Half a million dollar ride

7-23-10 Day 48: Kalispell, Montana to Libby, Montana: 88 miles in 6:23 hours all on Rt. 2 West.

Another just stellar ride in the mountains. Now there were little things that kind of dampened the mood just smidge, but overall this was an amazing day on the bike.

Tell you what, it rained like heck yesterday, especially later in the afternoon. There were thunder storms and 60 mph gusts that downed trees and knocked out the electrical. It was something to watch as I sat in a Wendy’s waiting for my Chicken something sandwich. I had to wait a bit for the rain to die down before I left. Otherwise I’d of gotten soaked in like a minute. And it pretty much stormed all through the night. But the trusty Weather Channel guaranteed that today was going to be great out here in Western Montana. So I went to beddie bye with visions of great weather to ride in for Friday.

Got up at my now customary 5 AM, readied my gear, slammed 2 yogurts and 2 bananas – which is now my tried and true pre-ride food – and got out the door and on the bike at 6:15 AM. I just LOVE starting early and finishing early. That 8:30 AM starts stuff is for the birds. It just puts you too far into the afternoon and into the toughest heat of the day. Today’s expected high was forecast at 88 degrees, so I wanted to be off the bike no later than 2 PM. Out here the temp just continues to climb up to about 5-6 PM where the hottest part of the day is.

So got rolling into a really cool morning – 46 degrees – with a very large blanket of cloud cover still looming over Kalispell and stretching off to the west, the remnants of the front that came through yesterday. So I had long sleeved Underarmor, long sleeved jersey and my leg warmers on. There seemed to be a slight breeze out of …..you guessed it – the west! But no real hassle for riding. Rode out of Kalispell and then on to the west on Rt 2. Now the bummer was that the berm just deteriorated from this 6-foot wide behemoth to a real nothing, in a matter of like 5 miles. And that was it. It was just this token little berm of like 1 foot wide. Now this isn’t too bad early in the morning as there is little traffic on the road with me, but later….I was kind of bumming there because I just didn’t know how long this would last. Could be like just a mile or two, or could be like the whole way to Libby.

I was riding in this valley surrounded by foothills, very reminiscent of or the ride on Rt 36 out of Boulder, CO up to Lyons. And then I started slowly climbing up these little stair step climbs – until I just started climbing with no relief, and I eventually dropped into the easiest gear in the middle cookie. This was definitely a pass, as I was climbing out of one drainage system and up to what I hoped was a drainage divide. Now this pup was may harder than the Marias Pass I had climbed out by Glacier National Park. Yup, this guy was longer by far. But no little cookie. I topped out on what was indeed a divide, and then I was in fog, actually the thick cloud blanket that I’d seen from Kalispell. And I rode in the fog, on a shit berm for nearly 15 miles. There were spots where the sun broke through, and there were other spots where it was just totally fogged in.

I did have the occasional log truck and gravel truck pass me, but they ALWAYS went well to their left to give me room on the thin ribbon of berm. The rest of the traffic was just as courteous. I was still a bit wigged about the fog and the lack of good berm. But at least people could see me and were giving me some space. Rode along the top of that divide for a long way, and then slowly began to descend down to another river valley – the Kootenai River Valley. This is where I started to run into a string of mountain lakes, McGregor Lake and the Lower, Middle and Upper Thompson Lakes. Some sections of this string of lakes area were ever so slightly illuminated by the sun through breaks in the low cloudbank, and then other sections were just totally fogged out. When I’d go though the sun areas I could see these wonderful mountains on both sides of me. In the fog, hell all I could see was about a third of the way up the sides of the mountains. But this was just awesome terrain.

Round about the Thompson Lakes area I got a great section of berm that took me all the way to this little, damned near nothing of a place called Happy’s Inn. Now that was my bail point if the day really sucked today, 49 miles west of Kalispell. But no way Hose’. I was bound and determined that with yesterday being an off day, I was going to do the 80-some miles to Libbly. So I stopped at one of two places in Happy’s Inn, the gas station/diner. Got a cold Pepsi and 2 muffins down my stomach in 10 min and back on the bike for the final push to Libbly. From Happy’s Inn I was doing a nice pace along the river, riding ever so slightly downstream at like 13-15 mph. Felt great.

