 you see this don't you want it mm-hmm good morning from our beautiful hotel called the dugout here in lovely Buna Vista we actually slept pretty well last night sometimes when I stealth camp I can't really relax because I think I'm gonna get busted by somebody but it all worked out good morning bud how you feeling hey bad about about about a swing better thank you to the boy in a vista whatever you are what do you say we go ride bikes but in opposite directions Sunday we'll go the same direction yeah but I'm glad we got to connect man it's been a lot of fun hanging with you and best of luck on your journey you too bud yeah you got the fun part coming up I'm so excited luck on the second half thank you buddy have a good one onward let's do it so today is calling for rain which I'm not excited about and they say on bikepacking calm that this section from Buena Vista to Silverton is the most difficult section by far so it's gonna be an adventure there's also no supplies no resupply for the next four days my bike is loaded with lots of food and of course the can of beans whoo no crashes no flatties no whammies so the mountains I'm looking at right now are called the collegiate peaks they are all 14,000 foot mountains and I have to admit I'm a little nervous about these next four days everybody has told me that it's very hard and there's no resupply I don't think I've ever been on a tour with four days of no resupply it's about 200 miles from here to Silverton probably gonna be four days even in Baja there were some desolate stretches but never four full days without food or the ability to charge batteries so I'm gonna have to be nothing I'm gonna have to ration my food and ration my camera batteries goodbye Buena Vista here's your Spanish lesson of the day Buena Vista means good view makes sense right okay that was quite a climb out of BV went up 2,000 feet of elevation in just nine miles I am back on the Colorado Trail time to go up oh boy that's some up beautiful in here tell you what yeah how's it going so it's focused on not falling into the creek and then I see this woman ahead of me on a bike and it's Liz what's up how you doing so what are you doing out here originally started out to do an FKT northbound and it's turned into an FFS northbound what does FFS mean for can I say it sure for sake okay gotcha I've been walking my bike for three days straight I ran out of food a day ago I got rained on spent the night in a pit toilet last night to stay warm it was actually pretty nice and hopefully get to Buena Vista and get real food yeah but you're loving it look at that smile yeah yeah what inspires you to do hard stuff like this I don't know I like it it's fun I feel better afterwards about myself yeah I hear you it's definitely type 2 fun where you feel a lot better afterwards than in the moment so what am I looking at going up this way and it's just gonna keep getting rockier and rockier and rockier until there's so many rocks that you'll be walking for a long time yeah I wish you the best of luck my friend that was really fun meeting her I said you got it easy all the way into BV and she's like you don't have it easy oh boy here we go so here I am riding the Mount Princeton Road which is very nice and fast and I found a couple ladies fixing bikes on the side of the road what are your names Emily Lauren Lauren you're riding the whole thing we are the whole thing whole thing you loving it loving it yeah what's been the best part oh man probably the views yeah and then getting a bed sometimes not gonna lie the hot springs you stayed the hot springs last night in the rainstorm we did that's pretty smart yeah how much was that hotel room too much too much like 150 pop oh yeah well look at those smiles look how happy you are because of it you got the shower you smell good I'm noticing your shins look like my yes yes oh wait there's more oh yeah so what inspired you to do this I would say I hiked the trail a couple years ago and I missed that experience so the people you meet doing something hard even though we're staying in hotels so yeah yeah I just like pushing myself and doing badass stuff trying to be more badass just pushing myself yeah beauty out here yeah how long is it's gonna take how long do you hope I'm supposed to be done July 24 and I noticed you have full suspension bikes that is awesome you're traveling pretty light like the kush and where are you from Colorado Springs oh you're Colorado girls what's up well I wish you the best of luck out there bam and take good care of those yes I noticed that your shins look great so we're riding together a little bit and I'm like is it ever gone bike packing before and what's your answer no no this is quite the test for your first one you gotta start out right oh my god yeah we're doing it yeah you are back to I'm trying to ride this stuff but it's just too steep and too rocky and boy my legs are feeling it six days of hard-pushing and yeah they're tired the whole body's tired really enjoyed meeting those two ladies back there they had really good energy they just out to have a good time and have a