September 12th-Holland Lake to Ovando

Got up pretty early this morning and shook hands goodbye to Stein. He was jumping on the highway to cutoff some distance. He only has 3 weeks to ride from Banff to Colorado before his plane leaves from Denver, so he is having to modify the course somewhat.

I setoff up the mountain for a 65 mile day starting with 2500 feet of vertical culminating in a 500 foot singletrack top out and 1500 feet of super narrow singletrack decent. It was so tight on the descent that at times both my pannier bags were hitting the trees or rocks simultaneously.

I descended into Ovando, Mt whose sign reads "Ovando over 100 dogs and about 50 people". I hit the local tavern for a fish sandwich and beer and then while brushing my teeth, ran into a couple of locals sitting by the general store telling stories. I hung around with them and helped them polish off their whiskey while we watched the sun set.

Then I pitched my tent in the front yard of the store owner to get ready for an early ride to lincoln the next morning.