Entered Kootenai National Forest and that’s when the thick blanket of low cloud cover finally broke. And when it did I was just treated to some unbelievable riding down in the river valley surrounded by the Salish Mountain Range. It was just spectacular with the sun out, shining down on the mountains with blue sky and cotton ball clouds up high. Ended up pulling off my long sleeved jersey as the temp was really starting to rise once the cloud cover had broken. I had to do another small pass as I rode northwest towards Libby and away from the Kootenai River, but this was no where near as hard as the fist pass of the day. And at that climb that’s where I lost my good berm again. Back to a little nothing of a berm the rest of the way. But the truck traffic had really died off by then, so again, not as bad as it could have been.

Once I topped out and descended I was on a pretty flat section of road that really resembled just a state or local road – but with these amazing mountains on both sides of me. It was just crazy beautiful to ride along this section. I was making much better time than I had figured on, because on this section there were points where I was jamming away at 15-18 mph. Yup, good to be alive! I rolled into Libby at about 1 PM, just before the heat really got going. Got a place a block away from a Subway. First things first – sink wash both tops and both bottoms and leg warmers. They were all pretty sticky by the time I got finished. Just set them outside of my efficiency door in the grass to air dry in the 88-degree sunshine. Then I just sat on a picnic table basking in the hot sun with shorts and no shirt with a big water bottle of ice water. Once I was hydrated beyond belief, I moseyed down to Subway for my 2 footlongs. Let’s see……ride 88, do wash, eat at Subway and it’s all done by 2 PM! That’s what I call a good day. Got a couple of Fosters Oil Cans for later at the local grocery and I’m set.

Tomorrow the temp is supposed to climb up to 94, so again, I’m going to shoot for a 6 AM start and hopefully shoot for the city of Sandpoint, Idaho. Yup, I’m just 32 miles from the Idaho border. I just cannot tell you how long Montana is. When I entered the state on Rt 2 the mileage sign read round about 670 miles! So I’ve ridden through 640 miles of Montana and I’m still freaking here. The panhandle of Idaho is very short, roughly a day and a half of riding if the weather is good, and then I’m in Spokane, Washington. I’m hoping to make Spokane by Sunday afternoon. You know, I can kind of smell the barn at the end of this ride now.

Well, I’m going to scrub down the drivetrain of my bike and then have a few beers in the hot Montana sun. Talk to you tomorrow…….pete

Rainy day in Kalispell

7-22-10 Day 47: Kalispell, Montana – Off day due to weather.

Let’s chalk up another off day today. Now I can’t say I’m bumming big time. Not really. I actually just lazed the day away napping like three times and doing my little Chinese buffet again. It all started like this…

Got up and readied my self at 5 AM for a 6:30 start. The weather forecast was pretty dead on from yesterday, as storms were supposed to move in during the late morning-the early afternoon. Checked the Doppler Radar and sure enough there was a system moving to the east/southeast out of Northern Idaho – I’m only like 120 miles from the Idaho border. Went for some morning coffee and noted that the wind was strong out of the west. So my choices were to shoot for Happy Inn and/or Libby with storms looming to the west, or, stay put and look forward to nearly a week of forecasted sunshine. The other factor was that Happy Inn is just barely a place of human habitation, with just barley any amenities, and more than likely I’d not beat the weather the full 84 miles to Libby where my choices were much better.

So I just decided to wait until tomorrow and relax here in Kalispell. So that was it. Came back to the efficiency and went back to bed for a couple hours of sleep. Then, round about 10 AM I got up and saw that the front had moved in and the sky was pretty grey and ominous. By 11 AM the rain had started. Felt pretty good that I wasn’t out in the mountains of Western Montana, out in the middle of bloody nowhere, riding into a gnarly headwind in the rain and regretting not waiting a day to have a pretty clean weather week of riding ahead of me. So it’s been kind of off and on storm/clouds/sun for the last 4 hours today here in Kalispell. It’s supposed to blow on by by early tomorrow morning.

