Day 20 - Clark, CO to Kremmling, CO

After a short but difficult climbing day on the main GDMBR route, we decided to get in a few "easier" miles today on the highway.  Turned out to be a long, tough climbing day, even if we were on tarmac instead of on gravel for the day ;-). We rolled the first 10 miles on really nice gravel
from our superb Warm Showers host's home north of Steamboat Springs, and the onto Steamboat proper for coffee & pastries at a great little coffee shop/bookstore.
  I also finally found a store that sold insoles to replace the ones in my cycling shoes.  After the Butte drenching, I tried to dry my insoles on the radiator in our cabin in Wise River. Unfortunately, they not only dried, but they shrunk! Really shrunk- like from a size 11 down to a size 6.  So I've been making due with grossly undersized insoles ever since- not super comfortable, but notuch I could do to improve the situation... So- I now have happy feet!

After our second breakfast, we headed out on US Rt. 40 up Rabbit Ears Pass, another monster climb of over 3000' to 9550'. 
Average grade was 7%, so we all put our heads down & ground it out:-)

Once again, the landscapes were constantly changing and always interesting - and often gorgeous! 
And finally -- we caught a break with the wind. For most of the climb, and almost all of the subsequent 35 miles into Kremmling, we had a tailwind - pretty light but not having a headwind for nearly the first time in 3 weeks seemed huge! 
The other bit of weather that went our way was a set of two HUGE thunderstorms.  Our timing turned out to be perfect, as both Mike and I just beat the raindrops coming into Kremmling.  Another great day on the GDMBR :-)
Cheers!

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