Easy coasting to Silverthorne, CO

Thursday July 2, 2009, 18 miles (29 km) – Total so far: 2,511 miles (4,041 km)

We knew we had an easy day ahead of us, so we took the hostel proprietors up on their offer of a cooked breakfast.  Wow.  We were stuffed, and fueled for a much longer ride.After meeting with family and viewing the Budweiser Clydesdales, in town for the Fourth, we started down the mountain.  There’s a bicycle ghetto (AKA bike path) that’s good to the end of Breckenridge, then turns into a nightmare for non-casual cyclists; nasty bumps, stop signs at every driveway, nasty right-angle turns, silly little hills, limited sight lines, families with kids on bikes passing people walking dogs.  Recommended for families with small children only.  Seriously, if I were coming up the hill from Frisco, I’d get lost and take CO 9 at least past the Frisco hospital and school.

Then we hit Frisco.  And promptly got lost.  Frisco has lots and lots of bike paths.  At first I thought, “How wonderful; people meet their friends and stop to chat.”  Then I figured out they were asking each other, “Where am I?  And how the heck do I get out of here?”  We finally found the Dam Road, and followed it to the Dillon Dam, where we got on the bike path like good little cyclists and crossed.  Then put our noses down, squeezed the brakes, and inched down the steep hill to Silverthorne.

It was overcast the whole way, and there was thunder and lightning near the dam.  Between trying to beat the rain and the short day, neither of us thought to get a camera out.

Had a good afternoon with family members, including a wonderful find at the Perl Izumi outlet: my size now overlaps their sizes!  To answer one guestbook query, I’ve been losing about a pound every other day.  Of course, I can afford to do that, and at that rate I won’t quite be down to a good weight by the end of the trip.  But I’ve been losing adjectives: grossly, morbidly, excessively obese, oh my goodness is it human?  And that’s pretty good.

For those of you back home, think Breckenridge = Gatlinburg, and Silverthorne = Pigeon Forge.  But Silverthorne has an interstate running through it, and there’s lodges and condos above Breck up as far as Blue River.  Still, Breck retains a certain charm on Main Street, probably because CO 9 goes around it.  Both towns know exactly where their money comes from (tourists), and both are thriving, unlike so many small towns we’ve come through.

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