I hit the buffet again round about 12:30, donning my anorak and walking down there in the rain. Did 4 plates and a cup of custard. Probably could have gone for 5 plates, but I just didn’t want the buda belly grumbling like an angry grizzly bear for a couple of uncomfortable hours. Then another round of napping post feeding frenzy. Funny how this cycling every day thing for 4-7 hours just really beats you down. It was like I went into the hibernation mode once I didn’t get on the bike today. I mean I crashed HARD on that third nap, waking up with drool on the side of my face! Must have conked out for a solid hour and a half of dream world.

Just looked out the window and it’s raining yet again. Coming down pretty hard this time. Well, I think I’ll just hit the grocery for a bit of hops and barley and get a smoothy at Wendy’s on the walk back! Yup, when you’re taking an off day it’s B. B. & IC – buffet, beer and ice cream. Have a great day and I’ll check in with you tomorrow……..Pete

Million dollar ride

7-21-10 Day 46: East Glacier Park, Montana to Kalispell, Montana: 88 miles in 6:07 hours all on Rt. 2 West.

This was one of those “Million Dollar” rides. You don’t get many of these on a trip, so I just savored it despite having an awesome day with respect to the time and distance I covered today.

Hit the hay on the late side last night – round about 10:30 – because I was NOT going to get up at 4 AM to get on the road for a 5 AM send-off. Nope, got up at a leisurely 5 AM and prepped for the mountains. The morning temp was an amazing 29 degrees, so I popped out the tights, the Underarmor long sleeve, gloves, ear warmers and long sleeve jersey. Slammed a couple of yogurts and 2 bananas and got ready to roll. Hit the road at 6:30 AM and off on the road all to myself for the first day in the mountains. Now I knew I had a pass to get over today – Marias Pass – and then whatever else the mts threw at me.

Got going with what felt like a very slight wind out of the west, but nothing that was gnarly. Did a little descending to a mountain meadow and then started gradually moving upwards. It just felt great to have all these trees surrounding me. I had a couple of trains going by, as the RR was just to my right. Got in the middle ring and just started climbing, in and out of the saddle. Nothing really tough though. Stopped numerous times to snap pics as I was climbing upwards. And I was thinking that this was pretty mellow, so don’t get lulled into some kind of false sense of security and think that the whole climb was going to be like that. Dipped down a few times and then right back up. And then, round about an hour in I got up to this sign on the road that read: Marias Pass: The Continental Divide. I was bloody stunned. I was expecting that I’d be using my little cookie and just stopping for an hour working up to the pass. But this was just totally sedate. It was easier than Sunday Pass that we did back in BC on our second day in the mts.

Then I thought I’d get throw a couple of nasties somewhere along the way where I’d still have to drop down into the little cookie. So I rode over the pass and went through the town of Summit. Nice camping up there with plenty of cabins and little efficiencies. And then the descent started, and it was just a zinger, where I just kind of plummeted down for a good 12-15 miles. Now by this time I realized that the real challenge was doing Marias Pass from the west to east, because what I was descending looked just wicked to climb from the other direction. I had lucked out in a big way. All that false flat riding I’d been doing on the high plains had given me the altitude over days instead of just the several hours you’d have to put in on steep pitches going west to east. Then the Middle Fork of the Flathead River came alongside the road and the pitch kind of lessened out a bit, but still descend to where I could comfortably ride at like 15-18 mph. Now there were spots where the road arched back up to small 5-10 min rollers, but nothing crazy and long. Route 2 and the RR just hugged the Flathead River for a long, long ride down to West Glacier. The road had been repaved so I had some awesome road surface to descend down. The berm, well, a bit iffy in places but I felt pretty good even with the smallish space I had to ride in.

