There were three reasons to take a bike with me:
1. As a Dutchie, you simply never travel without one.
2. The White Rim, with 30 cars and numerous supported bikers passing by every day, I opt out.
3. The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
Hikers have the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails, we trekking bikers have the GDMBR, with 2465 miles from Canada to Mexico the longest off-pavement cycling route in the world. The route parallels the Continental Divide, the line where rain falling on the west side ends up in the Pacific Ocean and rain falling on the east side in the Gulf of Mexico. Having read about it years ago in a Dutch outdoor magazine, it has occupied my thoughts ever since. The most scenic part is the 320 mile stretch in Colorado, from Platoro to Silverthorn. The route here hovers between 2100 and 3600 meter and thats breath taking in several ways. Thats what I am going to ride.
I drive to Platoro, which turned out to be an isolated little village high up in the mountains with no paved access. There is another Dutch biking coupe and together we drink coffee and eat cookies. I feel so Dutch.
The next morning its time to pack my stuff, dig out my panniers, mount my front rack on the bike, change pedals, boil the last eggs, drink the last milk and at 10:00 hit the road. The first challenge is also immediately the biggest one. Indiana pass with 3630 meter the high point of my trip. The route climbs through a natural contaminated area, with all the water carrying toxic metals and abandoned mines all over. I have to ration my water intake, but still run out of it after a while. 
Whoosh! What was that. Another biker with hardly any gear comes down the road. There is no time to stop, an hellooo is all I get. I have heard that the Self supporting GDMBR race is on the way and in the area. Would this be one of them? My thought are going to my left rear pannier. This morning when I finished all the food in my cooler there was one item I decided to just take. A water melon. So here I am encountering these light weight bikers, and me, I carry a heavy water melon over the highest pass on the route. I should have listen to W, who shove me a light weight backpacking know-how book under my nose last week. At the top of the climb there is no sign but the views are immense. The whole day feels more like hiking than biking, this high up in the mountains.
On the downhill I find an amazing camping spot. Out of sight, a stone fire ring with wood, a grassy field for my tent and a magnificent view. Oh damm, I have no water. I am so used that Oto carries everything I need, that I hadn't give it a second thought. So I mount my bike again and descent more. Two more bikers with hardly any gear are coming up the road. They have time to stop and tell me that indeed they are doing the GDMBR as a race. They are talking about 100 to 160 mile days, hardly any gear and around 20 days for the whole route. They are insane! The guy I passed this morning is from French and is riding a single speed. Hmmm, insane or just fucking cool.I continue my descend and in the early evening finally find some surface water to filter. The camp spot I choose is covered with fire ants, the views are non. My only light point in the evening, the water melon tastes very good.
The next day I do some shoppings in Del Norte before riding a trail through a barren landscape. The Rocky Mountains are still part of the Colorado Plateau and rainfall can also here be very low.
Also today I have to climb a pass, Carnero Pass with 3100 meter of altitude another hard day. This time however I take water just after the high point and can camp when ever I feel for it. It only takes me a while to hang my bags high up in a tree, for the rest its a perfect spot.
When the sun comes up, I wake up and after some coffee and pancake breakfast another long day is waiting for me. This time Cochetopa pass, 3050 meter, is on route. With more racers and more irissen around, I never feel alone and love the ride and have no worries. 
Its late in the evening and again I am looking for water. The map indicates a river crossing, but when I arrive I know when cows are not my best friends. 
Its goes up and down again and the road is filled with the so hated washboard. 
Finally I arrive in Doyleville, 3 houses and a haystack. I knock on the most organized house and X opens. Yes, I can get some water and yes I can pitch my tent in the garden. A couple minutes later we head instead to the Taylor river for some whitewater kayaking for X and shuttling the car for me. On the way home X gets a phone call, if we wanne catch some bluegrass music in Crested Butte. My legs are sore, I am longing for a bed, but bluegrass, sure. At the entrance of the bar I ask which band is playing. Something Turtle. My favorite bluegrass band Blue Turtle Seduction has recently stopped. This was the first bluegrass band my friend H took me, and also the last day in the Bay Area we went together to see them. Something Turtle?
I order a beer and scan the posters above the bar. Trampled by Turtles, Monday June 28. What what, this is the band V introduced me to in Alaska, and has been a favorite while driving through this country for the last year. Is it really Monday today. It is, and sore legs or not, with some beer and good music I can dance until 2 o'clock in the morning.
Well the next day I do feel it. And Marshall pass with 3300 meters in altitude is far, high and lots of suffering. From the top however its all downhill to Salida. 
I drop by the bike store and H invites me to take a shower at her house. From one comes the other and I spend a rest day riding on a cruiser bike around town. Salida, is one of these secret little gems with wonderful people and lots of outdoor activities. H is an hardcore single speed mountainbiker and I like her a lot. Until late at night we talk and it feels like friends from way back then.
The road climbs steep out of Salida onto a high plain. Here and there are some second homes, but most of the area is empty, with hardly any other traffic.
The views to the west are immense. And several 4000 meter peaks are dotted along the Continental Divide. 
This is when you forget the numb hands, the sore bud, the pinched nerve in your shoulder. This is why you do it for. The feel to live on top of the world. The night I spend in the wide open. No hiding possible, but I make it another time save through the night.
The last day I continue in the wide open plains before arriving in Como. 
Almost every day I had rain, hail and thunder in the early afternoon and sometimes I had to pitch up my tent again to wait out the worst. This time I drink coffee in the post office lobby with B, who is also biking around and of course knows W and H. This Colorado outdoor world is so small. When the sun is back one more last pass is waiting for me. Boreas pass, 3500 meters, but with a gradual climb not bad at all.
The other side of the pass drops me into Breckenridge, with the 4th of July weekend a place not to be. I continue on a busy bike path along a busy highway to Frisco and the same is true here. I hide myself in the woods for the night, the last 10 miles to Silverthorn are not for me. The next day is a day I have been dragging a bit. So first I go to the local bakery for a croissant and some bread. Now I am ready to try my luck. Hitch hiking back to Oto with the bike. 5 minutes and ride one is ready to be loading my bike in the pick up truck. For the next 5 hrs, I have 4 more rides until Del Norte. And there I am sitting. Its only 30 miles, but with dirt roads and Indiana pass between me and Oto, not an option for biking. I am waiting only 30 minutes and get anxious already. Probably the effect of being a blond woman, and wiating so for for only 10 min max. Why did I start in Platoro, oh jeh right, because its at the bottom of my map. But it would have been so much wiser to start in a normal reachable village. Then M stops and has time to bring me all the way for a big fat hamburger lunch. It takes us 2 more hrs, but there he is. Oto is still waiting for me as ever and its good to be together again.
My bike and me however, thats even a better combination. Just not in this country, here Oto is favorite. But GDMBR, that was another wonderful trip. As always, life is so good.
Iris (Platoro, 41843 miles)
