Trees and mountains - yes!

7-20-10 Day 45: Cut Bank, Montana to East Glacier Park, Montana: 48 miles in 4:10 hours all on Rt. 2 West.

Trees again! Damn does it feel good to be out of the Great Plains. This time compared to the Canadian trip the Plains just felt like forever. I’m super stoked to be at the base of the Rockies now, and next up is the traverse of the range into Idaho and Washington. I have roughly about 200 miles of Rt 2 to go in Montana.

Decided I’m just done with getting up at 4 AM and tackled this morning at 5 AM, and was pretty casual about it, making a little pot of coffee and watching the local Helena, MT news and weather while sipping java. I had bought some yogurt and two bananas and had those for breakfast rather than the almost unchewable bagel and PBJ. I’m just totally burnt out on the bagel PBJ thing. Don’t even want to look at them again, not with PBJ slathered all over them anyway. So I figured on getting out on the road between 6 and 7 AM. The hell with the early start at 5 to beat the wind and heat. Today the temp was supposed to be just above 40 degrees, so heat was zero issue. Now it was just the wind, and according to the news station the wind was about 3-5 mph out of the northwest or just about calm. So with my itinerary of 47-50 miles for the day, I didn’t care if I was out there for 6 hours. That would still give me a finish time at 1 Pm at the latest.

Now what with the weather report of temps in the low 40’s, I had gotten out some clothing that I thought I was just lugging around like a noodnik just to add more weight to my load. But be damned if they actually came in handy. Got out the leg warmers, the ear warmers, gloves and my Underarmor long sleeve for a base layer. Popped my head out the door, and sure enough, I could just about see my breath. Yup, chilly start for sure. Get ready and was on the road by 6:30 AM. Wind was just a hint out of the northwest. The morning started out cloudless. From the western edge of Cut Bank I could see the Rockies off in the distance. Finally. I mean this was way different than in BC in Canada, where we could see the Mt ranges for several days on end before we got there. Nope. Here in Montana I never saw the Rockies until I arrived into Cut Back yesterday, and the fact that the storms and clouds were so thick yesterday, it was hard to even discern the mts.

Today, different story with zero cloud cover in the morning. There they were just looming some 50 miles away to the west. I had to do this little screamer of a descent down to a small river to start the day, and wow, what with the chilly temps, that was just totally bone chilling to begin the ride. Then there was the climb out of the small valley, and it felt like my chest was going to explode what with only 5 min of riding and cardio in my body. Went from like 0-60 in several min, with me in the little cookie stomping out of the saddle to get up this climb. But it just kind of leveled off and continued up in what was probably a 1-2% grade – for 20 miles!! Yup, I was climbing west up to the Rockies, and despite the darned near negligible headwind, I could only muster 11 mph. Again, felt like a had a brake stuck or a tire flat. But nope, just a false flat.

Now I had entered my final Indian Reservation of the Montana journey, the Blackfeet Nation. And I hate to say it but this stretch of road, what with its spectacular 6 foot wide berm for me to ride on, it was just littered with broken glass. I mean I just had to concentrate so hard on what was in front of me that I could not enjoy the ride west as the mts were getting more and more in my face. Hell no, I had to dodge, swerve, tilt and bypass just mile after mile of broken glass – most specifically beer bottles. I decided to name this stretch of highway the “Crushed Glass Highway.” And it wasn’t fun. Constantly I had to put my right hand down, with glove on, against the front and rear tires to make sure that glass hadn’t adhered to the rubber. Two times I actually had my gloved hand kick off pieces of glass stuck to the front and rear tires. Very good thing I had those gloves on because the one time the glass was a sizable chunk on the front tire.

This had to be the worst stretch of highway with respect to the glass that I’d ridden for the whole trip. I was shouting out some pretty saucy expletives every 10-15 min and then going through the same process again and again, dipping my right gloved hand down and holding it across the front and rear tires. This as I just continued to do a false flat climb on an arrow straight stretch of highway that just drifted off into the western horizon.

Got to the Indian town of Browning, about 34 miles in about 3:30 hours of ride time. Now I had been kind of warned about this town. Advise was just continue through. Do not stop, do not pass go, do not spend money or time there – just keep riding. And that I did. Heck I rode through at about 9:30 AM, so things were really subdued there. It’s almost like some of the towns I’d seen in Mexico, where shacks and old trailers dominate the town – not a pretty place. Now there were all sorts of signs inviting tourists to stop here and there, but really, this was a get in and get out kind of place. It’s the worst of the Indian towns I’d ridden through. So I got through Browning and then the traffic just kind of dropped off by half or more, what with some traffic going south to Great Falls or north towards Canada. Just a smidge of the traffic, and most of it tourist traffic, continued on Rt 2 west. So that was kind of nice to really have things settle down. Still had the great berm – and still had the Crushed Glass Highway.