The scenery was just stunning, and I was off the bike every 20-30 min snapping pics of the mts and the river valley. Sometimes I’d roll up a couple of hundred feet above the river and RR, and other times I was right down along the river. There is camping and lodging all over the place along this beautiful stretch of road. The smell of pine just lingered in the fresh mountain air. After a while there were just loads of busses hauling up people and rubber rafts east up the mountain to put in somewhere along the Flathead. Looked like a very cool river to raft down. By this time I realized that I had gotten away VERY easy on this day with respect to mountain climbing. All the sweat and blood on the high plains had put me really high up in the mountains by the time I’d gotten to East Glacier. That took hundreds of miles to gain the elevation. But from West Glacier, all that elevation is gained in just 35-40 miles to Marias Pass. Also realized that I’d be in West Glacier, my destination for the day, in a matter of 4 hours of less. And that’s when I started mulling over the idea of riding to Kalispell, some 31 miles further west from West Glacier.

Got to West Glacier and the sun was out. Hell, I’d stopped about 15 miles out of town to strip off my jersey, gloves, ear warms because the heat had climbed up to the mid 60’s. NOT what was supposed to happen back in East Glacier. There the high for the day was predicted at 56 degrees with afternoon thunder storms. Much different climate on the west side. Well, I got into West Glacier at 10:45 AM, in roughly 3:45 hours. And let me tell you…..West Glacier is an ugly sister of Estes Park, Colorado, what with the bumber cars, slides, goofy golf course, junks parlors and stupid shops. It was just crawling with people - a zoo. NOPE, no stop here for food or drink. I just decided Kalispell was game on, and I’d grab something to eat and drink further down the line to the west, maybe in Coram, Hungry Horse, or Columbia Falls. So I just kept riding.

By then the temp had climbed up to mid 70’s, and those damned tights were getting a bit sticky! Didn’t want to stop though so I kept rolling along the Flathead River to Coram. By now the Flathead was not a fork or branch, it was a river that is very wide, very clear and clean and it looked quite inviting what with those cold rumbling waters. Got to Coram, and sign read: Columbia Falls 8 miles. So I kept rolling. Got to Columbia Falls and the sign read: Kalispell 15 miles. That was it, I was rolling all the way to Kalispell non-stop. Coram and Columbia Falls were just a smidge better than West Glacier with respect to the commercialism, but still, there was a lot of junk out there. Now as I began to ride towards Kalispell, the mountains really opened up on the north and south sides and suddenly I was riding in this massive basin which was pretty flat and dry. The high, snow covered peaks were behind me in West Glacier, and now surrounding the basin were much lower mountain ranges.

About 8 miles outside of Kalispell you could just feel that you were nearing a big city, with all kinds of commercial places along the roadway. Traffic was thick, but I had a nice 6-foot wide berm to ride on into the city. Got into Kalispell in just over 6 hours and 88 miles in. this was just a great day to ride, and I’m pretty happy I took advantage of the weather and the net down I had all day. By the time I got into town the temp was in the low 80’s. And you could just feel the dry heat. Actually from what I was expecting for the day – a high of 56 – this was awesome. Got a nice little place and then beat feet to a Chinese buffet down the road, just a block from my old standby Subway. Nope, this was a “buffet day” indeed. I think I did like 4 plates and a cup of frozen custard. Wonderful. Hell, I did the whole day on nothing but two yogurts and two bananas from the morning, so I was just massively hungry. Got a few beer to drink back at the ranch and I was just totally pleased with this day. Not only did I have a stunning ride, but I also made some great distance in great time. Can’t do much better than that when you’re riding cross country.

Tomorrow I’m in a bit of a quandary because of the distance I traveled today. I can either do Happy Inn, Montana, about 47 miles away as a “lay-up”, or I could go for the green and shoot for Libby, Montana, another 41 miles further west. There is nothing, and I mean nothing in between the two places. The forecast for this area tomorrow is for afternoon thunder storms, and wind out of the south. I’m just going to have to wake up and ride to Happy Inn, and then see how I am with respect to time, wind, terrain etc, to see if I go for the green and ride to Libby. Should be interesting. So that’s it. I’m down to 120 miles left in Montana – 2 to 3 days of riding depending on the conditions. Then it’s a short piece through Idaho, about 80 miles and then I’m down to just Washington state.

