On June 7, 1998, Erin Garvin of Roanoke, Virginia, embarked on a 2,600-mile mountain bike ride along the Great Divide Mountain Biking Route. She and six others — one woman and five men — left the Canada/Montana border headed for Mexico on a route that took them back and forth over the Continental Divide dozens of times. Garvin, 25, and her friend Sarah were the first women to ride the route in its entirety. What follows is an excerpt from her daily journals, which were regularly posted this summer on the web site roanoke.com.

Day 20, June 26: Idaho, headed for Wyoming. 42 miles

Crash! I awoke around 3 a.m. to the roaring and booming of the worst storm I have ever experienced. Maybe it was worsened by the fact that only layers of nylon (my tent) separated me from continuous flashes of lightning, sheets of rain and bone-shaking claps of thunder. The wind violently shook my precarious home, and all I could hope is that my tent stakes would hold. I knew that our gear outside would be drenched.

Later that morning, we set out biking with strong headwinds (but no rain!). I was thankful when we stopped at Squirrel Lodge in Ashton, Idaho. There, the hostess showed us muddy bear prints all over her two cars, where bears has tried to break in the night before. We were still in bear country.

We started our climb to the Idaho/Wyoming border, when we met a group of cowboys. They warned us of snow on the 7,400-foot pass we would cross six miles up the road. Three feet of snow had stopped their rugged truck from crossing the pass one week earlier, and they hadn't tried it since.

We continued onward, and were pleasantly surprised to discover just one foot of snow at the pass — an easy obstacle compared to the wet, cold and numbing weather of days past. We even helped a man push his car through it. Another stuck car had been abandoned.

We set up camp and stowed our food in bear-proof containers (bear warning signs filled our campground). This was the first day in a long time that we'd gotten to camp early enough to relax before dark.

Normally, our days on the road were packed. We'd start off in the morning by packing up camp, we'd eat breakfast, bike most of the day, set up camp, eat, and then sleep. Every minute was spent surviving or biking, so our down time today was well received.

	WHAT NEXT? For a full account of Erin Garvin's Adventures along the Great Divide Route, visit roanoke.com.

We look forward to a half-day tomorrow (22 miles) and our stay at Colter Bay, a town along Wyoming's Jackson Lake [in Grand Teton National Park]. A friend of mine, Larry, had made arrangements for us to stay there for free.

Brad, another friend of mine from Salt Lake City, had made arrangements to meet us at Colter Bay and show us around one of his favorite places in the world. I was excited to see Brad, even though my cohorts kept kidding me, asking if I would finally get some 'act-she-yone' (action). Every time we'd meet a single guy, the group would wink or raise their eyebrows at me and ask if I wanted some 'action.' I hoped I didn't look as desperate as they made me out to be.

Move on to Onward to Colter Bay

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