Tour Divide 2015 - Day 8

I had set my alram for a leisurely 6am. When it went off I just lay there for a few minutes thinking "do I really have to get on my bike today"? I grabbed my phone off the charger and looked at Trackleaders to see where people were. There was a conga line of about 8 riders making their way into Lima from about 20 miles out right up to 5 miles out! I could see that Brett, Josh and Jill were in the group. I didn't want to be passed by that many riders! It was best they don't see me lest I become a mental win for their tired minds and best that they don't become a mental defeat for my tired mind.

I jumped out of bed and quickly began packing up my now dry tent and all of my other belongings that were sprawled across the room. I was trying to shove all of the food I had bought last night into my stuffed bags, not without some difficulty.

Leaving the motel room I saw that the truck stop was open so went and grabbed my morning Starbucks Frappacino. While downing it Brett and Josh rolled in. We exchanged greetings and they said they camped about 20 miles out as they just couldn't reach Lima last night. I told them there were a lot of riders in the same boat as they were trickling into town now. Looking at a grassy spot 50 yards from the truck stop there were a few small tents set up, being late night arrivals. and I noticed Robb Orr appear out of one. I had thought he was long gone. 

The divide does that though. I forget that everyone is struggling each day, trying to find the strength to go on. From the outside people look so strong and focussed but I guess inside these mid-pack racers are much like myself. Tired and trying to maintain the self discipline or motivation to go on. My motivation this morning is the conga line of riders approaching. Beth and Simon's dots are far to the east of Lima having, as I expected, left early this morning. I bid Brett farewell (until next time) and head off toward Idaho. Yes, we get a new state today!

Riding into the morning sun is always my favourite part of the day. The air is still and shadows contrast the landscape. The hills to the east of Lima look like the cover art on the "Ride The Divide" DVD case and I wonder if this is where they got their inspiration.

The roads here are very open.Trees are nonexistant. This would be a section from hell with a strong headwind.

But this morning, there is no wind and I make good time along these relatively flat farm roads. We are heading east toward Macks Inn/Island Park which are just service stops on the I-20 for drivers on the way to Yellowstone but full-on oases to divide riders.

I am soon passing a glassy still Lima Reservoir. Where was that water last night when I needed it?

The open countryside exposed a lot of road to the eye. This can potentially be crushing for the mind but today I was just loving the fact that there weren't any hills and I could easily turn pedals to produce 25-30km/h speeds.

Coming into Lakeview I caught another rider. It turned out to be Doug W. He was on a woodchipper equipped Salsa Fargo so we exchanged bike notes for a bit. He reminded me that I owed him one as he had arrived at the motel in Lima not long before me last night and told them that there was another rider right behind him that would want a room-the last room- and would they hold it. Doug thought that rider was Mitchell, the guy I passed on the Sheep Creek divide crossing but I had leapfrogged into room-winning position now! I thought it was my phone call from the High Country Lodge that secured me the room but apparently not. I thanked Doug very much. ;)

Lakeview came and went as we chatted and I almost forgot to get my camera out to get a snap of this western movie set like town.

I was maintaining a slightly higher pace than Doug so drifted off ahead of him. We had come close to the continental divide again with the Centennial Mountains being just a few kilometres south of us. This was Mt Something or other....I really should have taken a photo of the sign....

The divide coming closer meant my nice flat ride was about to come to an abrupt halt. It was time to go vertical again with the climb up to Red Rock Pass. I had been on the bike for 5:45 by this stage and was glad to get off and walk for a while. As the grade shallowed out I hopped back on and pedalled up to the pass with it's must-do photo opportunity.

I was leaving Montana! There is some Tour Divide folklore that if you can make it out of Montana, you are likely to finish the ride because Montana is brutal. In a race that is north to south, Montana has you going south, east, west and north and lets not forget, up. It is probably bulldust because, as I was going to find out, there are plenty of challenging sections in the southern states that are pushing you to quit. But today, in the nice warm sun on another divide crossing I was happy to be a believer. 

The ride down from Red Rock pass was fast and sketchy as the road was made up of crushed granite. I had a front end slide in a high speed corner that would have been very messy had I not saved it so I backed off the pace in the interests of self preservation. The road soon went up again and high speed front end slides were but a distant memory.

