day 55. twin bridges,mt to jackson, mt. 75ish miles.

a little bit of wind, a little bit of despair, a little bit of joy, a little bit of climbing and a little bit of hitching.

the day started out as most do. Pack up, clean up, fuel up. i bid farewell to those who were set for denver and departed for dillon with hopes of catching jon for to ride with a partner.
i didn't catch jon until 11:30 that night when he was already at camp.

the road to dillon was a bit of a climb, well actually, just a 30 mile gradual elevation gain. i stocked up on supplies in dillon as i had planned on putting in 70 more miles and there weren't many towns along the way. as i rolled off the curb and into the street i felt a bit of a tug and my bike wasn't rolling properly. i glanced down and noticed the rack had come loose, the left support dangling.

I'll eat breakfast and figure this out, i thought. i took a closer inspection and realized the bolt holding the rack in place had snapped. half the bolt was still stuck in the frame with no obvious way of freeing it. i thought, this may be the end. i went into eat and to think things over.

i knew there was a bike shop in town, so i left my things with the restaurant staff as the rack could not support weight, tied the dangling bit up with a shoestring and headed to the shop. it was closed and not to re-open until 4pm the next day. sweet. there was an after hours number on the door so i gave it a shot. "i should be back in a few hours" a voice said after i explained my situation. "i'll get you fixed up."

i retrieved my things from the eatery and loaded up the handicapped bike. it held up quite well to my surprise and made it down to the local library and then espresso shop. by the end of the jaunt, the shoe string was stretched and the rack dangling once again.

i loitered in front of alternative board and bike for an hour before another injured bike rolled in and then the owner/mechanic. the other bike had busted a spoke while carrying a guy east. he had to hitch into town dodging two passes, his friends still out on the road. these guys were from oregon and headed to virginia, were trying to make the whole thing in 50 days. doable. he said they wanted to do a 200 mile day. good luck with that, chief. i do hope that works out for em.

my bike was fully functional by 4 so i ate again, used the library and headed to camp. but when i got to camp i saw the sun high in the sky and headed to wherever. once again i didn't want to waste daylight so i climbed atop a pass and met a dude talking to his lady on the phone. i completely interrupted his conversationand made him talk to me. the sun was starting to glow golden and i knew it was still nearly 30 miles to the nearest town. "how's the next pass" i asked. "just a small hill, man. nothing really" he replied. i set out into the sunset with hopes of jackson.

well that pass was a lengthy and ominous climb. it was 10:45pm and pitch black when i rode to the top. jackson still 10 miles out, a man who had just passed me in his truck sat waiting. "can i give ya a ride? its gettin' awful late." the man asked from his old pick-up truck. "you know, its supposed to be all downhill from here. think i might just finish it up." i replied. "well, there are two more hills like the one you just climbed" he warned. i was pretty sure it was downhill, but being a foreigner to those parts and the fact that there wasn't any light made his offer sound pretty good. i loaded up with him and he carried me all downhill to jackson. would've taken 45 minutes on the bike. oh well. it was nice get to camp. there i found jon reading in his tent.