Frieght Train

In the town of Jackson which had only 3 buikdings, there happened to be a massag therapist. It was the most painful massage I ever had as the therapist tried to work out the aches and pains of a month of riding. I actually felt naseaus the rest of the day. But yesterday was the best I felt the entire trip. The ride in the morning was also the nicest of the trip so far. Very few cars and trucks and wonderful scenary as I climbed Chief Joseph Pass. I even saw a huge moose on the pass. Even though our route does not go thru Idaho, where we started the descent into the Bitterroot valley was the border of Idaho. So I went about 5 feet into Idaho just to say I was there. The descent was another 40+ mph thriller for seven miles. The mileposts go by much quicker on these descents than when you are climbing at 5mph. Then a strong headwind picked up when I was 30 miles from Hamilton. My left ACL started to ache and I was just barely moving out there. I thought, here we go again, over an hour t
o complete the last 10 miles.Then in my review mirror I saw a cyclist wearing red and black closing in on me very quickly. Turned out to be Bob, the best cyclist on the tour with his wife Susan drafting behind us. Behind Susan were two young people we had met along the way. The girl was cycling from VA to SFR and the kid was cycling from CO to Alaska. Bob yelled out get on the train and the girl who was at the last in line yelled out hop on. So I got behind her and we rode the rest of the way into Hamilton for 10 miles at 18 mph in a paceline. It was a lot of fun. I was so grateful, it would have taken me over an hour to finish on my own. This morning we head to Missoula where the second of three Timberline segments if this tour concludes. Today some new people will join the tour and some will depart.