Here, my lack of really-in-depth route knowledge produced a pleasant surprise. I came to an RV park that I had no idea existed. It had a little shop that was chocka-block full of ice creams and sodas! It probably sold other things but all I saw were the ice cream and soda! Just short of two cans and an ice cream sandwich later Doug rolled in for some as well.

Red Rock RV and Camping Park was a little oasis that I would have loved to stay at as the sun was now beating down on me. The intensity of it's bite really had to be felt, being far more savage than the Aussie sun. I guess that altitude may have something to do with it and I was ruing my decision to mail my sun sleeves to Steamboat Springs, another 4 days along route at least.

With a belly full of ice cream and a thunerstorm in the faaar distance I was a happy lad.

It was only a short ride through some fun atv trails to the Macks Inn service stop. Subway seemed to be the obvious choice and we availed ourselves of their air conditioning and wifi. I wasn't hungry as I had just gorged myself on ice cream but Doug tucked in. I rolled across the road to the supermarket and grabbed some cinnamon bagels for a possible camp tonight.

Next up was the dreaded rail trail. Everything written about it dripped loathing and I was about to find out why.

It was an old railway line which had been converted to a recreational trail. This meant that atvs ripped up and down it all day long. How this is exciting, being 50km (30mi) of dead straight trail, I don't know but thousands can't be wrong, right?

Anyway, I almost ate it turning into the bloody abomination. The loose, deep, dark gravel is like riding in a sandpit. It got slightly better the further I got from the trail head but it was always hard work.

The trail always looked smoother and firmer on the other side but when you crossed the centre ridge you found it just as bad. I felt like it was gently climbing (it was actually flat) and I was also pushing a 25mph headwind in the exposed sections so standing on the pedals and powering through was the only way to go. I was glad I didn't know how long it was. I had 30 kilometres in my head for some reason. If I had known it was 50km I would have spat it. As it was I did stop twice to swear profusely into the wind. That helped.......

I had decided that this trail had no redeeming features, none at all. If it did, there would be recreational riders on the trail. Lo and behold I started passing recreational riders. I was passing them very quickly actually as I had been tromping it since I entered the trail and now that the surface was hard packed I was getting some significant forward motion happening!

I had to be careful passing these larger groups as they were in a world of their own and not expecting some hairy, smelly bikepack racer to come barrelling past. but I could see why they were distracted. This end of the trail was absolutely beautiful!

I was soon riding through the Warm River campground at the end of the trail. It had taken me 3 hours to do that 50 kilometres (30mi) at what felt like cross country race effort levels. It sure was nice to be off it but now the road went steeply up and a vicious wind was battering me around. At one point I actually got caught off guard and blown off the road!

Feeling spent after the last 3 hours of rail trail fun, I flopped in the shade on somebody's front lawn as soon as I climbed out of the Warm River valley. This was also because I was in the open now and the 30mph wind brought me to a standstill. Munching one of my flattened bagels I checked the ACA map for accommodation options. Squirrel Creek lodge was my planned stop for the night but I noticed on the map that they required 24 hours prior notice. How could you guarantee where you were going to be in 24 hours time on the divide? I had weak cell reception so I tried calling them but the line just went dead.

Just then another rider pulled up beside me. We exchanged hellos but I didn't catch his name. He looked very young but I guess I looked very old to him. He pulled out a Sub and munched away while I tore my bagel a new one.......not much was said. It was one of those "I've been on my own all day and just want some company" moments. He finished up and said he was pushing on into the ferocious wind. I said I might sit here a bit longer. I watched him crawl along that shoulderless, narrow road being buffetted by the gale. This open farmland gave no shelter.

From where I sat on the lawn I could just see the top of the Grand Tetons in the distance. They are awe inspiring. They inspired even more awe when I considered that I had to ride right around to the other side of them.

Remounting, I battled into the abominable headwind like my young counterpart. Luckily there was only about a mile to go before the route took a hard left onto Cave Falls road and that 30mph wind was all tailwind. I was feeling pretty toasted now and when I came to a sign that said "Squirrel Creek lodge, 2 miles south then 1 mile east" I thought "no way am I going that far off route". Right next to it was a sign for Timberline Golf Club with accommodation and meals just 0.4 mile ahead. "I'll go there" I thought. Now, I had my gps scale zoomed in pretty well, to about 160m, so the last time I looked the route went straight. Here I was thinking that Squirrel Creek was off route and Timberline on route - even though I had been staring at the map not 15 minutes ago and Squirrel Creek was clearly on route. In hindsight this was one of my lowest points of the race as thinking was clearly not happening! I was very tired.

