GDMBR 2025 — Day 3: Mountains at Last!

The plan for the second half of today (after arriving in Frisco on the bus) was to finally join the actual GDMBR route and climb some mountains!

By the time we got off the bus and put all the bags on the bike, it was probably close to 11:00 and we were hungry. Rather than push ahead with trail food, we took a short ride on the bike path along Colorado State Highway 9, which runs parallel to our entire route today from Frisco to Breckenridge to Blue River and finally to Fairplay. Our destination was a coffee shop where we could get some tasty calories. I had a breakfast burrito and a smoothie with extra plant protein powder (not my usual order but seemed like a smart move to me under the circumstances) and Liz had avocado toast/bagel and an energy refresher that was delicious and probably had just a bit of caffeine. Also not a bad choice!

We ate leisurely (cue the ominous music) and then headed along the path to Breck. There’s an amazing trail network up there and they were being used heavily for recreation. Tons of e-bikers, roadies, we passed a sweet BMX park and gosh they must have ridden their bikes to that too, right? Anyway, it was a gradual uphill with some heat from the sun but we were having a good time. Nine miles later, in Breck, we stopped for an odd assortment of groceries and pharmaceuticals to fill out our kit.

Back on the road and immediately after Breck, we turned onto Boreas Pass Rd and began the first legit mountain climb of our trip. I think it averages a nice steady 4% grade which is an effort but well within our comfort level with these bikes kitted as they were. The first four miles were pretty heavily trafficked by cars, buses and construction vehicles but then it switches to gravel for the last six and this is where it got more “fun”.

Photo dump time!

Something we’ve found so far is that one good reason we can’t always keep a solid pace is that there are a lot of curious people to talk to along with others riding our same route….truthfully it’s a great motivation for us so it’s 100% worth it! On this day we stopped and chatted with several non-cyclists and saw three riders doing segments of the GDMBR.

After summiting we had to descend several miles to Selkirk Campground, down in a valley that had a dirt road that we thought would link us back to the main road. We’d later discover that this road was closed, forcing us to climb back up for 20 minutes the next day. But more on that later in the future.

The descent was “easy” in that we didn’t have to pedal but it was challenging because we had to brake a lot and navigate some pretty lousy road conditions. I’m not sure if the south side gets worse weather (it was cooler and windier for us) or if it’s less used since more people come up and then back down from the Breck side. Anyway, to say it was fun would be a lie. It was sort of a drag. This may become a pattern? Who knows?

So we made it to camp, our first time of the trip. There’s often time pressure when setting up camp at the end of the day and this day was no exception. I had to go back out on the bike to filter water for the night and for tomorrow. Liz set up the tent and organized the campsite. During this period was a terrifying two minutes where I was convinced we had forgotten our tent poles, but it turns out they were lost in the game of balance the weight of your bags. Phew!

And finally, dinner!

I guess that mostly wraps the day up. We didn’t have any downtime and closed up shop with the sun. I guess we timed it all perfectly but it felt a bit stressful! Overall a good day on bikes!