Day 36: Hartsel, CO - Frisco, CO (82/150)

Hoosier pass, elevation 11,539 ft: check! Second day of really climbing and so far so good. When I started out this morning it was the first time this trip that it was really chilly, so I had to wear my knee and arm pieces. The route started with an easy climb with gentle grades into the town Fairplay. There I rode through the historic South Park City (you know, from the TV series).

After that there was again a slightly less easy climb into Alma. This entire was even on a paved bike path! Didn't expect that! In Alma I got some water at the highest saloon of the US before heading to Hoosier Pass. There were only some 1000 ft left to climb, but the grades were steeper and the headwind and elevation also made it tough. It wasn't all that bad though and after not too long I reached the summit. There I met a group of cyclists who are riding supported from San Francisco to Yorktown and are actually riding roughly the same route as me towards Boulder, so we exchanged some thought about the route.

The descend was off course big fun and led through some foresty valleys. Between Breckenridge and Frisco I was again welcomed by beautifully paved bike paths, running along creeks and through forests, really nice. I'm staying today at a national forest campground close to Frisco, next to the Dillon Reservoir. As I was already there early in the afternoon I spend some time sitting by the lake reading, really relaxing! 

After coocking some simple dinner another cyclists rode up to my camping spot and asked whether I would like to share the spot and split the fee. No problem, as the spot was more than big enough. Joanna is from Australia and is riding the Transam and west to east and finishing in Washington DC. She has been riding for two months already (and covered 2000 miles) and is flying back from DC in a month (another 2500 miles). She was seeing how to get there in time, which in my humble opinion isn't gonna happen as that would be significantly quicker than what I have done so far and she told me that she had to push her bike up regularly and complained about the warm weather (for me coolest weather so far).

The  nights here are getting properly cool, so tonight I used my fleece vest for the first time during this trip, another item that I luckily didn't bring along for nothing :)