Trouble with Brakes

Every time I am climbing one of these passes I am expecting it to be the one I really hated last year!  With an awful section on the other side!! So I never know until I go across the top!!    Anyway I was quite enjoying myself and the three passes went well and there was a good downhill into Helena where I stopped at Hardees and ran into a few other riders.  I ate with them - one had a broken pedal, the other a swollen knee!  They were going to get a hotel room.  Then I saw the English guy ride by again - I knew he was going to stop also as I had passed him earlier and he had a slow puncture!!I ate and then got ready to set off - my plan was to ride all day and all night - I felt pretty good leaving town - a guy that did it last year came and chatted for a while which was nice and then another couple of ladies had a sign and were out cheering - again that was really nice.  Kind of fun!   There was a good dirt road climb out of town and a really cool sunset - orange colours bouncing off everywhere.  The it got dark and things began to get  lot more interesting.  The climb took a right hand turn which I couldn't see so had to hunt around for that for a while.  Ended up on a 4 wheel drive trail - big rocks everywhere - difficult to ride. Big valleys where the water drained.  Bit of a disaster to ride in the dark.  My dynamo light is great - trouble is when you stop in the pitch black in the woods the light goes off of course - all I had was  tiny LE light - all in all a bit unnerving - I was a bit afraid up there in the total darkness all on my own.  Wondering where on earth I was.  I pushed and pushed to get through and eventually made it out of the woods.  Looking at the map I was expecting 2 more ups and downs - they were hard work. And then on a downhill my front brake stopped working completely.  I tried to take a look at it in the dark using my little light - took it apart - put my water bottle down at the side. Realised it had not been set up properly - not much I could do about it now so I put it back together and set off again.  Of course I left my water bottle behind!!  Struggled to get over the next hills - really was not having a good time.  Kept expecting a downhill. expecting a downhill which never came, it never came.  Finally there was a good downhill into Basin.   Only half of my night's ride completed.  I was exhausted.  However at least the second half from Basin to Butte was a lot easier - followed a nice path along the highway for a while, then a train track through a tunnel and then out on to a rod next to the highway. The sun had come up by now and I was just exhausted.  Struggling to pedal, had to keep stopping to warm my hands, in a really easy gear.  Really hungry and thirsty.  57 miles had taken 12 hours - I had enough food and drink for about 9/10. When the sun came up the temperature dropped - had to keep stopping to warm my hands .  Finally there was a bit of a downhill into Butte - went straight to Dennys for some food - poor lady there must have wondered what was wrong with me.  After breakfast I found myself a hotel room and passed out!!  I remember the staff kept asking to clean my room - I'd only just checked in!!!!   After a good sleep I am now up and have just taken my bike to the shop. Front brake is not working at all and they know nothing about my gears in there. They say it might take some time to repair the brakes - great!!  So I am just off to the Ace Hardware store to buy some more screws to sort out my aero bars - then hopefully I will get my bike and be ready to set off again!!