We awoke in our palatial tent and readied our steeds before ducking into the house, quietly making some breakfast as the owners were still sleeping....T Kitson and Dave and Collin headed out a bit before us and we pushed off, listening intently to the sound of Ziven’s new chain to make sure everything was shipshape. We continued through town and turned off the bike path towards the mountains. We stopped at a little general store where we thought we might find a treat but instead located Kitson and Jolly Rancher, an older rider who bestowed us with his namesake, a candy that would give us 15 minutes of energy, according to him. We wound through the valley for a while and the road turned to gravel as we approached Ute Pass, the day’s main objective. Soon we entered some gates denoting historic grazing lands and the road began to get bumpier. We caught up with Kitson, who was slower going on his fat tires (though we would be jealous of them soon enough) and were soon passed by Jolly Rancher as he muscled his smaller bike up the rocky slope, his frame bag holder clacking. The younger rider we had met in Salida also passed us and I had to occasionally hop off to push up a particularly steep slope, at the top of which Ziven rewarded me with some (squished) cookies from Pinedale.

After the initial bumpy slope the road became much calmer and we continued up into the trees. We had a pitstop halfway up the climb when Ziven realized he had installed his new chain running through the hanger incorrectly, so he rigged a piece of a shifter cable into a chain brake (later we found out he had one in his bike pump toolset) and fixed the chain. Continuing on, we climbed up and up into the lovely forest and enjoyed the smooth road, glad that, once again, the intel from the locals was partially incorrect. We eventually caught up with Kitson and Jolly Rancher and they chatted away with us as we traversed the forest. On the side of the road we saw a warming lodge and stopped for a cozy snack with Kitson and a British couple who had started in Mexico City and were spending the night in the lodge. We hopped out into the afternoon sun and admired the construction of the warming hut and all of its amenities that would be handy in case of a storm. After hopping back on the road, we passed a beautiful area with multiple lakes and bumped into the youngest Tour Divider, a kid only 14 years old who posed for a selfie with Ziven. Kitson’s paper map said we should go off to the left at one fork in the road and we spotted bike tires going both ways, but we decided to stick with Ziven’s bike computer and go to the right. Continuing the climb, we again caught up with Jolly Rancher and finished the climb, where he dipped off to camp at the summit, where he previously had camped the first time he did the Great Divide. We looked briefly at the signage at the top of the pass and began to contemplate places to sleep. There was a “town” at the base of the descent so we pushed on with Kitson, alternatively passing him when the road was smooth and then being passed when I slowed to yield to bumps. Ziven was, as always, miles ahead. We passed over a pretty river on a bridge and Kitson turned to the left to find a wild campsite while we ventured to the right to check out whatever civilization lay beyond. We dawdled around the “town” which seemed more like a neighborhood of mountain houses but finally located the lodge that we had been aiming for. We parked our bikes at the entrance to the main restaurant/bar, passing by a wedding party taking pictures by a small pond as we went.

Feeling a little grimy and out of place from the nice looking wedding guests, we were relieved to see Dave and Collin sitting at the bar, looking relaxed but equally as disheveled as us. We sat with them and ate dinner and I got some crazy mac and cheese that would kill anyone with a slight lactose intolerance. Sussing out the camping situation, we first asked Dave and Collin, who pointed out the proprietor of the entire lodge/hotel/cabins/wedding venue/ATV gas station, who said we could camp anywhere on the edge of the property. Following Dave and Collin, we found a spot behind the wedding marquee and pushed sticks out of the way to make our flatish spot more cozy. We then tucked ourselves into bed with the sound of wedding revelry all around.