I woke up a bit early to enjoy my first cup of coffee from a hammock seat on Brush Mountain Lodge’s expansive deck, which was a very good choice. Kirsten cooked us all a hearty breakfast and we packed up our freshly-washed clothes. Each group to head out got a photo and a cowbell send-off- we waved off all our friends, and then finally it was our turn. The climb continued up on pretty good gravel through beautiful rolling hills and wildflower meadows. The top couple miles turned to very rutted out jeep road (I got flashbacks to Lava Mountain) but we all topped out to a bit of a summit party with some northbound riders. The descent was similarly rutted and rocky for about five unpleasant miles, but it turned to smooth gravel through a rural residential area. I promptly had my first wipeout of the trip by taking a loose corner too sharply- no real harm done besides some road rash and wounded pride. Soon we were at the Clark General Store, which became another cyclist party with some tasty sandwiches and ice cream. The last 20 or so miles to Steamboat were on a busy highway, but we picked up a cool bike path as soon as we came into town. Steamboat Springs is a full-on tourist town but I still found it pleasant even though it was slammed with people. Michelle and Stephen had offered their lawn as a camp spot for GDMBR riders and we gratefully took them up on it, along with 4 other cyclists (most we’d already met, but we made a new cool friend Alissa who was going north). The lawn was a bit of a tight squeeze, but we all found space to set up camp and then enjoyed a night on the town.