Well, time for another beer. All the best…….Pete

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

So close, but not today

7-19-10 Day 44: Shelby, Montana to Cut Bank, Montana: 24 miles in 2:15 hours all on Rt. 2 West.

My today was somewhat humbling. Sometimes the math just says it all: 2 days and 190 miles of hills and headwinds/tailwinds = dead legs. So I got on the road today thinking that at the very least, I could bag it in Cut Bank and make it a really easy day….OR I could do 71 miles to the foot of the mts at East Glacier. Man, was it cold – 52 degrees, and the weather just looked totally ominous, with these gnarly thunder clouds to the north and big curtains of rain falling across the northern landscape. Weather report called for morning thunder storms and winds out of the north/northwest at 10-20 mph.

Now it was dead calm when I started, but damn, the rain lighening off to my right just scary as hell looking out there in the middle of the plains with just nothing but me and the road. Noted that when I got going my legs were just so heavy and lethargic that it was just killer to go up the long gradual climbs. Out of the saddle felt horrible. And then with all those storms just kind of banging away off to the north, that kind of had me riding with a heightened sense of need. Just didn’t want to get caught in a storm with temps of 52-56 degrees. That could spell hypothermia. So despite the heavy legs I just had to keep a good rhythm to at least Cut Bank to try to beat the storms.

So I kind of struggled on with my eyes on those storms, like 3-4 of them out to the north and one off to the south. West, well that seemed to be the only open spot in the sky. Kind of gave me hope that I could traverse the storms and keep rolling west into good weather. But about an hour in I saw something on the western horizon. At first I thought it was the mountains I was seeing in the distance. But as I got up atop on one of the higher rollers I saw the real picture – this big, massive, menacing looking wall of black moving towards me. And that’s about the time the wind just picked up out of nowhere. Like bang, headwind. And within a few minutes I had gone from 11 mph to 7 mph, just like trying to bust through a wall of wind. It was the storm approaching, and I had about 8 miles to go to get to Cut Bank. That’s about the time I started looking at place for shelter – anything. But there was just nothing. I was out in the middle of the plains.

So I just had to try to keep it rolling and hope like hell I could make it to Cut Bank. The front brought in some cooer air with those winds, in addition to a slight misting. I though I was pretty much SOL at that point but the on coming traffic was not wet or using their windshield wipers. And then it looked as if I was riding through this massive grey fog bank….and way up ahead I could see Cut Bank. So I just tried like heck to keep some power on the pedals. I finally made it to the point to where I was passing an old barn here and there, and then finally a few business establishments, and then a sign that advertised Mickey D’s as being 5 miles away. By that time it looked like I was going to make it without getting dumped on.

Made it into town and pedaled to the Mickey D’s as a safe haven from the weather, which still looked pretty threatening. Got a hot coffee and a couple of McSomething’s. Hung for about an hour and by that time I just decided to bag it, as the wind had picked up even more, yet the weather looked like it could clear. But riding 47 miles into a 15-20 mph headwind just was not in my legs today. I went and found a place to stay and returned for some more coffee, and more McSomething’s seeing that they wouldn’t have a efficiency ready till like 11 AM – 12 PM. That’s when I met fellow cross country rider Arron, biking west to east coming from Seattle.

He and his bud, Phil, have been three weeks on the road, having just crossed the mts and today entered the plains. They’re kind of doing the gig that Ryan and I did last year where we were camping most of the way and doing on the thin – just bagging it out in the middle of nowhere at times. They’re both new to cycling, and Phil, well, he just quit smoking. But be damned if they didn’t make it across the mountains. Kudos to them for their guts and perseverance. Arron was riding ahead of Phil, as Arron got up first and had to bivy last night without a sleeping bag – the wind blew it away! It stormed like hell last night and the wind picked up to pretty intense velocities.

