2025 Tour Divide - Days 17 & 18 - Stunning Colorado climbs! Boreas, Marshall, Carnero Passes

Day 17 of the 2025 Tour Divide found me setting out from Frisco, Colorado at around 5:30am following an excellent night's sleep at the Snowshoe Motel. After following bike trails to Breckenridge, I began the wonderfully scenic climb up Boreas Pass. Summitting the pass, I almost immediately turned onto the Gold Dust Trail - several miles of singletrack that varied between technical downhill and fast, fluid trail. Exiting the trail, I made my way through the tiny town of Como and traversed an area of wilderness enroute to Hartsel, Colorado while dealing with non-stop washboard road surface and headwinds. I grabbed lunch in Hartsel, then continued along another 80km of dirt roads (and accompanying washboard and headwinds) to the town of Salida, where I ended my day after approx. 185km. Day 18 began with another early start, as I headed out to tackle Marshall Pass. Another beautifully scenic climb, this was one of my favourite ascents of the entire Tour Divide. After reaching the top, I enjoyed a long albeit only moderately-paced descent, before climbing two more mountain passes - Cochetopa Pass and Carnero Pass. The latter was longer than I expected at roughly 18km of climbing, and I reached the top of pass as the sun set at roughly 8:30pm. Following Carnero Pass I descended roughly 5km to Storm King Campground, where I ended my day after a 191km ride. ----- I rode the Tour Divide in part as a personal challenge, and in part as a fundraiser for cancer research through the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation - one of the top cancer research institutions in the world. At time of writing we've raised more than $11,500. Learn more here: https://supportthepmcf.ca/ui/DIY/p/da... Subscribe to my newsletter: https://davefleet.substack.com/ #TourDivide #Cycling #BikeTouring #GDMBR #GravelBiking #Colorado #cyclinglife #GreatDivide #Biking #BikingLife