Anyway, I rolled down to Timberline and rocked into the clubhouse to enquire about a room. "Sure thing, you can have a cabin and we are doing a $10 buffet tonight if you would like that" they said. I enquired if I could wash my kit as well and they said they would do it for me. Even better.

So I was escorted to my cabin, which was a quarter mile out the back of the golf course. The ladies in the golf cart took my dirty, smelly kit to wash (I apologised profusely for it's state) and said they would be back in 30 minutes to pick me up for dinner. Cool. A nice long shower then I dressed myself very stylishly in my merino longjohns, my puffy jacket and bike shoes with no socks....the only clothes I had! How I looked for the last 8 days had been the furthest thing from my mind but suddenly I was extremely self conscious. Especially when I got to the clubhouse and there were about 30 people there!

I sat in the room next door to where the main group was so I could spread my maps out on the table. I was offered a beer and when I enquired what they had was told "Fat Tyre". I had abstained these last six months as part of my training but after my free Bud last night I thought "why not" and had my first real beer since Banff (I had broken my drought with a beer each night there). Looking around I spied what I hoped would be my only bears.

Dinner was a seafood buffet, which is always dodgy this far from an ocean, plus the usual mountains of pasta salad, coleslaws etc that Americans seem to enjoy. I kept the seafood to a minimum but piled up the fresh coleslaw and pasta salads. I am pretty sure I got my $10 worth!

I even got a buggy ride back to my cabin and my clean kit presented to me. It was about 9pm now so the buffet wasn't the best use of time but I just could not have ridden any further today, especially with a wild camp as my only real option.

209km with just 1000m climbing was a pretty easy day compared to the last week. If it wasn't for the climb into Yellowstone (the road went up from here) and my knackered state I would have pressed on. Or so I told myself.

Cheers.

Tour divide 2015 - Day 7

My alarm went off all too soon and I wriggled into my aromatic knicks (shorts for you North Americans) and jersey before emerging from my tent into the pale glow of another day. There was no sign of the other rider, they must have been up for an early start. I packed up as quickly as I could, wrinkling my nose at the wet-with-dew tent that I was stuffing into it's dry (wet) bag. "I do not want to camp in that tonight unless I can dry it out" I thought to myself.

I jumped on my bike and pedalled off up the hill toward Fleecer Ridge. It was nice and green up here at elevation and the road was very pleasant. I went to take a drink from my Camelbak and something didn't feel right in my mouth. Looking at the bite valve I could see that something had eaten half of it during the night! A little later I went to get a Sweet and Salty muesli bar out of a feed bag and found that it had been half gnawed away as well! Bloody rodents!

I was getting higher up now and the forest opened up to alpine meadow. I could see a snow crowned Mt Fleecer off to my left and was eagerly awaiting the ridge itself. Fleecer Ridge features in the movie "Ride The Divide", showing Mike Dion trying to unsuccessfully ride down it's face. Like all hills, they never look as steep on camera or in photos so I was intrigued to see what it was really like.

Coming up to the drop the view was fantastic.

Going down wasn't too bad, well nothing the brakes couldn't handle if I squeezed them really hard......

Then I got to the section where Mike falls off his bike and I had to exit stage left. I just managed to hold it together and not fall off but it was close. Yes, you could ride this descent - on the right bike- but not a 25kg (55lb) drop bar tourer with a tired pilot behind the controls. The trail became stupidly steep and consisted of sharp, loose shale for the lower section of the descent. I walked...

Once onto a sensible grade the next 20 kilometres or so to Wise River were pleasantly downhill. I was feeling good but hungry. I was going to eat Wise River out of everything! I pulled into the little convenience store to see two other riders tucking into breakfast out the front. It was Jill and Elanor.

 Saying "hi" again and "when did you pass me"? Jill replied that she was the one that came into the Beaver Dam campground just as I was dozing off. I was impressed with how many hours and thus miles she was putting in each day. And she was riding flat pedals! 

