Day 7: Jail

August 25, 2024

Tough Morning Leads to Hard Time in Ovando

Distance: 105km

Climbing: 1575m

Start: 7:15am

Finish: 6pm

Bears: 0 (but deer, and horses, and squirrels)

It was a cold morning. Our first hot breakfast was a nice treat but wasn’t quite enough to make up for yesterday’s big day, the cold, and the big climb that started shortly after we left camp.

Beautiful trail, but riding the struggle bus.

There was also more singletrack than usual, which adds to the physicality of the riding, so we were both struggling to get over the almost 1000m of climbing before starting the long and cold descent into Seeley Lake. We felt behind schedule since it took five hours to do 50km, but we opted to take our time in Seeley Lake anyway and had a nicer lunch in a homey little diner with good food and great service.

Lunch, groceries, and errands took almost 3 hours and we had another 50km to go to Ovando, but having fuelled-up, less climbing, and smooth gravel roads had us arriving about our usual end time despite the slow morning.

Ovando is something else! Some towns along the divide are very small and struggling, but have embraced the riders coming through as a lifeline. Ovando has taken it to another level with free camping in the town square, and free accommodation in a tee-pee, covered wagon, and the old prison.

They say that in prison the days crawl but the years fly.

Aiming for breakfast at The Stray Bullet tomorrow.

We chose to stay in the old prison. It’s a nice change not to have to set up the tent. There were some characters in town: a local and someone in town with a film crew to play a poacher. Conversations go in some funny directions on this route, but it’s part of the fun. It’s a shame we don’t have time to chat as much as some people would like.

Tomorrow promises to be another big day of climbing with another interesting destination

Today's ride: 105 km (65 miles)
Total: 824 km (512 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	4
Comment on this entry	Comment	0