A hardcore cycling day today! It started with a single climb of 70 miles in length. I have never climbed anything like it before. They do things big in America. The gradient was consistently between 1 and 2%, following the beautiful river Gallatin in a winding, wooded valley between sandstone cliffs. There was no flat ground at all to break it up. Rain threatened, but held off. 

  The problem was that, as we gained height so the headwind increased, and the top 30 miles were a serious battle into the wind. We made it in just over 5 hours cycling, with a second breakfast en route. The summit is at 7250 feet, our highest point yet.  
  
The battle with the wind continued all the way to West Yellowstone, on 88 miles, by which time we were pretty far gone. We considered staying there the night and then going direct to Yellowstone – but the town was fully booked. So on we went for a final 32 miles, over the Targhee Pass. As we started the climb an enormous thunderstorm pelted us with ice cold hail, and then eased back. It was past 4pm when we reached the summit (having started at 6.30am). Now the full force of the storm was very nearly on us. We were facing the prospect of 20 miles riding into the teeth of the wind that would inevitably accompany the torrential rain. We began layering up. 

 
I stuck out my thumb. A guy called Mike stopped in his pick up. The bikes went in the back and, suddenly, everything was very easy! Thanks Mike! We are now watching the storm from our hotel window, overlooking another lovely river. Better weather forecast tomorrow.