very powerful bonding experience together and that's awesome this is what we call fun right but the views are usually always worse the push check it out quick wild flower break and these ones are purple and gold the colors of my high school the bhs Panthers stopping and checking out the flowers always just calms me down a little bit just brings the blood pressure down nature has a way of doing that you're ready to watch and hear me grunt a whole bunch more hike a bike you know I really appreciate this check this out the Colorado trail is very well marked you pretty much don't need GPS telling you where to go because they have these signs on every other tree it seems like it's good for peace of mind knowing you're going the right way stopped here to get some water and then I met some really nice hikers and also their dogs how's it going buddy so what's it like traveling with a dog you know it's a lot of fun there are some challenges and you have to really watch out for their health and stuff like that but it's been a blast to have him along this is bear dog bear dog and you cuddle with him every night absolutely he sleeps in the sleeping bag with me in it but pretty much it gets a little packed sometimes but he likes being on top of my pads yeah and how's your your walk been it's been fantastic it's been beautiful I mean a weather is held out for the most part we've seen a few storms but when we're in the high country it's been clear these guys have been doing well we kind of take it slow for them and make sure that their paws are feeling good and everything you know we all get blisters and they you know they they have to work hard alongside us so tricky traveling with dogs but it's a lot of fun and how many miles a day do you do you know it really depends some of our biggest days have been almost 20 and then like these last four days bears paws have been a little rough so we've been keeping our days under 10 oh bear yeah how those paws doing buddy you're such a sweetie and then where's the other one spring there's the other one hi oh you're friendly oh you're rowdy hey oh it feels so good to pet a dog feels so good to put a dog's butt all right well I wish you all the best on your travels and yeah you too and have fun with the doggies no one-handed riding I think this is the quietest moment I've had in a long time not just on the trail but in life no wind no airplanes nothing complete silence you know I thought that being out here would hurt my training for the Leadville 100 running race not biking race but I'm hiking a lot so this is actually probably very good training for that race about a month away from pain cave to pain cave this has been a big summer it's coming down now I was hoping I could dodge the rain but doesn't seem like it the one positive to this it's not hot and I didn't have to put on sunscreen today it's always a positive right thank you tree for blocking 90% of the rain I'm gonna hang out here for a little bit it is raining pretty hard out there thank you tree so it's been about an hour and a half since that last shot you saw I put the cameras away and just pedaled and pushed and here I am still pushing the rain is letting up which is nice but not the hills the hills are not letting up that's something that doesn't change here they're here forever I'm still grinding today is definitely a tough one where you're digging deep and you're trying to psych yourself up and think about things that make you happy because this is a hard one and this rain is making it obviously more difficult and slippery and the downhills are sketchy all the rocks and roots are slippery so it's easy to fall so I'm really just taking it taking it pretty slow and that's alright sometimes you have to do that came around the corner here and I could hear something in the distance and there's a pack of dogs going nuts we just shouldn't have wolves over here so I doubt it's wolves maybe it's chupacabra I have no idea but it sounds kind of haunting so it's 5 30 I've gone about 42 miles have already climbed over 7000 feet and I am just exhausted so I'm just gonna ride a little bit more poco a poco mas and then find a place to camp and pass out at my legs every day they get a little bit more trashed that's how they're supposed to look it means they're doing their job you see this this is the gold standard for beans the amy's organic and you don't even need a can open or just prime right open and I have been dreaming about these beans all day I'm starving it was a hard day and he's gonna make it so much better I have a great campsite check it out got my tent right there got my bike right there there's a river over the way all tucked into the trees no view tonight but that is okay when you earn your food it tastes so good who would have thought that some woman named Amy would make the best refried beans in a can top notch all gone it says here there's about 3.5 servings per container I don't think so we're like one serving for one dozer boy did my bike get dirty today but nothing penetrates the pinion gearbox you know how fast I fall asleep after a day like today this fast