Did this little butt kicker of a climb out of Browning which forced me to take off ear warmers, gloves and long sleeved jersey once I got to the top. I mean I was sweating up a storm despite the fact that the time was only about 56-58 degrees. During those 3.5 hrs of riding I’d stop every 20-40 min to take pics of the mountains as they just got closer and closer. No hurry these next several days, that’s for sure. Nope, I want to be casual and be able to stop every now and then to take some nice photos. So I got to about 4 miles east of East Glacier and then I could see the trees coming back into the picture, trees climbing up the foothills and into the mountains. What a beautiful sight – stands of trees just covering the hills and mts. I’d been riding a solid 800 miles of plains, and to see this, well, I just had to shout out loud in ecstacy! “Trees,” I yelled out, “I love you.” So long Great Plains, hello Mountains.

Ended up doing this screaming descent down to East Glacier and into town. East Glacier is a nice, quaint little place, so unlike say a resort type town at the foot of a National Park like Estes Park, Colorado. No, no Estes here. This is just a cool, very little place. No bumper car gigs, no giant slides, no dog and pony shows, no main street just oozing with junk shops and candy shops, hot dog shops and outfitters. This little place is just so far removed from that schlock that it’s very refreshing. I’d taken the time last night to research the amenities out here on my computer, and I found a little efficiency in town at a super great price compared to the two main hotel/motes, so I booked it. Told them I could be in early, like 11 AM, and they were really cool, saying they do their best to have it ready for me despite they normally have the rooms ready at 2 PM. Really friendly folks. So I got there at 10:30 AM, and the gentleman suggested that I hit the diner next door for coffee or breakfast and that he’d have it ready by 11. DONE. I went next store to a very, very cool little diner run by a couple of “Granola” type folks, and had some spectacular French toast with huckleberries, that and a cup of really good java.

What a difference here compared to the last 450 miles of places I’d just ridden through in Montana. I mean it was like I just landed in a different country. This was an outdoorsy, vibrant environment, with young long hairs stopping in before or after a backpacking trip. With kayakers, cyclists, canoe enthusiasts, just it is totally different than say Havre, where these monster trucks driven by dudes with cowboy hats dominated the landscape. This is a different Montana here at East Glacier, the kind of place that I just love to hang at and soak up the vibes.

Well, true to his word, the gentleman had my efficiency ready to go at 11. I rode back down the road 2 blocks to the place and it’s really a neat little gig. I mean I have satellite TV, bed, shower and a little pine desk in a smallish room. It’s really cozy. Now they have wifi, but I only get like 2 bars, so I popped my air card in and I’m up to two bars there, but with much better upload and download time. So far so good. So if I do not blog tomorrow, you’ll know that I ran out of signal. This could be the case for the next several days as I ride west over the mts.

Right now it’s clouding up pretty good here, just like it does in the mts…..clear in morning and early afternoon, and then clouding over with the potential for thunder boomers in the later afternoon and evening. This on the weather forecast for this area for the next 2 days. And get this, the low tomorrow and Wed is supposed to be 29-degrees! You know, I’ll take that any day over 80-90 degrees and torrid humidity. I like the cold, I do better in the cold, I welcome the cold. The highs for tomorrow is supposed to be 56-58, and around 60-62 on Wed – perfect for cycling for me. Chance of afternoon storms are a possibility for both of those days to. So I’ll likely try to get rolling about 7 AM and put in like 5-7 hours so I end by early afternoon each of those days.

Well, just checked all my tires and they good. THAT I just cannot believe. I’ll likely be doing a check every 3-4 hours just to not have to wake up tomorrow morning and see that I have a slow leaker. Going to get out and explore this little town a bit and visit the Amtrak station in the center of town. It’s made of wood and looks like an old train station rather than the ugly metal building that most of the stations are made of. Probably check out a couple of the eating establishments to, one of which is this place called Serrano’s, a mex place that looks to have a pretty cool menu. And the beer? Well, this little grocery had micro brews in big bottles, just like the brews Barney and I went nutz about in Quebec City. I’ll snag a couple of those bad boys for sure.

Tomorrow I’m shooting for my first day in the mts and getting to either West Glacier or maybe even Columbia Falls if the weather and the wind are kind to me. Hope my legs are kind to me to. That’s it. Time to enjoy the fruits of my labors over the last week – time to enjoy a little mountain town at the foot of the Northern Rockies.

All the best……..pete