Another day, another pass...

It was a chilly morning, only 8 degrees when we left at 7 AM, though it quickly warmed up.

We immediately began to climb, following a road that used to be a narrow-gauge railway. This meant a steady grade on a smooth gravel road.

We met someone touring the Divide. He had camped just out of Sargents, and was warming up in the early-morning sun before continuing his journey.

As we continued to climb, we saw a pronghorn antelope, and several deer.

 One deer just looked at me, and walked closer, until it was only 15 metres (50 feet) away! Shortly after this, I saw a deer with its fawn. The fawn hid in the bushes (unfortunately before I could take a photo), while its mother ran away from us, then went onto the road to lure us away from the fawn.

Further up, I saw some interesting rocks on the road: some kind of scintillating rock (mica?) and pure marble. The area looked like a geologist's dream.

 I found the constant climbing quite hard, and I was lagging behind. I think I was run down from the three long days, and also the meager breakfast (a toasted cheese sandwich bought from the cafe last night).

We stopped at the 25 km mark to eat lunch; I think I really needed it as I felt much better after that.

Two kilometers further on, we reached the top of the climb: Marshall Pass, at 10,842 feet (3,300 metres). Marshall Pass is on the Continental Divide. We took photos, then began to descend down the other side.

The road was almost the opposite of the road we had climbed up: instead of a smooth and gentle unsealed road, we rode down a rough and rocky 4-wheel drive track.

A short way down, we met Casey Rhea, a racer from Durango. He was doing well; his motto was: one climb at a time, one meal at a time. Good advice. He was hoping to ride to Del Norte today -- a journey that took us more than three days!

Near the top, there were patches of snow beside the road. Further down, I saw long-horn sheep and a few cows.

I really enjoyed the descent. It was rough, rocky, off-camber, with patches of sand that caused the bike to slide, and to top it off the dappled sunlight from the trees made it really hard to see obstacles on the road. It was hard work, somewhat technical, but a lot of fun.

Gay and Pete on their fully-rigid touring bikes found it hard going; I had to wait several times for them to catch up.

At one point, we saw an idyllic lake below us, with people playing beside the water and someone paddling an open canoe. This was called O'haver Lake.

We then passed through an area where there had been a fire, and many of the trees were dead.

The road became even rougher and narrower, before finally reaching a crossroads where we turned onto a wider and smoother road. By this time, the temperature had climbed to the mid 30s.

We finally reached the highway at 50 km, and continued our descent.

We saw another racer on the highway, though all we could do was wave at each other.

We finally reached Poncha Springs at the 58 km point, where we stopped for drinks. As we were about to leave, we saw a large deer walking across the main road!

We then rode the last stretch to Salida, downhill with a tailwind -- this was the easiest riding we've done since leaving the Mexican border!

 Once we arrived in Salida, we went straight to the bike shop, where we all got our bikes serviced. Salida is a real city, with blocks and blocks of houses, parks, a library, and a proper central business district.

We had to ride across the city twice: once to get to the bike shop, and again to go back to the motel. We covered a total of 75 km today...not as hard as the last two days, but still solid hard work.

The afternoon sun was very intense, and the temperatures were in the high 30s. 

Gay says that we have just 241 miles (385 kilometers) left to get to Steamboat Springs. Not long now!

Tomorrow's ride starts with a massive climb, and we have 66 miles (105 kilometers) to ride to the next town. Fortunately, the temperatures are supposed to be lower, and we may have a tail wind. We'll see...we may have to camp out if we can't make the full distance.