An ode to Glacier National Park: Part II

And I thought yesterday was emotional...boy was I in for a treat! The adventure was just beginning when we GOT TO Glacier, now we have to ride through it! Camping was a less than glamorous experience...it was SUPER cold and raining the whole night and it was pretty difficult to stay warm in our tents. Needless to say I didn't sleep very well so the 4:30am wake up was pretty rough. I woke up cranky, cold and pretty irritable. We had a 78 mile day ahead of us including the tallest climb of our trip - Logan Pass. We had to get up so early so that we could get to the top of the pass and back down again before construction on the road to the sun (the road we were riding on all day) started. I decided to ride with Kelsey and Liz that day because I knew they were having a hard time getting started as well. It was pretty evident in the first few miles of the day that we would be taking our sweet time to take pictures and climb at our own pace so we decided to volunteer to be a 3 man sweep team. Jillian and Diane were really excited that they didn't have to wait on us and happily accepted our offer. Kelsey, Liz and I had the best day EVERRRR!!!! We had so much fun enjoying the AMAZZZZINGness of Glacier and didn't feel rushed at all to climb up the mountain. We got to the top of Logan Pass with smiles on our faces - 6000 some feet up! It was such an accomplishment! We were treated with a 14 mile downhill at a pretty decent grade with winding switchbacks the whole way down!!! It was outstanding (minus the fact that the top was FREEZING and we had to take breaks frequently to make sure we could feel our hands to use our brakes...minor details while biking). At the bottom of the pass there's a lodge, convenient store and a few restaurants. The self proclaimed sweep team treated ourselves to a delicious pizza lunch and some relax time next to the fireplace. It was hard to tear ourselves away to finish out the 30 some miles left in the day. We finished the day in Whitefish, MT (with Kelsey getting the only flat of the day a mile from the host site - what luck we have!) and finished the 11th day in a 11 day straight riding days. It was a day of high highs and low lows and many many accomplishments! I love my life and the people in it right now...I can't believe everything we have done! I've also never been so happy to have a day off the bike (build day in Whitefish!)...my butt needed a break! :)