Tour Divide Day 3

Day 3- Before Whitefish to Holland Lake Lodge, 100 miles (??)


It all started out with my alarm going off at 4:45. (I sense a theme!)

A quick and quiet prep got me out of camp without waking others up. The ride into Whitefish was pretty nice. It was only maybe 8 miles instead of the 20 Dave thought it was and it was rolling down hills. I was kinda frustrated by that because I could have slept in a warm hotel but at the same time I knew I was saving a ton of time by camping.

I followed my rule of thumb about arriving in a town, stop at the first place that looks open (the worst is passing an open place and having to turn around to come back to it because everything else is closed). It turned out the hotel restaurant that I stopped at was closed but they were nice enough to give me directions to a place that was off course BUT it was right next to a grocery store. Give and take...

The food at the restaurant was pretty good, especially to a starving divide racer that had already been up and riding for an hour. I also got the first of many stares when I ordered, "Yes ma'am, I did just say THREE orders of french toast with scrambled eggs and sausage."

After ordering I hit the bathroom and did a dirt bag biker shower in the sink. I learned that my gloves and socks were really stinky after just one day without washing. The smell of my gloves actually made me start dry heaving. Ahhhh yes, the life of a homeless man.

After my 'shower' I whipped back out to my table where my feast awaited me. Here comes another lesson. It only takes about ten minutes for your body to communicate to your brain that your stomach is full. That makes the ten minutes after the first bite hits your mouth EXTREMELY important. I found that I had to eat like a horse for those first ten minutes because once my body felt full, I just couldn't eat anymore.

A site note on eating:


It was always very difficult for me to get in enough calories. Being 6'04" and 237 pounds (at least at the start of the race), I burned upwards of 20,000 calories a day on the divide. I was continually in a calorie deficit and I just couldn't get enough food, which explains my ~30 pound weight loss. 

After gorging myself on deliciousness I went across the street to the grocery store. A little food, a little  A and D, a little anbesol, and a little gatorade made me good to go. I then realized I had lost a piece of gear... my hat I think. I found it back across the street in a parking lot. I wasted a little too much time messing around and loosing gear in town but it was early in the race and I'm certain that I wasn't the only one working out jitters.

The area leaving Whitefish was another pavement detour and I felt like I was cruising pretty well. My back was starting to give me quite a bit of grief (nothing new) but I couldn't even get into the aerobars which were in a very upright and highly modified position already to accommodate my lack of lower back mobility. To add insult to injury (litterally, ha!) I was passed by a rider wearing all moots clothing, again he smoked me like I wasn't even moving.

I just tried to find my happy place and cruise at my constant goal of 50% of maximal effort. The rolling country side was beautiful in this area and I enjoyed the rising sun immensely. I had an encounter with a hilarious farm dog that chased me for about half a mile. He was having a good ol' time trying to herd me and I was having fun taunting him to catch me. His antics were actually making me laugh out loud. Then I hit a down hill and lost sight of the pup. But, I know I was still smiling at his antics because a photographer from Mountain Flyer Magazine took a shot of me just as I started descending.

Look at all that fresh and clean gear!

Not too long after this photo was taken I came across a sign that was advertising goats for sale that came with a diary. That sign has perplexed me for the last several weeks. What does a goat even need a diary for? "Dear diary, today I was hungry so I ate a can."

Anyways I continued riding and came across a restaurant at a highway crossing. According to my notes I was expecting a gas station and the restaurant was really crowded. I decided to order a meal to go and re-up my food supply for a big push to Hopewell Lake. (Little did I know...) I ate my meal standing outside the restaurant as the Eurotrain/peleton/those-four-little-guys-that-I-just-couldn't-keep-up-with pulled in. I was quickly on my way as they sat down to wait for a table. 

As I pulled out of the parking lot I looked at my watch and noticed it was about 11 am. I continued to ride and came to the first of three climbs that I would need to face in order to make my goal for the night.   The first climb went well. The second climb went ok but I was starting to feel pretty weak. Then all of the sudden I hit a wall, like the famed wall in a marathon but about twenty times bigger. 

I got really emotional. I got frustrated with hills. I took a few wrong turns. I started getting pretty upset. I realized I wasn't going to make my destination so I looked at my profile sheets to find a plan B. I misread my sheet and thought that Holland lake was another 30 miles and over ANOTHER big climb. I was about in tears. I couldn't figure out what my problem was. 

I decided to call Liz, my lovely wife. As soon as I heard her voice I started to bawl. I was crying so hard the lenses of my glasses were filling up with tears and over flowing as I leaned over my aerobars with my head hanging. She gave me a few words of encouragement and I decided to push on. As I hung up my phone I saw the time..... 9 pm. I realized it had been ten hours since I ate last. 

IDIOT!!!! 

Kids, today's lesson is very simple: EAT. (Period as in END OF SENTENCE.)

No wonder I was bonking like crazy. I popped in a snickers and all of the sudden I was on top of the world. Then I rode up to the roadway crossing and hit the dirt towards Holland Lake. Then I saw a sign that said the lake was only 4 miles away. What?! The day made a complete 180 degree turn. To top it all off I then spotted a black bear walking down the road under a rainbow.

That's when I shot this video..... Sorry it's sideways, I can't get it to rotate.

Then I cruised an easy ride into Holland Lake Lodge, which FREAKING RULES. Sitting by the fire was none other than Ben Oney who had once again out ridden me over the climbs. The lovely staff at Holland Lake Lodge hooked me up with a stellar four course meal, a good beer, a nice room, and a hot shower (I also washed out all my clothing and hung it up to dry). 

I was a bit upset with myself for stopping an hour earlier than I wanted to (my plan being to ride from 5 am to 10 pm every day) but it had been a very difficult day emotionally and sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. It turns out this was a good move on my part. The next two days would turn out to be very difficult physically and the extra hour of sleep really helped out. Besides, did I mention how good the food was. I mean fillet mingon.... I'm only human you know!

Again I set my alarm for 4:45 and I passed out to sleep the satisfying sleep of the near dead. 

Side bar:

I can't recommend Holland Lake Lodge enough to anybody who comes across this blog. I will even go out of my way to ride down to the lodge just to partake of their food the next time I race The Divide. 

Here are some photos...

It was awesomeness.