Saturday, July 17, 2010

A day with great friends

7-17-10 Day 42: Malta, Montana to Havre, Montana: 87 miles in 7:05 hours all on Rt. 2 West.

Today just goes to show that there’s no rhyme or reason to the weather out here. I got up early, and I mean super early to get a good start on the day as I had done yesterday - specifically to beat the wind. Well, this morn I got up and was on the road at 4:50, yes, yet again a new PR for departure time. And be damned of the headwind machine wasn’t just cranking from the get-go. Like I thought I had a system down here and Mother Nature just threw me an upper cut! So I got going out of Malta this morning before the sun had even crested the eastern horizon. But it was not dark, just kind of twilight, and definitely not dangerous as there was ZERO traffic on Rt 2 at that time.

Last night I had corresponded with my friends Ken and Kim from Edmonton, and they were going to meet me today at 10 AM at Chinook, then take my gear in their camper and let me ride naked on my bike to Havre to a campground Ken had prearranged for us to stay at. But when I got on the road this morning, what with the 10-20 mph northwesterly headwind, I knew that I’d made a bad call by telling Ken I’d meet them at 10 AM. Hell, all I could muster was a pitiful 10 mph into the wind, and Chinook was a good 67 miles to the west. Crushed again by the wind! So much for my scientific logic to the ways of Montana weather. Rode knowing at 10 mph that I’d be a good 1.5 hours later than I’d told them. But it is what it is. So I just got into a comfortable gear and spun into the headwind through the early morning twilight towards Chinook. It was actually quite surreal pedaling this early with the sun not even on the horizon yet, with like nothing on the road and out in the middle of freaking nowhere. I figured that Ken and Kim would either wait in Chinook or drive further east to see where I was, so I was pretty cool with the situation.

Now I had another stint going through an Indian Reservation, but it was so early that I had no impact on anything. My only problem on the Indian lands is the fact that there are 100% more broken glass on the berm than in non-Indian roadways. Take that for what it is, but that’s definitely the case out here in Montana. So I just road out on the roadway, seeing that no traffic was coming or going in either direction. Now my speed was definitely better than my day from hell on Wednesday, when I could only muster like 8 mph for a high side. Today it was more like 10-11 mph, and let me tell you, that 3 mph makes a huge difference. So I spun up to and through the reservation, which was only like 30 miles across. Had plenty of water and food, so I just kept it rolling.

Now the nice part was that I was anticipating meeting up with Ken and Kim, which, when you’re on your own for like a month, that’s pretty sweet hooking up with friends who feel like family. Just having their companionship for a day was really going to feel great. So I had that going for me as I was just puttering along into the wind. That and I had to revert to like going over episodes in my life, going back and rethinking and reliving episodes so that it would take my mind off of riding so slowly into that wind. I mean you just have to play these incredible mind games with yourself to get through an hour of riding. And then you do it all over again for another hour, add infinitum.

The landscape is just the same again, with miles upon miles of open rangeland, with gradual rollers, bluffs, flats, and this openness that just makes every mile feel as though it’s 10 miles. Tell you what, when we were riding across Canada and riding a tailwind most of the way – the way you SHOULD do it – it was quite a different feel. Now, with a headwind, it just makes each mile feel soooooooooooo big. And it make me feel sooooooooooo small. But I’m going to get this thing in the bag come hell or high water.

So I made it to a little convenient store just before the reservation ended where I stopped for a pop and a sandwich. This was still reservation, but on the line. It just feels so weird going through these places. I mean I’m totally with the Native Americans in that we, the white people, pretty much screwed them in a very big way. And I feel pretty self-conscious when I go through the reservations. I feel that there’s this animosity towards me and what I represent, but of course I cannot say for sure that that’s the case. The Indian population just kind of looks at you differently. And that’s how it was at the store. I had a lot of eyes just kind of checking me out. Was it my lycra cycling kit? Was it that I was a white? Was it both? Don’t know, but there’s definitely an underlying “thing” going on. A “vibe.” You can feel it. I did not feel threatened. I was not hassled. But I felt this vibe.

