Everyone was busy getting packed up in the morning to head out towards Ovando today. Kieran got his broken rack temporarily fixed with zip ties and planned to take the less bumpy, paved road to Seeley Lake where he hoped to find any mechanic to remove the broken bolt stuck in the frame. The rest of us had a pretty long and steep and bumpy climb up Huckleberry pass towards Seeley Lake. Andy and I left relatively early on that route.
The good news was that it was cloudy, unlike yesterday when the sun baked us. It still was a hard slog to the summit where we were rewarded with some great views.
We had a really nice single track path to start our descent down. Some of it was right next to a steep drop off which a bit scary. You really had to keep your concentration and eye on the path ahead. The rocks here looked a bit sharper than previously, which is concerning to not have your tires slashed when going downhill fast. Andy is much more of a daredevil than me, and I let him go on ahead. His bike also has a front suspension fork, which I don’t have. It was Saturday, and there were more recreational vehicles out on that dirt road, which kicked up a lot of dust. Most were very polite to slow down when they passed us, but still…
We arrived in Seeley lake and found a barbecue place for lunch. We debated staying, but it just didn’t have a great feeling to the place, so we headed on for a longer day to Ovando instead. It was a beautiful ride through ranch country. This was definitely “Big Sky” country. We even had the wind in our backs. 
Ovando is a small town that is well known to support the GDMBR cycling community. There is a church that lets us stay in the basement that has a kitchen, shower and laundry machines. We had at least 20 riders staying tonight, so the floor was well covered with our mattresses and sleeping bags. It was one big floor. Had to tell if there was a specific gender section, or one for the snorers,.. I found a spot, put on my eye mask, ear plugs, and went to sleep quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment