D2M day six

This day for me was the hardest. The hut in Paradox Valley was hot all night and short on fresh food. The heat had killed my appetite as well as my sleep. The day started frustratingly with my handlebar bag shooting off the front of the bike in the first hundred yards. Everyone had the bit between their teeth so they left me to my own devices to try and repair it. Like much modern shit it was basically unfixable, but I wasted 45 minutes trying to anyway before throwing it into the sagebrush in frustration. A couple hours later I remembered that there was $100 in cash in one of the zippered pockets and that pissed me off even more. There was a four mile "wall" to start that really hurt. I caught Mike R. about 3/4 of the way up, but the rest were long gone. I waited for Mike at the top. Subsequently I waited at a couple more intersections without him catching me up. I didn't have an odometer after the first day and being stuck behind the main group and ahead of Mike I had to navigate strictly by the verbal directions. Luckily they were good and after tons of climbing back up into alpine terrain I managed to find the final hut without getting off track. Even with odometers most everyone else got off track so I got lots of props for my sense of direction - more like just good at following directions. The last hut was beautifully sited and freshly stocked with food so we had a good time on our final night.