Tour Divide Day 5.

150km (incl. A few deviations). Holland Lake Lodge to Lincoln.
Total time: 10 hours, including 75 minutes stopped.

I did my best to silence ambition today and I forced myself to sleep in. I ate hot buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. Mmmmm. If there is a better breakfast therapy, I haven't found it. Christian, the guy who owns this Lodge, is very bike friendly and took good care of me. He even made me laugh a bit.

I don't wear an ipod when I ride. Maybe I should. I like the sound of animals rustling in the woods, the streams, the leaves, my tires rolling through the mud. But music is therapeutic. Listening to music in the lodge was nice. Christian's playlist was an diverse mix; everything from Dolly Parton, Flaming Lips.

I sat by the comfort of the fire for several hours and pulled myself together while I waited for the rain to stop. Yesterday, it was light, but cold rain for the first seven hours, and then on and off after that. I wanted to start dry today. I also wanted to start late enough that I wouldn't be tempted to ride past my ability.

I didn't leave the lodge until after noon; well after the other four riders (JP, Tom, Martin and Ray) who were there had left. I saw them on each of the first four nights and will miss meeting up with them.

The weather was the best its been so far; no rain and almost warm. Having said that, I still started with my rain jacket on and I had my black icebreaker 260 hoodie and leg warmers on all day. But there was sun and it was dry and it made life so much better.

I passed three GDMBRers on the way in to Seeley Lake. One guy's tire was torn and repaired with duct tape. That's unfortunate. He was moving slowly and seemed to be repumping a lot. Then there was a guy napping on the side of the highway. It looked nice. But I had been riding for less than three hours and it didn't quite seem something. The third was a spanish dude in a La Ruta jersey. I remember how cold the costa ricans were at BC bike race. This guy must be really suffering!

I guess that one thing that is nice about my body having a 12-hour limit is that there's no need to hurry through lunches and stuff. Might as well stop when I need to and enjoy it. Had lunch in Seeley Lake and decided that I had it in me to keep on truckin.

I used a blister bandaid and it seemed to work rather well. Until I had to go to the bathroom and found that it had also stuck to my shorts. Ouch!

I finally had the first wow-this-is-my-life moments of the trip today. Watching the wind blow random patterns over the glassy Holland Lake. Feeling the cool breeze on my face as I rolled past Cottonwood Lakes. Watching the reflection of the moon rise in the pools of water that have collected in the farm fields outside of Lincoln. With the rose coloured glasses that I got in Namibia, it was totally awesome.

Respiratory issues persist but have stabilised, so I am satisfied with that. I finished today tired, but with a big smile on my face and a few drops of gas left in the tank and it was soooo nice.

Sleep, sunshine and pancakes. That made all of the difference.
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