So Arron and I talked for a bit and sipped coffee. He was telling me about some people he had met in the mts doing the cross country thing, but they would occasionally hitch hike or throw their bikes on a bus and skip hard sections. The way he described it was pretty funny, like he just couldn’t believe that people would do that, him not even really being a cyclist. Actually I feel the same way as him. It’s a matter of you cheating yourself. Cheat……..NEVER! That means having to start over to not break the thread. Stop and bag the day, rest, relax, stand still, sit in a field…but don’t break the thread, don’t quit!! Arron will make it. He’s got a good attitude. Arron is also self-employed like me, and a computer IT guy who also works while on the road as I do. His bud Phil came in about an hour later. Phil seems like a hardy, pretty funny dude, a guy like I said who just quit smoking due to riding across the country – cross country riding and smoking do not mix. Now Arron had made some kind of deal at the place I’m staying at to shower in a shower room, so they headed over there after checking a local sporting goods place for a sleeping bag replacement. No go there – nothing but heavy, bulky junk. I had to wait outside the motel because my little room wasn’t ready yet, or I’ve had had them shower there.

Now something happened where the morning person at the motel had given Arron the ok to take a quick shower, but the new shift an hour later said no. But Arron somehow went in and showered nonetheless. Phil? They told him no and he kind of just left pissed off, not wanting to do the stealth deal that Arron did. Tell you what, I’m just too old to put up with trying to travel like that. It’s just a total pain in the ass – an aggravation on a daily basis. Like last night they slept in these old grain silos that had tears in the sides so they could get in. They’re probably 20 years younger than me, so that helps doing something like this on the skinny. So they took off and headed east to Shelby or Chester. At least they have a hardy tailwind with them. Good luck guys and email me your progress – be safe.

So I got in my room and got set up and then went to Pizza Hut for the salad buffet. Then came back here and have been working ever since. The weather has indeed taken a turn for the worse and now it’s raining pretty good outside. You can see the storms out here coming in from just massive miles away, so it’s pretty cool looking out the window and seeing these things rolling in from the north.

Tell you what though, when I get up from my chair my legs are just so stiff and tired. Man, I really need some legs for the next 12 days, as that’s what I think it will take me to get to Seattle. I’m going to shoot for East Glacier at the very least tomorrow, 47 miles away, and Essex at the best, probably another 25 miles west. Essex is just over the first mt pass. Again, weather will pretty much control my day – be it long or be it short. I’d kind of like to do smaller chunks across the rest of Montana so I can stop more often and take pictures. Then in Washington, I’ll get it cranked back up again in mileage for the finish.

Hoping for fresh legs and a good day tomorrow. All the best…..Pete

Every east to west numskull gets his bone once in a while

7-18-10 Day 43: Havre, Montana to Shelby, Montana: 103 miles in 6:25 hours all on Rt. 2 West.

Once again every once in a while Mother Nature throws me a bone on this ride. Today that bone was the femur! Yup, wind out of the northeast at 10-15 mph.

But first just a little flashing back. I reall had a great time visiting with Ken and Kim in Havre yesterday. Wish we could have spent just a bit more time hanging out, but I had to keep moving west and they had to head back north to Edmonton. We’ll definitely be hanging out again. Now Havre is the biggest place I’d been to since Williston, ND, and that was like five days before. Nothing but this little towns in between the two. So when I arrived in Havre it was like a culture shock to me – a city! And the thing that I was the most taken aback with were the pick-up trucks. Now this is Montana, and I guess this is where men are really men and trucks are really trucks. The pick-ups in Havre are on a massive dose of steroids. I mean these things are just totally laid out and beefy. They must be dropping 40, 50, 60+ G’s on these machines. Their almost all diesel, and they are just loaded with power, so much that when they get going these things just whine like hell. They sound as loud as freaking Harley Motorcycles. They’re usually on lifts and just decked with these massive exhaust systems.

