Adventures

Brush Mountain Lodge

Kirsten takes great care of everyone

Brush Mountain Lodge, CO (30 June 2019)My arrival at the Brush Mountain Lodge was marked by cow bells and cheers! Kirsten immediately came over and introduced herself and the person standing next to her, Grace. At the time, I failed to realize that Grace was Grace Ragland. I followed Grace Ragland very closely in 2018 as she completed the Tour Divide. Her journey was a testament to human determination and perseverance. I recall vividly, images of Grace's sagging head, the result of her neck muscles giving out from day after day of riding. She was an inspiration. Fortunately, my senior moment passed and I was able to talk to Grace before retiring for the night.

Grace wrote a book about her journey which includes her approach to the Tour Divide, life and her battle with MS. The book, Divide by One, also touches on the revelation after the race that she was riding with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The book was an inspiration to read and is a testament to tenacity. I'm very grateful I had the chance to talk with Grace about her journey and the fun she was having riding bikes while hanging out at the Brush Mountain Lodge. Her light shines on in all of the many people she has inspired.

It was fun how interested Grace was in my bicycle. While it's a little different than most bikes people use on the divide, it's not that different. Perhaps the thing that she found most interesting was the pipe insulation wrapped around my top tube. I told her the foam insulation was for comfort. Her curious look begged for more explanation. With the top tube of the frame padded, it was more comfortable to carry the bike on my back and shoulders for longer periods of time. This helped me tremendously on Koko Claims and would come in handy several times on the Tour Divide route for walking over snow or up other steep rocky inclines. We then shared our mutual propensity for sleeping in, instead of making morning miles on the Tour Divide. This relaxed and friendly conversation will be cherished always.

Grace was not the only celebrity at the Brush Mountain Lodge. Tour Divide front runner, Sofiane Sehili was keen to give us all advice on how to do your best in a bikepacking race. His number one rule was, don't stop. When I told him how I enjoy stopping in a nice place to relax and have picnics during the day, he seemed appalled. He's right of course. To have your fastest time for the race you need to learn to eat while moving. For me, however, the best time was had by stopping and enjoying the journey. It was a good humored discussion between two riders, one who led the race for days and another who is bringing up the rear.

Sofiane was at the Brush Mountain Lodge hanging out for a few days after abandoning the race the third week of June. Weather rolled in on the solstice and conspired to cause several of the front runners to quit the race. Sofiane stayed at the lodge after failed attempts to cross the pass to Steamboat Springs. The summer storm dumped snow and turned the road to thick impassable mud. Until then, he was on track to possibly set a new Tour Divide course record.

As wonderful as the celebrities at the Brush Mountain Lodge were, all the people I've been riding with for days and weeks prior were also there. Bill, Larry and Mikki were there. As were Adam, Francis, Joseph and Max. We talked about challenges met and challenges ahead as some of us licked our wounds, doing the best we could to recover from what ailed us. I enjoyed talking, eating and resting all day with the guys at the lodge.

It was always my intent to stay a night at BLM and I'm happy I did. Joseph, Adam and Max headed off toward Steamboat Springs instead of lingering. Bill, Larry and Mikki decided to stay. For Larry, it was a chance the get the swelling of one of his ankles to come down. We sat and chatted while Larry's oversized ankle sat in a bucket of ice. His mood was, as always, good and he was looking forward to completing the Tour Divide, a mission he started with Mikki in 2018.

Francis was spotted looking curiously at my bike so I went over to ask what he was thinking. He was considering changing the pedals on his bike. I told him that before deciding to attempt the Tour Divide, I only rode using clipless pedals. Contrary to the name, with clipless pedals a cleat on your shoe clips into the pedal so you are attached to the bike. Flat pedals, in contrast, have nothing to keep your foot attached to the pedal, save some spikes and the stickiness of the rubber sole of your shoe. After doing some reading and experimenting, I decided to use flat pedals for the Tour Divide. It took me a year of using flat pedals before feeling committed. At first, I didn't like riding with flat pedals at all and my shins became scarred from the pedals slamming into them.

Francis was interested in flat pedals for himself and was curious about the reasons for my choice. There were two, reliability and ankle stress. The type of clipless pedal I preferred had a tendency to fail catastrophically and this happened once to me on a bikepacking trip. Also, as I read more accounts from riders of the Tour Divide, it became apparent that Achilles tendon and other ankle issues were a common reason riders abandon. The more I rode with flat pedals, the more apparent it became that the pedals reduced stress on my ankles and furthermore allowed for variable foot placement. If there's only one piece of advice I could give to someone wanting to do the Tour Divide it would be this -- pay very close attention to all three contact points with the bike and test each thoroughly. The Tour Divide Facebook page is filled with advice about saddles, handlebars and pedals. It's generally acknowledged that with handle bars, you need to be able to vary your hand position. For me, being able to vary my foot position was found to be equally beneficial.

Kirsten's hospitality at the Brush Mountain Lodge was nothing short of amazing. She's focused on the riders and what they need to keep their race going. Upon arrival, just after 10 AM, she immediately told me she'd make a breakfast for me, pointed me to the coffee and asked if I wanted juice. She had all of our clothes washed and provided a room and comfortable bed for the night. The clothes she loaned me to wear while mine were getting washed were several sizes too large and made for a humorous sight. The group of us ate all day long, as Kirsten kept rolling out pizzas!

It was a spa day on the Tour Divide for me. Tomorrow July would begin and my journey would continue. The day spent at the Brush Mountain Lodge was just what I needed to recharge my batteries for the roughly 1,200 miles that remained.

On to Day 18