Day Eight
Breckenridge to Vail Pass and back 22 miles by car, 15 miles on bikes
We were up and out to get coffee at 7a. Raining… after raining all night long with some thunder, too. Turns out the woman who is the founder of Cabin Coffee was raised in Minnesota and her parents have a cabin on Gull Lake near Brainerd. I, of course, had on my Camp Birchwood jacket so we talked Minnesota summers. From coffee we walked back up to the Blue Moose Cafe, across from the Hyatt to fuel ourselves for the bike ride. Bob ordered the Minturn Loop: two pancakes, two eggs cracked over hard, sausage links. I had three sides: a poached egg, vegi chili (basically thick salsa with loads of peppers, a good thing) and black beans. All good.
Went back across the street and layered up for the ride. It is raining and 46*. Cannot see up the mountain due to low clouds/fog. Ha.
Went around the corner to Mountain Wave where we got fitted on bikes and picked up helmets. All the bikes have names. Bob got Steve McQueen and was so happy. I got Tom Cruise. Gross. Tom. Cruise. Whatever. We followed the trailer with the bikes — we are the only two nut jobs today due to the weather. We parked our car at Frisco and rode in the van up to I-70, exit 190, Vail Pass and the beginning of the bike path. It was pouring. We got dropped off and took off. It was pretty steep down to Copper with lots of switch backs (you lose about 2000′ from Vail Pass to Frisco) and raining . Thank God we got gloves, our fingers were still freezing. It took about 35 minutes to get down to Copper — we were being pretty careful because path was so wet with so many puddles. Such a nice, smooth path! From the Pass to Copper Village, the path follows a gorge between I-70 East and West. We stopped in the Village for a cup of coffee to thaw a bit. We went into a bar called Alpinista and they gave us two big cups of coffee and wouldn’t let us pay. We must have looked as cold and bedraggled as we felt! We left $5 on the counter anyway. Coffee was good and hot!
Looked in a few shops — not much going on this time of year. Bob bought some good, local dark chocolate and we each had a square. We were still cold and it was still raining but after about 1/2 hour we took off for the second half of the ride.
This photo is looking back up at Copper Mtn and from whence we came.
Here is Bob at the same spot, beginning the second 7 miles of the path to Frisco. It was that dark at 11:30 in the morning.
This is what we were starting. The path followed a creek the whole way and was absolutely gorgeous even though we were freezing and wet.
Stopped about 3 miles in to take are first and only (and undoubtedly last….) selfie.
The last part of the path. Mountains go way way up but… can’t see!
We flew down to Frisco! I was physically shivering so badly on the last 2-3 mile stretch that my bike was wobbling. Locked up the bikes and got in the car about 12:45. We were seriously freezing and wet so cranked up the seats to high and the heat to 85*. It wasn’t a strenuous ride by an measure but it was fun and exhilarating flying down the path. And wet. And COLD! But we would do it again tomorrow.
We found the Butterhorn Bakery and Cafe on Main Street in Frisco for some lunch. It was quite busy and we had to wait about 10 minutes — by a heater, yay. Just standing at the entrance we could tell it was going to be good with mounds of fresh baked goods and cakes and five soups of the day. We were seated and immediately both gulped down a glass of water. Bob ordered a grilled cheese with ham and tomato, a side of potato salad and a pickle. I had a cup of black bean soup and spinach salad. Soup was full of mushrooms, carrots, onions and celery and was even better with the housemade Habanero sauce added. Salad was very fresh with sunflower seeds, walnuts, tomatoes, red onions and balsamic vinaigrette. I had a bite of Bob’s HUGE sandwich (he barely ate half) and it was perfect toasted, buttery bread with melty cheese. And he got a slice of cake to go….
We stopped in the new Whole Foods in Frisco to get some fill-ins for dinner at home tonight. Three slices of bacon, heirloom tomatoes, bread, shallot, lettuce…… It was raining and 46*! Dropped our helmets off at the bike place and we could not get in the jacuzzi fast enough. There are three right outside the fitness center and no one was there. We let the heat envelope us while it was raining on our heads. It did warm us up though! Showers and quick email catch up in the room in front of the fire.
We were hoping to catch some of the 16 football games that were being played so headed out to Eric’s, a sports bar that has a bazillion tvs. But they only had on the Texas A&M/S. Carolina and tennis. What?? Bob had a Dewar’s (no Chivas…) and I had a Breckenridge Brewery Amber — really good and cold but could only drink half. #eric’sFAIL.
Went back to the room to make dinner and watch the Broncos/Cowboys. Bob had leftover filet and made some garlic toast with the pesto mozzarella from our lunch the day before. I crisped up bacon and shallots for …. Bueller? Bueller? yes, Charlie Palmer salads. This time with romaine and heirloom tomatoes. We tend to do this… latch on to a new dish we both love and make it til we tire of it. This salad is perfect for our limited facilities and pantry. I warmed up three more pieces of pizza. Probably the last time … I managed to eat 4 + 3 + 3 = 10 slices and there are still 6 slices in the fridge. It was a big-ass pizza!!!
Bob and Sharon's Travel Diary 