 This is like a dream come true every morning and you want to know what else I dreamt about last night I dreamt that Charlize Theron was my girlfriend quite the score huh which is weird cuz I don't like obsess over her I don't like love her movies or anything but she was just in my dream it's crazy what the brain thinks about sometimes you know but hey I'll take Charlize Theron for sure maybe she'd enjoy some bike packing trips and of course Nutella peanut butter wraps I'm sure she eats this every morning I got in kind of late last night I didn't quite notice that I am camping amongst Kapu this is a cow pasture man my legs are disgusting I don't know what Charlize Theron would think of that let's see if I still have battery oh thank you beautiful cow pasture for a nice place to sleep and look the sun is coming up okay buddy let's go for another ride all right snow crashes no flat ease no whammies today in about 10 miles I'm gonna hit La Garita wilderness detour so that means dirt roads or some type of roads means no hike a bike for like 60 miles so that makes me very happy I should be able to get some miles under me today cuz I need to get to Silverton I've been rationing my food in my power bank to charge everything and so I'm gonna need to recharge on all fronts it's gonna be a great day I can feel it it's Friday so the day is starting off in some pasture land and it smells like you'd think it would smell and I gotta say I feel so much better this morning than yesterday morning I'm just a lot more relaxed and just at ease I don't know exactly why I think temperature has something to do with it I mean it's cold but not nearly as cold as it was yesterday and yesterday I knew that I was going straight up some very difficult stuff today looks to be a little easier we'll see although that's something that doesn't happen often on the Colorado Trail easy easy is not part of this trail all the easy riding is done yeah this is a good way to warm up in the morning so I'm cruising down this hill and I see a sign that says trail magic ahead and I'm like I hope they're open early in the morning and they are look at this hello what is inspired you to do such a wonderful thing well we my husband and I hiked the trail last year and we had some trail magic and we just thought you know it would be really nice to pay it forward so this is the second time we've been to this spot we chose it because it's a dry section and it's a cow shitopah creek down here until you get to water and we brought like 40 gallons of water and that's been the big thing wow you are so wonderful and you have all sorts of treats yeah roots look at all this dough nuts this is so amazing because I've been low on food so you seriously are an angel saving the day great thank you so we have some hikers here how you doing you having fun on the trail loving it where are you from I'm from little tin oh okay I'm from Florida right on what do you think of these mountains definitely different than flat for Florida I am so excited for this dough nut cheers everybody and what are you making here I'm making a little hot cocoa hot cocoa so I have hot chocolate and orange juice which I think is the perfect combo goodbye patches thank you so much you are wonderful and continue to do this lovely service for all the hikers I'll be safe and you guys have a good one bye bye everybody see you later oh man well I feel really good now I was rationing my food it was pretty tight you know for the next two days but that definitely helped no doubt about it and you know the interesting thing is this is right here this piece of road is a bit of the GD MBR that I rode last year so it's fun to relive the experience of that on that day I met the wonderful Rose family when they also gave me trail magic at Looters Creek campground if I can navigate just about getting wet feet this smells yummy I did it all right here it is La Garita wilderness detour the actual trail goes that way bikes are not allowed so I'm going that way and it's about 55 miles I think of road riding dirt roads at least so should be fairly fast no hike a bike yes so there might not be any hike a bike but that hill looks pretty legit gotta go through these mountains right here onward you know what the perfect little snack is these bite-sized Snickers I took a handful of these at the trail magic place and they just give me like they give me power like a little Super Mario power pellet coming down this mountain having the time of my life and I see these three guys just drinking beers on the side of the road and I went and said hi what's up hey congratulations Ryan yeah congrats awesome job yeah so they're having a little picnic and they're they're sharing with me so mom would be proud that I'm eating vegetables and not just junk food yeah so you live out here what's it like out here I love it it's a great place I grew up in Gunnison and I've raised my family I met my wife from Massachusetts and she stayed once we met and raised two daughters and she just retired as a school teacher and I'm a contract we're just having fun in life now right on and so you ride bikes to all of her this area yep yeah primarily cross country yeah what's the magic of this area the serenity of the population it's not overly populated the front range people have kind of discovered us with the pandemic people stay close to home and we're starting to see it a little bit more but it's really quiet it's really a quiet part of Colorado that's awesome well I really appreciate the fresh veggies you guys are awesome have