White River Campground - Breckenridge - Como, 8/4 47 miles

Sarah here--

Silas, Daren and I started out from our campsite on the Blue River (about 5 miles west of Silverthrone, CO) on a wide shoulder for what would be one of Silas' longest rides on the trip.  From the start he set a blistering pace that I wasn't quite feeling up to after the long climb over Ute Pass that Jody and I had done the day before.  In the town of Silverthorne we switched to one of the best dedicated bike trails I've ever seen.  It wound through the commercial district of Silverthorne along a river littered with flyfishermen.  On the far side of town just before we would begin an ascent over a large dam I heard Daren yell to Silas (always in the lead) to "Stay away from those rocks!" in his serious voice!  We had just passed the Tommy Hilfiger outlet and the main parking lot, the bike path was far away from car traffic, what could Daren possibly see that would put Silas in danger?  As I got a little closer I saw what Daren had seen, two juvenile FOXES playing on the rocks just beside the path.  When Daren saw them they were playing tug of war with something-- play-fighting-- and the sight of such wildness was good reason for Daren to be concerned.  We watched from a safe distance (but still MUCH closer than I've ever been to even ONE fox) until one of the pair got tired of all the playing on, over, and around the large boulders, and settled down in the dirt to rest.  We were shocked.  They paid no attention to us during their play-- and then they were comfortable enough to lay down and take a rest-- right there-- five feet from the path?!  Amazing.

We continued on up over the dam and enjoyed miles and miles of beautiful bike path to the town of Frisco.  Cruising right through, we were treated to dedicated bike path through a wooded area with lots of folks out for Saturday rides.  Soon we were in Breckenridge where Jody & the RV were waiting.  We had lunch, congratulated Silas on a smoking fast 26 mile ride, and Daren and I took off to finish the rest.  The climb out of Breckenridge was steady but fun.  Lots of smiles and good juju seeing all kinds of folks out enjoying the mountain on bike and foot.  About 1/4 of the way up to Boreas pass the pavement ran out but we were blessed with great surface conditions on the dirt.  This pass is noted as the easiest of all the big passes on the ride (lucky me!) because it is railroad grade once the pavement ends, but a 2000 foot climb to 11,482, after 26 miles chasing a 12 year old with no concept of pace or limits... still makes you feel like you've worked a bit.  The big let down on this ride was the 9 mile descent.  Within the first mile I contracted shaken-baby-syndrome and had to use every muscle in my body to stay on my bike and control my speed.  The washboard was unpredictable so as I'd get comfortable with a certain frequency and let my speed increase, I'd suddenly find myself in much bigger, deeper washboard at a speed that is not good for brain health.

The good news was waiting in Como-- Jody & Silas were there, the camping was free (no official RV park, but we were told we could camp in front of the old high school-- so we did), and the old train depot had been turned into a brew pub!  I insisted that only pie and ice cream could fix my shaken brain syndrome and I talked Jody and Daren into joining me at the pub for that delicacy.  Yes it was 3:00, yes I could probably wait a few hours and have dinner first, then dessert like a civilized human being-- but where's the fun in that?  So we had pie and ice cream and beer at 3, then returned 2.5 hours later for dinner with no problem.  I'm only a little ashamed to say that we ended a near-perfect day of riding and dining with MORE ice cream back at the RV as we watched a few episodes of Downton Abbey (our latest obsession-- how can there only be 2 seasons?).

More pics here