Day #3 The Last Resort

Článek je k dispozici i v češtině 🇨🇿.

I got up before the sun went over the horizon. Finally, I could use my precious bike lights. I didn’t hesitate and put all my waterproof gear on. It wasn’t raining and I didn’t have any forecast, but I already developed a weather sniff, and I knew it was going to be bad. And so, it was.

My first goal of the day was to cross two passes and make a big resupply in Whitefish.

As I approached the first pass it started snowing. It wasn’t that bad. The show was better than rain as the most of it was falling off my clothes. It was freezing at the top and my unfavourite part was just about to begin.

When descent is fast, it’s very unpleasant but it’s very short. When descent is endless it’s a nightmare of the highest level. As I was descending, snow had changed to rain and I was once again wet as a drowned rat. That wasn’t the end of my struggle, it was only the beginning. The descent wasn’t very chunky but for some reason, my navigation flew over my bars. What a bummer.

Fortunately, it survived the crash. Unfortunately, my navigation was split into two pieces. As you might know, the new Garmin Edge 840 has a new feature. Replaceable mountain plate. General knowledge says that the plate could break very easily on older units. Mine didn’t break. My got unscrewed. Somehow.

👨🏻‍🦯️ Blind

So, this was my situation: I was cold, trying to repair it somehow. I didn’t sleep very well and most of my cognitive abilities have diminished. I was screaming in my head—why me? Did I do something wrong? But I didn’t get any answer. I had all these problems every day and I couldn’t find anything positive about it. It was all one big disaster.

I was losing my body heat very fast, and I needed to move. On Tour Divide, you don’t usually need navigation a lot. There is usually only one road, and all other connections are marked as private property or no trespassing or I have a gun, so don’t go there. I put my navigation in a pocket and check it from time to time if I’m on the right track.

It quickly became annoying as I was so nervous I would need to turn back when I lost the track. I gave the solution another couple of minutes. I used zip ties to secure the Garmin on my front bag. I didn’t have a clear view, but it was better than nothing.

Even though it stopped raining my hands were still cold. I felt desperate. Cold. Alone. Without energy. I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want to drink. This was my lowest moment. I was hoping for a hill that could warm me up, but the slow descent was endless. One guy was repairing a flat and I saw my situation a little bit better.

I have found out that when I just stop for a moment, I warm up a little bit. Is it the wind that is causing this? My new pair of gloves from the petrol station wasn’t helping at all. My fingers were numb, and I was barely able to operate my shifter.

🏆 Sweet Taste of Victory

But there was one moment when I found a tiny hope. I figured out how to fix my navigation. To explain it a little better—the mounting plate of navigation was stuck in the holder. I was trying to turn it to a side, to put it out, but I didn’t have enough strength. I was trying to use pliers, but it wasn’t helping, and I was afraid I would snap it into halves. And then it hit me. I just put my navigation on and use it as a lever to turn it. How could I be so stupid?

My struggle didn’t end as tiny screws has fallen to the gravel road and I was searching for them. But I got them just to find out about another problem. I didn’t have a tiny screwdriver. All my bits were too large. But my Leatherman tool saved the day once again as I was able to tighten it with a flat head.

It might sound silly to you. Silly set of problems that I could solved a long time ago if I just used my brain. But for me, it was very important. I must admin. I didn’t enjoy Tour Divide at all. I was still ill with no hope of recovery. My condition was worsening. But I have this set of victories over several obstacles. It’s not only the food you need to ride. It’s a feeling of accomplishment.

As no one was going to pick me up I went uphill. Meter by meter, revolution by revolution I moved forward. I stopped from time to time as I was out of breath. I took a caffeine pill. Didn’t work. I took a protein shake. It did work!? I don’t know why.

I made it to the top. Luckily it wasn’t raining, and snow was already on the ground. Even though temperatures were low the descent was pretty much OK. The only problem was that Whitewish was still far away. I didn’t want to check the navigation how many kilometres were left because I was too afraid it would be too much. As I reached Whitefish Lake, I was happy that I was there. Minutes were passing and the town was nowhere.

Because I thought I was close and I wanted to be there as soon as possible I was pushing the pedals too hard, I was breathing through my mouth and my throat was killing me. It was bad. I was feeling worse than yesterday.

🌨️ Winter is Coming

I pulled off at the first shop I saw. Immediately, I started to cough heavily. I went to mysterious alleys to find something edible. I needed to grab enough supplies to get me to Ovando, but it was so hard to keep focus when I was not used to local selection. At least they had some bananas.

As I was desperate, I was trying to find some medicine against cold. That took me the longest time as there were so many of them and I didn’t know what I needed. When racing I have a rule – don’t take any medicine that relieves the pain. It leaves me with two options:

To endure
Or to quit

I wasn’t afraid of pain. I was afraid of permanent consequences.

I got out of the shop, started eating something that resembled a yoghurt and went full in desperation mode. I didn’t know what to do. Tomorrow’s forecast has looked like a disaster. For two days I suffered in the rain. There was no warning. For the next two days, there will be warnings about snowstorms and the risk of hypothermia. I had two options:

Try to break through. Today is the last chance when it shouldn’t be so cold.
Rest. Stay in town, get a hotel, let the body heal and endure everything that nature will throw at me tomorrow

I was tempted to do the number 1 (because that’s what I always do) but I have decided on option number 2. I needed a warm bed and if it gets me to the finish line—I would be delighted to do it.

🏠 Resting Station

I went for a short ride to Columbia Falls as I wanted to be as far as possible. I bought lunch at Dairy Queen, but I wasn’t able to finish it. My appetite was at sea level … below. That was a bad sign. Check-in to my hotel was at 16.00 and I got there exactly on time. It was expensive and I wanted to use it every minute.

I had a bath, and I dried all my clothes. I was trying to relax and not to think about how my daily goal was slipping through my fingers. I felt like I had a fever and I was haunted by nightmares.