So while I was waiting for Ken and Kim to show at the Havre RV place I was just sitting and watching these trucks go up and down the strip. It was like they were all on parade, like roosters in a chicken coop just strutting and showing their stuff. The light would turn green and these monsters would accelerate and damned near lift the front end off of the street they were so freaking powerful. And it was all makes and models of American trucks. No one brand stood out. Anyway, I think Havre should be nicknamed Pick-up Truck World.

Last night I was just flaming tired, and must have hit the hay at about 9 PM, only putting in about an hour of work on the computer before I had to crash. I decided I’d just sleep a bit later because I had a 60-mile ride to do today, and I was not going to get up and be on the road before 5 AM. Needed an extra hour of sleep. So I got up this morn at 5 AM rather than 4. Looked out the wind at the trees – and the leaves were a blowing! Which way I wasn’t sure, but they were blowing. Forced down a bagel and a half with PBJ and that was it. I just cannot really chow bigtime in the morn. Almost had to force the stuff down. From here on in, I’m going to get yogurt and fruit. That’s much easier to get down at 4 and 5 AM. It’s like when I’m up that early in the morn, I have zero appetite. Usually eat around 8 or 9, so this 4 and 5 stuff has got my system goofed up.

Got on the road at app. 5:45 AM. No PR today! And when I cycled out on to Rt 2…….wind out of the northeast, a bloody cross tailwind! Now that’s a good way to start the day when you’re riding east to west. So I was thinking that instead of spending like 6 hours to go 60 miles to Chester, it may take me like 4 or 5 – an easy day for sure. And the wind was moderate, providing a good push. But today, even the wind with me would push me up all these super duper long gradual false flats. On the flats I could go a solid 14-15 mph with my gear. But on these false flats, I’d sink down to 12-13, maybe 14 mph. A couple times I looked at my tires thinking that maybe I was flatting because the pedaling was so damned hard – with the cross tailwind!

Now Ken had told me that I was pedaling up all through eastern Montana as I was heading west to the mts. And that makes sense. It’s like from the Mississippi River to the Rockies of Colorado, you’re actually climbing ever so slowly until you get to Denver and you’ve gained several thousand feet in elevation. Same thing here. Except I bloody well felt it each and every mile. I could see traffic just coming up over a horizon line or disappearing over a horizon line, and then I’d get up to that point and see that the road ever so subtly stair steps up again for another couple of miles. Well, it would do this for 5-8 miles at a crack. So I could not get a really good rhythm going with that cross tailwind.

Yea, I know, bitch, bitch, bitch. Never perfect. And that’s true. So I just tried to enjoy what I was given and that was that. Would have loved FLAT, FLAT, but it was FALSE FLAT and I had the wind at my back for once. So life was good, despite my displeasure with this king of all false flats roadway. Early in my start I had the road all to myself for the first hour or two. And being a Sunday, even when 9 AM rolled around the traffic was still pretty light. The berm would go for 6 feet wide with a rumble strip to this ridiculous 3 foot berm with the rumble strip on the right side. Who was the Eisenstein Engineer who thought that one up?

About 8 miles outside of Chester those false flats all culminated in a super long gradual descent into town. I was doing like 26 mph for 5 miles at least and then I popped into Chester. Made it there in 4 hours on the nose. Now prior to Chester I was mulling over the idea of going for the green and shooting for Shelby – another 41 miles west. That would give me over 100 miles for the day. Mentally and physically I just wanted to crash in Chester, but with that rare cross tailwind, I really felt that I had to take advantage of it. I mean that could be the difference between riding those 41 miles at 14-15 mph today, or waiting until tomorrow and take a chance of having the wind out of the west again and grinding me down to a mere 10-11 mph. So I had decided that I’d get to Chester and see if the wind was still holding as a cross tail. If it was I just had to keep the train rolling.

