Day 4

Starting odometer: 335

My journal for this day starts out saying "fun, fun, fun". The morning begins very cool. As it rained overnight, our tent is drenched, but we start packing up and getting ready as soon as daylight reaches the cracks of our eyes. We are sore today, still tired as well, but we were warned that there was little shade to look forward to today, so the earlier the better. Again, we're one of the last people packing up. We already see people hitting the road. Dwayne emerges from his tent and realizing everyone is packed shakes his head and claims, "it's just wrong!" I'm with you Dwayne!

We eat a big breakfast and gab with Eddy and Anna. Eddy points out that we are, in fact the last group in the room that will be riding today. All the other people are staff and a random couple from England we acquired the night before who were heading North on the Great Divide trail, having started at the border of Mexico. They are carrying their gear and I should bow down to them. I have always respected those folks, but now, after 2 days of riding, I think they are crazy/amazing.

Anyway, we're on the road in front of only Eddy, Anna, and Dwayne. Some things never change. The first six miles are once again on the highway and I'm thankful that not many people are out at 7:30 bombing down the road at 80 mph. J is feeling sick and at one point I thought he was going to puke from his bike. These first few miles warm my muscles up and some of the soreness from yesterday is disappearing. We turn onto Holland Lake Rd. and after a short stint on it, turn off and begin to climb. This section is manageable. It's overcast, which is prolonging the cool, thank you, thank you, thank you. J is hanging on by a thread. I'm worried that he won't make it through the day. Eddy and Anna catch us and the boys take the lead, Eddy talking as he rides. This is just the distraction J needs. Either he'll fall apart or will forget for a moment how bad he feels and join Eddy's animation. I think he's doing the latter.

We reach the first water stop and we're a large group for a few minutes. We laugh, swapping quotes from such quality movies as Dude, Where's My Car (What does my tattoo say? Sweet! What about mine? Dude! What does mine say? etc.) and Road Trip. We have exquisite taste. J is just sitting on the ground, so he still doesn't feel the best. From this stop, we continue on a path that was once a road, but is now gated. It's semi-overgrown, but doesn't look dusty, and for this I am thankful. This is my favorite section of the entire ride. It's mainly flat and beautiful. We're pretty closed in on either side, but you can look up and see the mountain tops over the trees. It's like heaven. We stop many, many times. Sometimes to take pictures, sometimes to eat huckleberries, sometimes just because. It's wonderful.

We arrive back on logging roads again and it's starting to warm up. The real climbing begins and we start in a group of 5, but Dwayne must be tired of dealing with our stops and leaves our group. At one point, I'm looking at the side of the road for berries when I spot the mother lode bush. I can't pass it up. J says he'll ride slowly and I can catch up. I'm wolfing down berries with both hands, shoveling in 2-3 at a time. Love that bush (it's probably in flames now).

As it was supposed to be very hot today they have an additional water stopped planned in the middle of the climbing. We have quite a ways to go and everyone gets into their climbing groove. Anna puts on her I-Pod and I ask her what music she listens to while riding. She says it's Eddy's and there's everything from Blondie to Jack Johnson to Queen. Boom. From then on, tackling this hill, I'm singing "Killer Queen". It's also a perfect rhythm for my pedal strokes, so I'm feeling pretty great. J is not. He's quickly lost back behind me around the curves. I see Eddy in front of me and that makes me feel pretty good as Eddy is bad ass. I climb alone for a while, enjoying the stunning view across Grizzly Basin of the glacial wall in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

I start to get lonely and I'm a little worried about J, so I stop in a nice sized patch of shade. Eddy disappeared around the corner in front of me and J, Anna, and Ed are behind me. Ed is determined to take his time today. He's going at his own pace and does not care how long it takes him. I respect his attitude. I wait for quite a while, then Anna pulls up, looking very thankful to see me stopped. J is not far behind. We talk about the views, then Ed catches up to us and stops as well. We get into a conversation about how working for yourself is the way to go and we learn about Ed's shady past of living on the streets as an alcoholic when he was in his 20's. Now I'm really in awe of him. Here he is 64 and rockin out on a bike. The doctors tell him he shouldn't even be alive. We must have been there for about 1/2 hour when Ed says, I have got to keep moving. We all realize that we also need to keep going and the climb continues.

It gets a little more hot and the climb has lost some of it's charm. Eddy leaves two packs of Gu for Anna in the road on a fallen limb to make sure she sees it. I chuckle at this gesture as I pass it. I keep listening for the sound of laughter as I climb up and around turn after turn. It's still beautiful to the left, but I'd like a snack and a break. I finally get to the water stop and everyone else is not far behind. We take a nice break before tackling a more steep climb. More steep? I'm not liking how this sounds. But, we leave as a group (Carol, Ed, Eddy, Anna, J, and me) and reach a point where we can look out over the Swan Valley towards Seeley Lake. There's smoke across the valley and suddenly we see flames shooting up as well. I had forgotten how the first time you see this it's very disturbing. We take pictures and gawk at the fire for a while.

Things get great: we turn onto a single-track steep uphill lined with beautiful fireweed overlooking Grizzly Basin. The climbing is not hard anymore. We are in awe of the beauty surrounding us. We take our time up this slope and our spirits are refreshed. This is why we came. This is one of those amazing moments in our lives that we will never forget. Mmm. Delicious!

Then the single-track downhill begins. We are still in our group of 6 and J takes the lead, hopping over trees and showing his downhill skills. His discomfort is gone and I can tell he's psyched. I lead the women down and it's a little scary in spots as the drop off to the left is very severe, but we all take our time and I feel confidence in my riding that I have not yet felt. It is so fun! Well, we are being beaten by small pine trees that line the trail. They leave spots of blood on our arms, but we are immune to the pain. We are like giggling school girls, giddy from the rush when we reach the end at the lunch stop. It's 3:30. Is that still considered lunch?

We have smiles on our faces for the rest of the ride (until they are erased by the washboard roads at the bottom) and, yes, we are the last ones to make it to camp, but we ride in as a group and we are on fire! Pleasure radiates from each of us. We can't stop smiling and chattering about the day. I hope everyone else had a similar day or else they are truly missing out.

Tomorrow is a rest day (yay!), so tonight J suggested we get a hotel room. (double yay!) We eat dinner with the group and the van takes us and our gear the 2 miles to heaven. We both get a real shower and hit the grocery store next door for snacks. When we exit the store we see the most amazing sky- a different story in each direction. Different clouds, colors, feel. I wish I could have bottled that beauty.

We snuggle up in a real bed and instantly fall asleep.