Yeah you guessed it, I was up and moving at 4:45 again. After I was dressed and down in the kitchen I spotted the every present Ben Oney who was mowing on food (This would be the last time I saw Ben although in the end we would only be separated by a few hours in a 20 day race). The wonderful staff from Holland Lake Lodge had left us each a packed lunch and a breakfast tray. I downed as many calories as I could in that precious ten minute window and I hit the road.
This was the first day that my saddle sores started to really bother me. It's kind of hard to explain without being too graphic but for the first 30 minutes of each morning I felt like I was sitting on two large hamburger patties. Of course, eventually the swelling would go down and the pain would subside (thank you anbesol!!) but it didn't make that first hour of the morning anymore appetizing.
The scenery was spectacular, as is expected every morning on the divide. I saw another bear as I was scooting along the trail and getting into the first real climb of the day. This day would prove to be the first real tough day for my back on the divide. The trails were smooth for sure but the constant effort was really getting to me. As the pain continued to grow in my back, the strength began to fade in my leg.
The obstacle course of fallen trees created by the insane spring weather didn't really help anything. When my back is feeling well I can lift maybe 40 pounds (Liz has to carry the big bag of dog food for me), when it is hurting I have trouble with even 20. To get over the piles that were higher than waist level I would actually have to remove my gear from my bike, port my gear over, get my bike over, and then get me over. It wasted a ton of time but I just couldn't pick up my bike when it was loaded with food, water and gear. This unload, port, reload, and ride repeated several times as I climbed into the early morning air.
Then I rounded a bend and saw a pile of trees that was about as tall as I am.... (6'04")
As I came to a large pile of fallen trees, about shoulder high, I became full of a sense of dread. How on earth was I going to get over THAT? The answer to that question turned out to be, "sloooooowwwwwwly". I was able to get my gear over by just tossing the bags. The bike wasn't too bad either, my Carbon Air Niner only weighs 20 pounds so I could pretty much get it up over my head and balanced on the top of the tree pile.
The real challenge came in getting me up over the pile. At times my left leg kinda has a mind of its own, especially when I am having trouble with muscle recruitment. For example, my leg comes unclipped as I pedal when I am having trouble controlling the abductor muscles in my leg. Also, and I learned this on the divide, I have trouble placing it in one place on a pile of trees and holding it in that place while stepping forward with my right leg.
With my left foot steps having a distinct lack of permanency, my attempts at climbing the pile of trees became comical. I must have fallen down into that pile of trees 20 times before I resulted in literally crawling on my hands and knees to get over. Climbing up, correction crawling up, wasn't so bad... crawling down on the other hand ended up more like controlled cart wheeling. Fortunately I landed in my pile of gear, which cushioned the final dismount. After getting up off the ground, getting my bike out of the trees, and remounting my gear, I was headed off down the trail again. Looking down at my watch I realized I had only covered a few miles in the multiple hours I had already been traveling that morning.
I crested the top of the first climb of the day and started heading down pretty muddy roads towards Hopewell lake. As I was descending I noticed that my front derailleur was acting up and it was becoming harder and harder to get the bike to shift. After I hit Hopewell, I stopped under an overhang (to get out of the pouring rain) and worked on my bike. I got the shifting working a bit better but it was still pretty sticky.
I hit the next climb up and over to Ovando and the shifting started to get really bad, there was lots of chain suck and the derailleur really didn't want to move out of the middle ring up front. I decided to not mess with it too much, a frustrated Divide racer can make a pretty poor mechanic (especially in the rain and mud!!). Then disaster really struck as I was descending towards Ovando, severe-the-likes-of-which-I-have-never-seen-chain-suck. The chain suck was so bad I actually had to unbolt my front derailleur from the frame to get the chain out.
Once the chain was unsucked, I put the derailleur back on but left it way up out of the way. This essentially left me with a 1x9 setup but it prevented any further chain suck stuck-age. I cruised on down to Ovando feeling good about how I was doing but bad about how the bike was holding up. Who knew several hundred miles of muddy roads in a few days would clog up a shifting system?
I pulled into Ovando and saw the infamous "Ovando: population 50, dogs 100" sign. You just gotta love small town America humor. As I rolled through town I was beckoned over to a store by a nice woman. (Ok, town is a strong word. Really I should say, "As I rolled into a small outcropping of three buildings...") She asked me if I had heard about the reroute. I said I had and started talking about snow, etc. She interrupted me and said, "No not for the snow honey, for the FLOODING." I looked at the map posted on the store window and sure enough there was a reroute for the reroute.... As Mr. Lee said, this was a 'biblical' year on the divide.
I grabbed a quick bite to eat and I was off and riding again for more pavement and reroute fun. I went through another small town (that I can't remember the name of) and hit more luscious dirt and climbing. Up until this point I had pretty much enjoyed the climbing, despite the fact that I was likely the slowest climber in the race. However, now that I was rocking a super sweet 1x9 set up I was not so good with the climbing. Don't get me wrong, when I could climb I would climb fast but the problem was that I just wasn't strong enough to climb in the middle ring most of the time.
This set off what would be a hike-a-bike-fest for the next two days as I slowly scampered my way into Butte. I can't really complain though, it gave me a chance to shoot some video diary as I walked.
Warning: Explicit adult language in this video!
After this pass I hit some roadway for a bit and then I hit the next huge climb, and I mean HUGE. This climb, which goes up to basically a trailer park in the sky, was just wrong it was so steep. At least all the foot prints that I followed made me feel less bad about walking it.
After I was up and over that climb, I hit some pavement and rode towards Helena.
In Helena I re-upped my gatorade and food supplies at a gas station and then I found a fast food place. I again had a face off with one of the ladies that worked there about what I had ordered. She brought the heaping tray of food to my table and then told me it 'couldn't be your's'. I told her it looked right to me. She became adamant that it couldn't be for one person. So I pulled out the oldest trick in the book... I recited the order to her, "It should be three bacon cheese burgers, a large order of fries, a large order of onion rings, a large chocolate shake, and two large ice cream sundays." She set down the tray with a look of bewilderment. "Thank you ma'am."
After having a grease lolipalooza at the fast food place I set out into the rain that had started while I was eating. I passed a bar with a bunch of 20 something patrons outside that started hooting and hollering for me. This would be the first of many times I felt like a pro cyclist.
The rain continued to come down in buckets as I started the dirt climb out of Helena. As the rain poured down the road continued to get muddier and muddier. I wouldn't have minded the mud so much but the 1x9 made it hard to spin easy and it was pitch black so I couldn't pick a good line to save my life. I decided about 11 pm to find a bivy spot. The road was lined with mini ranches, cabins, and barbwire fence. I finally thought I had ridden far enough form the last house that I had seen, I climbed up a bit off the roadway, and I found a large pine that gave me some shelter from the rain.
The best part about my sleep spot is that I woke up the next morning with the rising sun to realize I was in somebody's front yard!
I made this video as I was about to doze off. In it I ask universally puzzling questions such as, "What is a goat diary?" and "What can I do to make my gear better?" I also make some interesting statements about my gear and how I'm feeling. One thing is for sure, based upon how bizarrely my thoughts are flowing.... I was seriously tired when I shot this!
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