a great day cheers it's about 1 p.m. on Friday which means I have been on the Colorado trail now exactly seven days and it feels good I'm having a good day today yesterday was my low day today I'm rebounding feeling a lot better and I've never been to this part of Colorado this is absolutely stunning on my dirty legs I think it's time to wash up a little bit I feel grimy oh yeah oh boy that'll wake you up now I'm gonna dry off as I ride up hill for a long time oh that feels good I'm actually a little cold even which is good nice to cool down the core it's actually pretty warm today I'm seeing some storm clouds in the sky hopefully they don't do anything I like getting wet voluntarily not involuntary from rainstorms in sunny 20 minutes ago when I jumped in the river I found a great place to hide from the rain not very roomy and it doesn't smell good but I'm dry which is very nice sounds rowdy out there I sometimes wish I could read the future at least the very near future if that were the case I would not have jumped in freezing cold water 20 minutes ago but seriously it was hot and sunny my pantalones are freezing I'm sitting here under the trees now waiting at the storm because that bathroom smelled too bad and I'm going through old text messages and my buddy Chris Jones sent me a photo a few days ago that says best day ever that's today best day ever I love it even when it's rain raining it's a pretty darn good day it's already been an amazing day and when this blows over I'm gonna get back on my bike and yeah life will be good life's good right now I'm just wet and cold okay it's let up enough to give this a try and I figure moving my body will keep me warmer than standing so let's go let's go up this hill and hope the rain stops you know I'm thankful I'm on a road right now it's muddy and a little bit slippery but the Colorado trail was so slippery when it was raining and wet on those roots and rocks so I can actually pedal and make progress whereas on the trail it was very difficult and we're back to hot sunny Colorado again and I'm all dry oh boy do I love the sun look at this I have serious cabin envy I have not seen a structure for like 15 miles just think how cozy would be to have this as your getaway you could come here and write a book or just hang out look at the stars I mean look at the backyard I'm still making my way up this monster hill you can see I have a ways to go the grade isn't super steep about five six or seven percent man I've been climbing for a long time but these mountains are stunning oh yeah and there's no cars in the road and at the top and there's a whole new set of mountains although I'm not going that way I'm going the other way but I think where I'm headed is gonna look a whole lot like that and I'm excited for those views I'm here at Spring Creek Pass this is where I get back on to the Colorado Trail I've ridden the 55 mile detour plus a little bit more I've already done 68 miles it's it's a 5 30 p.m. I'm gonna try to do a few more miles just to make tomorrow's ride into Silverton a little bit easier whoo and you might think oh it's easy I've been riding dirt roads and stuff my legs are shot it's a long grind I've already done 6,000 feet of elevation gain so I heard quite a ruckus about half a mile ago I thought it was chainsaw is off in the forest nope hey guys how's it going you're making a lot of noise good to see you man there's a lot of you look at all those cute furry butts this is quite the scene maybe I can catch one and force it to cuddle with me it's gonna be cold tonight goodbye my friends have a good night thanks for entertaining me looking for a place to camp something nice and flat and these clouds are I don't know they look in like they might want to rain again I've been walking and walking and walking and there is no flat ground to be found it's all lumpy and rocky so I'm just going and going this is what it looks like yeah and I promised myself that I would find a better camp spot tonight than last night last nights was a little little like this but I don't know I'm on the recon here this looks doable some nice grass it's pretty lumpy but built-in air mattress I don't want to go any further I've been riding all day it's like 7 p.m. this is gonna have to do and I want to get my tent up before it starts raining because it looks like rain this is the inside of my tent look at that built-in it's like a it's like a bouncy castle this might actually be kind of comfortable as long as there's nothing sharp hidden in here I've been looking forward to this burrito all day I bought these ready-made burritos in Buena Vista potato bean it's all smashed up in my from my bike but it tastes so good hmm and now I'm feeling pretty cozy in here it might be cold tonight cuz I'm at 11,200 feet we will see and check this out for the main event tonight peanut butter Nutella and Fritos I really couldn't be happier right now I'm in my tent it's raining it's cozy I had a great day I'm gonna eat this masterpiece you know I'm all alone up here many of the other nights there's been hikers near me but I think I'm so far ahead of the hikers now that there's nobody out here and I'm also camped on a ridge at 11,000 feet so did anybody know any scary ghost stories another great day man gosh it keeps on getting better in different ways you know one day I think the beauty can't be topped and the other day I don't think that the human aspect can't be topped and it's just every day something new there's a new surprise every day so here's to tomorrow Buenas noches