Trip to Summit and Eagle Counties

Mandy and I had booked a room in Avon months ago. We had been toying with the idea of getting some altitude exposure in Summit county, but only got serious about 3pm on Friday. I managed to get a room at the Village in Breckenridge for $120, just hours before arriving. The chamber of commerce has a lodging line that rocks: 800 553 8549. We got organized, got out the door at 5:30, and were sitting in the bar at Mi Casa before 8pm. I had a burrito like none I've had in Denver for quite a while. With the ride two days away, I allowed myself two beers. Mandy had Chili Reno (sp?!) and G&T. It was fun both remembering past visits and watching the new (younger?) crowd there.

The next morning we checked out. I had left the bicycle in valet storage and we locked it up on the bike rack.


We were on a quest for some Butt-r which I realized I had forgotten. We took some pictures of the runoff on the way:




We found some breakfast worthy of a tourist town. I had a bagel with spinach and eggs. Mandy had a plate of potatoes, eggs and bacon. Everything except the bagel were cooked in a microwave. Chewey eggs. On the way back we noticed the moisture that's been in the are for a week or so was up to it's tricks again.



We headed to Avon.

After getting lost on "guy navigation" we broke out the map and found the hotel. It's an OK place, but didn't scream to have it's picture taken. Apparently they've had enough bad experience with guests bringing dirty and greasy bikes into the units that they asked for a $250 deposit and loaned us a sheet to use to protect the property. It was big enough to have underneath the bike as well as drape over it so chain grease wouldn't get anywhere, nor would the tires scuff anything.


We walked to the grocery store for provisions. I'd heard some stories about the rest stops in the triple (long lines) and though a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jam would be wise to have. We got some corn tortillas, ham, pico de gallo, and an olive tampenade for Mandy. We also bought a soft-sided cooler with built-in ice-packs to keep it all. I finally found some aspirin to treat a headache that had been bothering me since we arrived in Breckenridge the night before. I thought the lower altitude of Avon would cure it, but it didn't. Avon is at 7000. Breck is at 9600. Though I bought baby-asipirin, a handful of them did the trick.

We walked around and found a pub for dinner. I had bangers and mash. Mandy had fish and chips. We listened to a woman play guitar and sing a lot of older songs with a slightly slower tempo. Good singer though. The bar tender wouldn't put the tour on because "all you get is a yellow jersey" whereas in baseball you get a fancy ring. It started raining while we were there, so we stayed for a while. I managed to hold myself to a single beer: Smyithwicks. Mandy had G&Ts.

We got back to the room and I organized things for the next day. We watched some show that's not quite as cool as Iron Chefs, and then saw a real episode of Iron Chefs. I fell asleep during the weather.