Thanks for making me stronger

Excuse the cheesy Christina Aguilera song quote, but the last couple of days have had some fairly sustained climbing. But I have to say my body is starting to feel stronger and better equipped for the task, but more on that later!

I think when I left you last we were departing the picturesque Holland lake. What followed was perhaps the most scenic and satisfying ride of the trip so far. But from the start of the day we were climbing on and off for ten miles or more, before hitting a non stop five and half mile climb of more than 2000 feet. But the weird thing was; as the gradient was manageable, and in spite of the heat, I enjoyed it. And the views on the way up, well I have nothing on this camera phone to do them justice, but they were stunning. And the rough single track descent on the other side of the pass...Well that really was my cup of tea.

So we crashed and sped our way down to the town of Seeley Lake, where we found the campground on the edge of the lake itself. Huckleberry smoothies I can tell you are the future, and swimming in lakes continues to be my favourite post ride cool down. I tried to capture an image of the lake at sundown.

Today the views may not have been quite so epic, but the 66 miles was my biggest day yet. And once again we were climbing straight out of the door from Seeley Lake, most of the way to the cute and very western town of Ovando, where we had a lovely lunch and made the most of a huge salad with real green things in it!

Then ten miles of prairies and we made the foot of the real test. An eight mile climb up and over huckleberry pass. Man did I sweat, as I will show. But despite that I felt strong all the way up and have really found a rythym to my climbing now. However even after you defeat the pass it has a few stings in the tail until you roll into the town of Lincoln. Lincoln being one long strip along the highway of bars, motels, and various Americana where I am writing from to you now.

One thing to note, just before we made the pass, is that we have been quite lucky. The summer is really dry and hot here, and they are having problems with wild fires. We passed one a few days ago, and at the foot of huckleberry pass there was a base camp for fighting another up above (lots of trucks, helicopters, men etc.). We had to speak to the chief about using the road. Luckily despite having being told by someone it might be shut for a week, they had just reopened it.

But I have to mention one major disaster I didn't avoid. It looks like the single track downhill yesterday claimed the life of my e books screen. I am gutted. If I start riding on my own again, it means I have no entertainment, and I'm just left with the thoughts in my own head, and god damn that's a scary proposition.

This is made more relevant as I have really enjoyed riding with Chris and Rick, but they are going to take the alternative route bypassing Helena. So I have to decide if I want to see it and whether to strike out on my own again. Choices.

As I mentioned earlier I am getting stronger (although I am utterly beat right now) but there are some other intriguing things going on with my body and I'm not really sure the photos do them justice either. One is that my name may as well be salty Shannon. Check out the now tie dye shirt from today. Man do I need my electrolytes when I can get them. The other is I have developed the fore arms of a tanned Greek fisherman, and with gloves on I'm afraid also the pale paws of a drug addict in comparison. Ah well! Onwards and almost certainly upwards.