Yesterday was one of the most challenging days of pure cycling that I've maybe ever had; right up there with that 200 mile day I did years ago. The scenery is beautiful but I can barely take it in because I"m just staring at the ground, afraid of getting in a wreck. Picking your line on these dirt roads in a mountain bike is a very different riding experience. The day started out with us foolishly wasting our first 15 miles on trying to find a hot springs that we never did find, called Molly Hot Springs. When we finally got started from Warm Lake, we had to go straight up 2000 feet at about a 5-6% grade. I literally couldn't do it; I ended up walking a good chunk of it and by the time I got to the top I was destroyed. But then we immediately ran out of pavement and had to do the next 20-25 miles on dirt roads, which sometimes were OK and hard packed, but sometimes were really sandy and a bit treacherous. It is so much harder mountain biking than road biking.
We stopped by a little lodge called Deadwood Outfitters, but we didn't want to stay because we wanted to get a few more miles in. That was a big mistake for me because I totally bonked and was completely out of juice. But I made it to this little campground.
Everyone so far has been very nice. I somehow lost my hiking poles so my tent won't stand up, but I'm making the best of it. The worst problem has been how surprisingly cold it is, it's interfering with my sleep. But today we make it to Stanley and I can get a hotel room.
