Great Divide Stage 40

Lincoln to Ovando

Strava: 61.7 km, 676m, 3:33, 139 shifts, 42 kph max

Finally a night of over eight hours of solid sleep! I woke up at 7 momentarily worried I overslept then remembered the plan to get to the grocery store after it opened at 8.

We packed up and hit the oldest restaurant in town for breakfast. My veggie skillet was almost more than I could eat. I really wonder how normal people who aren’t riding all day can eat these meals.

We bought groceries at the store for tomorrow, then went back to the Three Bears Inn to finish getting ready. We had a last stop for coffee then headed out of town. Very quickly we were on a dirt road, headed up hill. Sounds like every day. But our 40th stage was an easy one. We climbed 300m, not too steep, then some more past a gorgeous lake. We diverted to it and Wytze and Daniel had a swim. Then down a long way. We talked to some SOBO riders and were passed by a bunch of motorcycles.

We hit the valley and had 25 km of easy cruising with a little headwind to Ovando. We pulled into the Blackfoot Commercial and Ovando Inn and checked in. The Switzerland/Columbia world cup game was on so we got ice cream and drinks to watch. It went to penalty kicks but Switzerland won in the end. Another NOBO rider we met who started six days after us said he’d been hearing about us for the whole ride.

After showers and laundry Daniel disappeared into the small inn store and bought everything we needed for dinner, since Tuesday night is the one night in Ovando when neither restaurant is open.

We started with cheese and crackers with California champagne, outside. We all helped with preparations. Dinner was inside: farfalle with a delicious tomato based sauce Daniel made and tomato, cucumber, yellow pepper and feta salad Wytze made. With Chilean red wine. Wow, what a feast!

Wytze entertained us by delivering 15 gallons of ice cream from the kitchen to the living room, “Here’s dessert boys!” Real dessert was ice cream sandwiches and fancy caramels.

It was a wonderful, easy day of cycling, a lot of fun. Near Ovando we talked to a team of four guys like us, one from California, two from Denmark and one from Ohio. When they said they were on day nine it really struck me that the end is in sight.