I was soon inside looking for something hot. They only had pre made egg and cheese or something muffins in a warmer. Slightly disappointed I grabbed one and a cold Starbucks Frappachino then joined the ladies on the ground out the front of the store. There wasn't even have a seat to sit in so I leant against the comfortable pole, swatting mozzies while trying not to gag on the greasy goodness that I was shoving down my pie-hole. Mmmmm...pie....if only!

A quick look at the map and my cue sheets told me that we had several hours of blacktop in front of us down to Polaris, then all the way to the infamous Bannack Road. I bought some more snacks, topped off my water then hit the road. Both ladies had rolled out just before me.

The ride here was pleasant enough but not super inspiring. I was just happy that it was mostly flat and smooth after yesterday's effort. We followed a river for a while but I didn't take many photos. Well, none worth posting.

I caught and passed Jill again about an hour later. I was keen for a chat as I had been riding alone for a few days now but she seemed lost in thought so I kept pedalling on.

The road began to climb again, even switch-backing up the mountain. This had me reduced to a crawl. In these situations I learnt that I could pedal at 5.5 km/h or get off and walk at 4.5 km/h, so I opted for some walking. This felt soo good for my legs just using different muscles and when I jumped back on the bike I always felt refreshed. 

Breaking out of the forest I soon passed through huge open meadows and I noted that I was at 7800ft again passing Crystal Park. It was beautiful but I was hurting so when the wide, smooth, steep downhill came I was so relieved. It seemed to go on forever....until it crossed a creek. I knew what that meant. Another. Effing. Climb. This was getting old!

Cresting the next climb I saw an unusual but welcome sign.

Full TD support? In an unsupported race? But the meals and wifi had me interested. Montana High Country Lodge was a mythical place that I had read about where divide racers were looked after, even pampered. Having said that, I was still debating weather to go in or not as I approached their driveway. It was about 200 metres off the road - uphill.

I snapped the photo thinking I would ride right by but made a snap decision to pull in. That was possibly the best decision my whole race. I walked inside and there were Brett and Josh! They had only just arrived and were getting the grand tour for a full service. Food, drink, shower and washing! I was standing there, not quite sure how it worked as it wasn't a shop. Then a woman poked her head out of the kitchen and said "follow me". I followed her to the dining room where a plate of steaming hot food and bread rolls were awaiting me! Showing me where the fridge was she proclaimed "help yourself" then shot off to prepare food for the others.

I tucked into some chicken-something-stew with vegetables and rice. There is no before photo. It was an afterthought to get the one I did! I also scored a turkey and ham sambo to go, an apple and a slice of banana bread. With the distance I had still to ride to Lima I should have grabbed two to-go meals.

Fixing up Russ Kipp for the food he asked if he could get a photo of me and my bike. He did this with all the riders then posted it on Bikepacking.net. Sure, why not I said as long as I could get one in the lodge. As we were going out, Jill was coming in and Brett was getting around in a robe, his kit in the wash. This was a busy place!

I rode off feeling full and strong again. I got about 2 miles down the road and I was still thinking what great service and value the meal was when it struck me that I hadn't left a tip! In the excitement of riders coming and going, hellos being exchanged, in my tired state and being an Aussie it had completely slipped my mind! What a fopar! I resolved to message Russ via Bikepacking,net to get his mailing address so I could rectify my error.(which I did)

The next 22km (15mi) was sealed and downhill with a tailwind. I was king of the world as I soft pedalled yet still zipped along. Then, I came to the turn onto Bannack road. It has a reputation as a soul crusher when it is wet. Russ Kipp told me if it gets half an inch of rain on it you will have peanut butter mud for a few days and riders become walkers. I counted my lucky stars that it was hot and dry today but that didn't stop it being a slight climb into a headwind on a bumpy surface. I was back to what felt like grovelling along.

There was a lot of run off  coming out of the hills and some paddocks were almost like swamps they were so wet. I passed a ranch and thought how lucky these farmers were to have all that water. The paddocks were lush with deep grass.

Coming to the end of Bannack road I turned left onto another sealed highway and rejoiced....until I plowed through the first swarm of insects that is. All that moisture was a great breeding ground for bugs and I had to keep my head down, mouth closed as you simply couldn't take an open mouth breath without inhaling a mouthful of protein. But at least the road was quiet and I had my ripping tailwind back.

