Trials on the Trail

I woke up early this morning to make sausage and eggs for the boys before they took off for their trip. We were trying to cramp as many calories down them as possible as Joe has lost 4 lbs and Travis has lost 5 lbs on this ride so far. 

We saw the boys off at the Gold Hill Trailhead for the beginning of their Segment 7, but not before taking some artsy fartsy shots with my camera. There was less groaning this time. As I think they were more focused on the climb ahead of them today. Of the 13 mile ride ahead of them in this portion, 8 of the miles were a 3674 foot climb. With a final reward at the end, losing all of that height in just 4 downhill miles into Copper Mountain.

The girls and I were then off to Walmart and to the gas station before heading to Copper Mountain. For us it was only a 12 min drive, but we knew it would take them the better half of 5-6 hours. We settled in at Copper Mountain. I found a great little place to park with free electric, so I plugged in my laptops and got to work loading students into their curriculum. The kids climbed all over the Copper Mountain Resort boulders and Kristin was debating a run. 

We got a call from the gents saying Joey was in a bad spot with his current shoes. This we knew, but this hiking a bike up much of the 8 miles was making things much worse. They asked us to look up the shoes that Travis was wearing, the Pearl Izumi X-Alps Enduro. The plan was to overnight them into Leadville where we would camp for the night. While I was scouring the internet for the shoes, which I only knew by sight, Kristin called the Leadville post office to get their shipping address and their blessing to send the shoes without owning a PO Box. I found the shoes, but the problem was, that the gal at Leadville said they things do not get shipped to Leadville over night. Then it dawned on us that 30 mins away was the Pearl Izumi Outlet store we were at days before. Kristin called the store and they in fact did have the shoe in stock. But we were only 90% certain that was the correct shoe, with no confirmation from Travis. We thought this was enough, and Kristin made the drive. 

We followed the guys throughout the day on the spot device. You can follow them too using this link:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=04XdbcgeXBm5AP6B4QWuASXg6g9KIpepB

The boys came rolling in around 3:30 PM for a late lunch and a new pair of shoes. Joe was over the moon to see the shoes with much more padding at the heel and the ability to bend in the middle for the climbing portions. Turns out he climbed the last three miles of the ride in only his socks because the old shoes hurt his feet so bad.

Due to the latenesss in the afternoon and the lack of ability to camp within the first 5 miles of the next segment, we brought the boys back to camp with us and will drop them at the trailhead for Segment 8 in the morning.

Kristin leaves early tomorrow to head back home to take care of a few things for her clients. She will be gone until the meet-up in Silverton late next week. So tonight we pack the boys' bags ready for another couple of days alone on the mountain, bring Joe's extra supplies into my van, and rest by the camp fire.

Tomorrow we wish Kristin a safe travel home, to my readers, if you will say a prayer for her trip I would be grateful. We also hope the the new shoes will do their part in the hiking sections that it ease Joey's pains. Please say a prayer for him as well? And for the overall trip into Leadville for the guys.

Climbing up 10 Mile Mountain

Panoramic of the top of 10 Mile

Joe drinking from a creek

Riding the ridge