My average for getting to Chester was an amazing 14.8 mph. Much to my surprise what with the gazillion miles of false flat climbing involved. Yup, I was going on to Shelby. Hell, it was only 9:45 AM when I arrived. I felt duty bound to keep riding. So I hit a little grocery and got a fountain coke and ice and a couple of breakfast burritos. Munched down in about 15 minutes and then was back on the bike. And the good thing was that the wind had picked up. And once I was rolling I was amazed to be doing 17-22 mph on some pretty long stretches. This……..was glorious! Just kept telling myself that I was almost out of the Great Plains. Time for the mountains. Time for a change. Time to get er done and make it to Seattle.

The wind just got more and more kick to it and I as just flying. Bad thing was that I went over like 3 different patches of broken glass. I’d swear at the top of my lungs, then pull my right foot out of the pedal, slide it down in back of the front tire and let it rub off any shards of broken glass. For the rear tire, well had to do an old roadie trick that can be painfull if done wrong…..I lightly held my hand against the front of the rear tire to knock off any shards of glass. If you hold your hand back there too hard, and if a piece of glass is stuck in the tire – ouch! Got to have light hands when you do this. Now as far as I can tell no glass had penetrated the two bike tires. Couldn’t tell if the yak had any shards in it.

And then those blooming false flats started in on me again, some seemingly going on for 5-8 miles, just stepping up and up and up. But I could keep a steady 17-18 mph on these now that the wind had picked up. No complaints. And I even toyed with the idea of getting super greedy and going for Cut Bank, another 24 miles west of Shelby. But really, I was pretty tired, and I pretty much dismissed the idea the closer I got to Shelby. All along the way I was being passed by these massively long freight trains and one Amtrack train. The RR parallels Rt 2 amost to the tee. Sometimes you’re just 10-100 yrds away from the tracks, and you can actually feel the breeze from the trains speeding by. Very cool indeed.

Now I had figured on getting into Shelby at around 2 PM, but with the wind picking up, shoot I arrived in the city at 12:30 PM, knocking out 103 miles in 6:25 hours! Shelby is another one of those Plains cities where it’s just smack dab out in the middle of no where. There is a super big freight train yard here as there was in Havre. That and a gazillion trucks at this massive Travel Center. There’s a town center and then there’s the strip where there’s the Travel Center. You see Shelby is located at the intersection of Rt 2 and I-15, so this is a major gassing up/lodging point in Montana. I got a nice little cheapie efficiency and was good as gold what with a Subway just a short walk away. Got my room and hit the Subway asap for my 2 footlongs. I just love the way the workers at Subway look at me as I’m ordering and then consuming 2 footlongs in their establishment – all in the course of about 20 minutes. I mean I tear into a footer and consume it in record time.

So…….I just love getting in a good long day and then being able to shut it down before 1 PM. That was today – done with a century by 12:30 PM. That way I have tons of time to eat, work, do laundry, nap, work, eat, drink bear, nap, eat, work, drink beer and skype. Yup, life on the road! So I’m 71 miles from the East Glacier National Park entrance. Not bad huh? So my strategy is this: let’s see what Mother Nature has in store for me. If it’s just gnarly headwind, I could opt out and just ride to Cut Bank, 23 miles away, and just where I’m supposed to be tomorrow according to my latest schedule. Today’s ride put me a half day ahead. If it’s a good day tomorrow, I could opt to ride those 71 miles to East Glacier and make that the day, putting me a full day ahead of schedule.

I like the fact that if it’s just terrible tomorrow, I don’t have to kill myself with a “headwind from hell” ride. So we’ll see. I have to check with weather report and at least see what’s in store for tomorrow. So that’s it for now. One way or another, I’m just a stone’s throw away from the mountains. Yup, thinking back, I’ve just ridden across about 800 miles of Great Plains and Great Headwinds. It’s been one hell of a challenge. Oh yea, and those mile markers all along the way on Rt 2, the ones that started at like 660-something when I entered Montana, well, we’re down to 280! So that’s it right now. Hope to give you good news of reaching the mts tomorrow. Late………Pete

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