Day 12, Ashton, ID

It was very chilly as I woke up in my tent today, 41 degrees. Packed up my stuff and jumped on my bike and rode down to the Bullwinkles where we also had dinner last night for a buffet breakfast. It's almost embarrassing the amount of food I piled on, except that everyone else has at least as much as I did. I'm not sure how Cycle America can afford to feed the entire group.

The ride today is pretty short, only 69 miles. Not a lot of climbing was required. We even started off with a slight downhill for several miles before climbing a couple hundred feet to the elevation of slightly over 7000 feet to cross the Continental Divide once again. We dropped down and headed south directly into a headwind. We quickly formed a pace line and like yesterday, took turns at the lead position at one mile intervals. We had planned on stopping at Mack's Inn at 22 miles. Mack's has a wonder sunny outdoor patio. We quickly dismounted and ordered up coffee and pie. We lounged and chatted for about an hour and a half before the cycle sweep came by and encouraged us to get going before the lunch stop was to close.

I'm currently being kicked off the library computer. I'll have to finish this up later as well as upload the photos from today.

brian