So I rode out of the reservation and passed through Harlem, Montana and just up the road I see this camper kind of due a U-turn in the road. And I pedaled closer and by gosh it was Ken and Kim. They pulled off and I saw Kim wave to me. Now they had come about 20 miles further east to meet me than we had arranged. GOLDEN! We hugged and they asked if I wanted to throw my yak and panniers in their camper? DONE. So new plan was to ride to Chinook, about 20 miles west, hook up again, and then ride another 20 miles west to Havre. And man, got that junk in their camper and got going and it was like I had to learn to ride again. Felt just amazing. Now I was able to bump up the speed from 10-11 mph to 14-15 mph – quite a difference when you’re talking riding for 5-7 hours.

The wind was still there, still blowing like hell, but man, without all that weight it was just fantastic. So I kept it rolling into Chinook. Got there but I did not see them parked at a motel or any of the gas stations. I figured that they just took it on in to Havre, so I continued to pedal west. And like all of a sudden the wind really died down, didn’t shut off, but died down significantly. So I was able to crank it up to the 16 mph area. Glorious! Still had to alternate in and out of the saddle all the way to Havre, but hell, this was a cake walk compared to pulling gear. Ended up hitting Havre in just a smidge over 7 hours for 87 miles. Now if it weren’t for Ken and Kim I’d of bagged it in Chinook for sure. So I got an extra 20 miles out of the day, and it made my day to Chester and Cut Bank that much easier.

Pulled into the Havre RV Campground that Ken had told me he made reservations at and then scouted the grounds for their camper – not there. Ok, I’ve been through this one before where support vehicle and rider/s are off cue. So I went into registration and found that this was indeed the place where Ken and Kim had camped the night before, so I just bought a coke and muffin and waited at the entrance gate. I figured that they or me had missed one another at Chinook, and eventually they’d figure that I’d ridden to meet them at the RV campground in Havre. Sat there for about an hour and then they pulled in. We gathered at their campsite and just feasted on sandwiches and Rickerd’s Red beer – several! It was just so cool to hook up with these folks again, people who I thought I’d never see again, and now I was having lunch with them in Montana. Very cool, no just totally incredible on their part to go out of their way to meet up with me on their vacation time.

Now Ken bless his soul had pre-paid for a camping site for me at their campground, but it turns out that it was not where all the RV’s were, nope, the tent camping was like in back of this big gas station/grocery/casino, along a big fence between the RR tracks. And I scoped it out and even asked the registration gal if I could just camp by their camper. No go she said. I had to use the little devil strip in back of the station/store/casino. That got the wheels turning as to what to do. I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t camp next to Ken and Kim, and I kind of didn’t like the fact that I’d have to be wedged in between Rt 2 and the Amtrack RR line. To make a long story short I got Ken a refund on the camp fee he’d so graciously paid out, and found an efficiency a block away for like 32 bucks. Life was good.

Then Ken took me in this little casino and bought me 2 big oil can beers as we talked for a good hour at the bar. It was just great reminiscing with Ken about the Trans Canada trip and our short time together in Edmonton. And here we were, a year later, sharing a part of our lives again. Many great memories. Well, I went back to my efficiency worked for a bit and then met Ken and Kim at a steakhouse for dinner. Had great meals, with me kind of eating everything not nailed down and then it was time to say goodbye - again. Man, these are some awesome people! You know, for all the pictures and places I’ve seen on these trips, it’s the fact that I’ve met people like Ken and Kim, and Barney and Val. Those are friendships that are just very special. We all have this bond. Ken and Kim - I love you guys. Take care and have a very safe trip back to Edmonton. I WILL see you down the road.

Tomorrow I hope to make Chester with a 61-mile day. Could be easy, could be a bitch. Let’s see what Mother Nature has in store for me. Getting closer to the Rockies, just three rides away!

Take care all……..Pete

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