Turning up Medicine Lodge road brought another reality check. I did have chicken legs after all and they were no match for the constant climb into a headwind. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering why I couldn't get any speed out of my legs despite pedalling hard on this flat section of road. By this stage of the divide it was difficult to determine flat road from climbing road. It looked flat to me but was in fact steadily climbing from 5800ft to just on 8000ft at the Medicine Lodge-Sheep Creek divide. 

Thunderstorms dumped rain on the ranges either side of me as I crawled along the valley floor. It looked like I was going to get wet. I was looking to the west when a massive bolt of lightning flashed about 5km away, followed by the most ear shattering clap of thunder I have ever heard! I jumped! Thunder sounds so much more frightening at altitude, especially when you are the tallest thing around in a treeless landscape for about 10 kilometres!

I somehow managed to keep in front of the storm as it made it's way toward Bannack Road. I wondered if there would be a string of riders behind me, stuck, like flies on flypaper when they hit Bannack road? My inner competitor went "mmwwhoahahahaha" at the prospect of a buffer building behind me.

Toward the end of the valley the climb kicked up steeply to the divide crossing. I could see a little red dot climbing the road. Another rider! Someone to chase! It is amazing how much it lifts you by having someone to chase. I dug into the pedals, standing on the climbs until I had to get off and push. As I crested the divide there was Mitchell P having a bite to eat and donning his wind vest for the descent. I asked him if he wouldn't mind getting a photo and I reciprocated for him.

I was starting to run low on water and wanted to get into Lima to eat and sleep, so I bid Mitchell farewell for now (he would no doubt catch me again) and powered off down the descent. There was miles and miles of tailwind assisted descent and from the map profile it looked like it went downhill all the way to Lima - but it didn't of course! 

The road entered a canyon along Sheep Creek where a sign proclaimed "15 miles winding road". It should have added "washboarded, winding, loose surface" to that.

I was out of water here but didn't want to fill my bottle from the creek as this was cow country and the effluent in the run off was a sure way for me to pick up a bug, right? "Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink. Water, water everywhere but Dave's head did shrink".....

It was still another 28 miles into Lima and it felt like it took forever. Once I hit the frontage road along the interstate I thought "not long to go now" but the road climbed gently. I started trying to take photos of the stunning sunset behind me by contorting around on the bike. This was more to divert my attention and it did soak up 5 minutes. I didn't get a photo that did it justice though.

Lima (pronounced Lime-a) finally hove into view.

It was 9:30pm and I pulled straight into the motel. The lights were out in the office but there was a guy waiting by the door. I explained that I was the guy the rang from Montana High Country Lodge to reserve a room and did they please, please, please have a room? They had one left and I quickly paid for it, asking what time the diner closed. "The diner and the truck stop both close at 10pm" he informed me. Nooo! It was 9:45 and I needed resupply but I needed hot food as well. I madly rushed across  to the truck stop, snatching up food and drinks then raced across to the diner and pleaded for some hot food, anything they were willing to cook as it was now 9:55pm. They took pity on me and I ended up with a cowboy burger and fries to go. I thanked them profusely and tipped generously. As I left to go devour my catch Mitchell was storming in to try for the same. I don't know how he went but I hope my tip swayed them.

Back in the room, as usual, I was doing 3 things at once. On the divide if you aren't doing that you are being inefficient. I was eating my burger, unpacking my tent to dry it out, reading my map and cues for tomorrow, looking at Trackleaders to see where people were, checking the weather for tomorrow, eating my burger (still)........you get the idea. Whenever you were off the bike it was all systems GO, unless you were sleeping. Even when sleeping I did two things at one, namely sleep and sweat! My poor body was rebelling.

From Trackleaders I saw that Beth and Simon were in the same motel. I had finally caught them again but I also noted that they had arrived 4 hours earlier, meaning they would be off early. After the last few days I needed some rest and set my alarm for 6am, a time that would be hours after their departure but at least I was on the same page again.

Today was a big one again at 245km (152mi) and 2500m (8200ft) climbing but while tired I was in good spirits having secured the luxury of a room and caught up to my countrymen/woman. The room made a big difference to my outlook and subsequently how hard I could potentially go the next day.

I washed the last of my burger down with a Bud Light that someone had left in my fridge then drifted off  plunged into sleep.

Cheers.