“Now I have come to the crossroads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew. But I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard.” – Lt. Col. Frank Slade – Scent of a Woman

A new day dawned and I felt better, much better. Oh, I was grumpy as hell for almost giving in with too little fight. Steve my roommate, saw me getting my riding gear together and infers that I will still be riding and he seems pleased when I reply in the affirmative. Misery loves company. Steve is a small businessman from near Milwaukee Wisconsin and has obviously worked very hard his whole life. He plays hard as well as most of the folks on the ride.

This day 57 miles. Longer than the 42 miles of the prior day but a lot easier in terms of difficulty. I believe that he climbed to over 7000 feet in elevation, but the road quality was better.

I started off riding with the faster riders but quickly decided to turn down the tempo. I happened upon David, retired doctor from Steamboat who is mellow with a good sense of humor. He was taking pictures of some horses staring down on us from an elevated position relative to the road. David said that he wanted to enjoy the sites, take photos and relax the pace. That was the Tour Divide that I signed up for.

We had two rather difficult climbs and two decent descents. Although it was all off-road, the quality was good and my confidence and speed on the descents increased. When we came into the SAG, there was Rob, out tour leader who was having a bad day and apparently dropped by the lead group. Also in camp was Avert, who was recovering from the thumb injury but riding the whole day. I wasn’t taking any pleasure in Rob’s discomfort but it was somewhat reassuring knowing that the strongest rider also has some bad days. Rob and Avert asked to join us and we enjoyed the company.

We had some remaining portion of the descent and I tended to lose contact with the other riders but caught up with them before we began the ascent. I am guessing this climb was over 4 miles and it was steep near the top. I walked whenever the spirit moved me which was almost as fast as I was riding. I could see the other riders ahead of me on the climb but was in no hurry to catch up. At the top, they were having a respite.

The descent was exhilarating and I was happy that I could stay in contact with the other 3 riders. As w and it was 180 degrees difference than the prior day. As we got closer to Polebridge, I felt a surge of energy. I am usually a fast finisher. We stopped for something to drink at the small but picturesque town of Polebridge (not many buildings). There were however more cars there and we soon learned that a wedding was taking place.

There was a hostel at our camping site which meant an indoor but cold shower. It was very hot when I put up my tent but as the sun went down, the temperatures dipped to freezing. There was ice on my tent in the morning. I could hear the music from the wedding and it was soothing and hopefully chased away any bears.

We have a home cooked dinner every night in camp and have two cooks: Gerddy (not spelled correctly) from Austria and Emily from Jackson Hole. I must say that the meals are much better than restaurant quality. I guess that Emily is in her early twenties and has done this ride solo. I will have to post pictures of these folks at some point.

It got cold at night but my tent and sleeping bag keep me warm if I don’t have to venture out. I am getting used to the process of camp and putting up a tent and taking it down seem to get easier each day.

Tailwinds

Chuck