Wednesday June 28 – Day 39
What a difference a day makes. Today was a great day on the bike, over some very rough terrain. I started with a short up and long down, but then had to do a tough 2300 foot up over only 6-7 miles. But I pushed up by noon, with the help of some energy gels and Hammer Bars feeling good. Then it was down to Lincoln and a footlong meatball sub and a bunch of cookies. Then, up over another big up and down to Ovando, and about 10 more miles on the flat.
Just before Ovando I ran into the divide racer in last place, a fellow named Kenny. He is a big strong fellow, built like a fireman, rides in a ball cap, and he’s from NY. Not your typical Divide rider (or mountain biker, for that matter) but he was putting in solid 70 mile days and looked like he was having a great time. We talked a little bit about the climbs coming up and the guys on fixies (who were by then probably about 150 miles ahead of him). I wouldn’t be surprised if he caught those fixie guys. His pack size is smaller now than what they were talking about, and if he’s doing 70 a day now he’ll probably be doing 100 before long. Those fixie guys are going to have to slow down here at some point because of the pain I think.
Ovando was just short of mile 80 for the day, and I stopped for some food. I was debating trying to push for Seely Lake, but that would have made it a 105 mile day and I would have run out of daylight. So I stopped at the USFS campground just on the other side of Ovando, which was the right call. It’s actually sort of a madhouse here – people are already camped out here, staking out spots for the fourth and having a good old time.
(Update: Kenny made it as far as Rawlins, WY – further than everybody but Matt Lee, who finished the day before Kenny dropped out. So, Kenny was technically second – not bad for a NYC guy. From looking back it looks like he was a day or two faster than I was through that section, so it wasn’t like he was lollygagging, either. Matt is just so fast that he makes everybody else look like a bunch of little girls.)
Day 39 stats:
85 miles
6000 feet up
Just before Ovando I ran into the divide racer in last place, a fellow named Kenny. He is a big strong fellow, built like a fireman, rides in a ball cap, and he’s from NY. Not your typical Divide rider (or mountain biker, for that matter) but he was putting in solid 70 mile days and looked like he was having a great time. We talked a little bit about the climbs coming up and the guys on fixies (who were by then probably about 150 miles ahead of him). I wouldn’t be surprised if he caught those fixie guys. His pack size is smaller now than what they were talking about, and if he’s doing 70 a day now he’ll probably be doing 100 before long. Those fixie guys are going to have to slow down here at some point because of the pain I think.
Ovando was just short of mile 80 for the day, and I stopped for some food. I was debating trying to push for Seely Lake, but that would have made it a 105 mile day and I would have run out of daylight. So I stopped at the USFS campground just on the other side of Ovando, which was the right call. It’s actually sort of a madhouse here – people are already camped out here, staking out spots for the fourth and having a good old time.
(Update: Kenny made it as far as Rawlins, WY – further than everybody but Matt Lee, who finished the day before Kenny dropped out. So, Kenny was technically second – not bad for a NYC guy. From looking back it looks like he was a day or two faster than I was through that section, so it wasn’t like he was lollygagging, either. Matt is just so fast that he makes everybody else look like a bunch of little girls.)
Day 39 stats:
85 miles
6000 feet up
posted by Mike at 10:52 AM
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