Tour Divide Day 10.
Total time: 10.5 hours.
We took a slow start, enjoying some tea and waffles and the warm hospitality of Jeff and Jillian who were so kind to take us in last night. Then it was time to look at the bikes, which were squealing in misery last night. My rear brakes are totally worn, but otherwise the bike was good.
It was overcast, but dry, when we finally got rolling around 10am. The road was still really squishy with mud, and had wide streams flowing across it from the rain overnight. John, Dan, Jackie, and Greg were with us now, too. They had stopped about 9 miles before us last night(though we never saw them) and crashed in someone's garage for the night.
I don't know much about the game of bridge, but I know that bridge mix makes a great riding snack. Even when it has melted against the beef jerky that I keep in the same zip lock bag in my jersey pocket. Sweet *and* salty.
We passed in to Idaho today. Though I like Montana, it was a nice milestone to make it out of the state.
We took lunch at Mack's Inn; the first town that we came to in Idaho. As I was looking at my spot gps blinking at me, I was thinking about how funny it must be to be on the other end of that signal. I remember looking at the trackleader website when I was in Calgary before this crazy adventure started. When I scrolled over everyone's name, their little bubble things jumped so energetically off the map. It was so fitting that they bounced like that, with all of the enthusiasm that we had going into this event. It is so funny to think of them doing that now. Jumping with so much energy when we are all so tired. How could that little bubble possibly represent a rider now?
It must be funny to watch these things move along over time. Like a little video game. Starting and stopping mysteriously. Racing along sometimes. Crawling at others. Why did this one stop here? Why hasn't this one moved for two hours? Why are these ones moving together now? Why is this one only going 1.2mph? Why is this one off track?
You can't see the 10 miles of snow. You can't see the pouring rain. You can't see the wall of a pass. You can't see the total absence of services.
It was a long and hard, but great day. The afternoon brought some sunshine and a nice little double track descent that paralleled a river that had some roaring rapids. Stunning.
Luke, John, Dan and I took a detour off route to stay in Ashton for the night. We did it to have our first shower in a few days and to have a good sleep and let a few wounds heal up for the toughness ahead. It is the first night that I am not going to bed shivering. I am tired, but I feel good. I think that I can kick this respiratory thing in a few more days like this. I can now yawn without discomfort!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
posted by tori at
12:05 AM
3 Comments:
JP's sister Cathy here...glad you're starting to feel better! Mmmmm, Bridge Mix!
Out of Montana and into Idaho...now THERE's a Pic! Thank you, Tori, for taking the time to write and do photos so we can follow along the Divide with you. A friend of mine once told me, "When you re-read a Classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in YOU than there was before." You are writing that book one Adventure at a time. For me, the journey my friend wrote about began 27 years ago and continues today. Sharing your journey gives more than one of us the strength to go on. Blessings on you, Tori, and all you do. Ride safe, and know we are with you.
you can't see everything that the bouncing bubble implies, but there's a lot you can see. You can see snippets of the terrain, you can recall memories from being near those same areas, and when that fails, we tune into the observatori for the first hand story...
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