point we saw what seemed like thousands of goats on the higher hills and a trailer with horses, a rancher, and no car/truck to be seen in the field below.  We think this was a one man wool operation.
We herded some sheep as we came through Kokomo pass.  This was arguably the best major descent on the trail, it was loamy and flowy through the woods up top & steep/rowdy through the bottom and I caught my pinky toe on a downed tree but kept the bike upright.  We stopped to fill up on water and I washed my Jersey in the creek.  Our filter bag developed a leak and we knew it would only get bigger.  We finished the descent and crossed the dirt road we were on knowing we were near Camp Hale and nearing Leadville, our destination for the night.
We started up the next hill and Kyle turned around and realized we had just passed Camp Hale.  We turned headed back down to check it out.  I noticed some big pillars and still wish I could see the place in its prime, I really like WWII era fortress's & structures.
At the next trail intersection some riders asked if we were with some hikers with a dog and we instinctively said no. Kyle asked what they looked like and realized it could totally be our friend Reed.  The rider said they definetly had beer so we picked up our pace to try and catch them.  We crossed the highway and hadn't seen them so we were worried we missed them but kept up our pace in order to get to town before 9 when everything closes.  My rear hub started getting loud on the next mellow rail road grade climb and it started to get cold so I stopped at the old 10th mountain ovens to put on my night setup and check my hub to find it was a bit loose.
When we got to the parking lot we instantly saw Reed and his wife Kristen.  We talked with them about our adventures so far and had beer and a giant donut they had as we knew town would be closed by the time we got to town.  We started down to town and realized we'd need all of our cold weather clothing.  When we got to town we had hoped that at least the Pizza Hut or Grocery store would be open but they weren't (I later found out Mondays are cheap microbrew night at the local bar...CRAP!).  Since Kyle's sleeping bag was so wet and we both had issues we wanted to stop by the shop to fix we decided to try and find a hotel.  After some calls we found a room at the Super 8 at the far end of town.  This was definitely the physically toughest day of my life.

Mileage: 47.5 mi
Climbing:7,540 ft
Moving Time: 8:50
Sleeping Elevation: 9,935 ft