July 2, Day 7

Well it looks as if Mother Nature finally stops us. But before we talk about our morning weather, we need to do a major "shout-out" about the great people at Holland Lake Lodge: http://hollandlakelodge.blogspot.com/

Christian, the owner, was THE most personable and warm host we have come across yet. He has an amazing facility with cabins on the lake, kayaks, fishing, first class gourmet restaurant for a very reasonable price (includes dinner, breakfast and packed lunch). The views are spectacular! Cozy comfort... just what we needed!


They are especially considerate and gracious to cyclists doing the Great Divide. For example, they had breakfast laid out for us at 6am so we could get an early start! We cannot thank Christian and his wonderful mother, Nancy, and staff enough!

Oh, and by the way, the beds were super, super comfortable! Jiggleless is there...look hard.



Now back to Mother Nature.....

While having our lovely breakfast, the rain began to fall softly. The rain became heavier, with hail and thunder and lightning cracking around us. Although we were fully packed and ready to leave, we decided to wait as today was the day we were to scale Richmond Peak. This is reputed by previous Great Divide Cyclists to be the most challenging and dangerous section of the entire route in terms of terrain. We gave ourselves until 9am to decide on whether or not we would set out, due to the fact if leaving after 9am, we were leaving no margin for error, timewise.

Needless to say, 9am rolled around, and Dirtbaby, Jiggleless and I were back asleep by 9.30am after having had a second breakfast. This was a much needed day of rest so the rain happened for a reason. The summit of Richmond Peak was surrounded by clouds and fog all day so our decision was justified.



We locked our bikes and equipment at the Lodge and will rejoin them in the morning to once again attempt to move forward...