Thursday, June 6, 2013
Ride Day 100
Today I rode from Dillon to Ennis MT, 78 miles 2800' of climbing. The day started out cold at only 36 but the sun was out and it warmed up rapidly. I rode through the valley seeing antelope, deer, cattle, sheep, llamas, horses and lots of birds like sandhill cranes, eagles, hawks, redwinged blackbirds, magpies, starlings, honkers, ducks of many types and one dead garter snake. I enjoyed the ride as I took it fairly easy after the problems I was having yesterday with pain from a little seizure I had the night before. I ended up not riding from Wisdom to Dillon but rather I rode with some fishermen in their pickup truck. I had decided that it was impossible for me to ride and was eating breakfast when some fishermen started talking to me about my ride. They did not have room but they told me I should hitchhike because there were a lot of fishermen that would have room. So I went out and stuck my thumb out. They were right since it took me about 20 minutes to get a ride with three fishermen that stopped. We had a lot of fun talking and laughing on the way but it took less than an hour to do the 62 miles and that would have taken me 6 hours probably.
I stayed at the RV park by I-15 in Dillon which was a mistake because the road noise went on all night. I wanted a shower and to clean my clothes so I stayed there instead of camping on the sly like I have been lately. It was only $10 bucks for the night. For food I went into town and had a good pulled pork sandwich with apple pie a la mode then back at camp I ate more junk that I had with me but also some good fruits.
My ride in the morning was freezing cold. I had my full finger gloves on and my long sleeved riding jersey, my fleece jacket and my raincoat and I was still cold. But then I started to sweat while I was also cold. My body seemed confused. It did warm up quickly and I stripped off layers just as quickly until I was down to only my jersey. I put sunscreen on my face. I still got burned because up at this high altitude the UV is stronger. I need to be more careful of that over the next few days while I am up around 7000'.
The only thing disturbing to me today was all the gold mine tailings that were along the road for miles and miles just everywhere. The environment took a beating on that gold rush and it looks like it is going to stay like that forever now. Harvard University is the one that got most of the benefit from the mining so maybe they should take some responsibility for the damage even though it was 150 years or so ago.
I did like Virginia City and would have liked to have spent more time there but I wanted to get to Ennis so I just took a few pics and rode on. The big grade out of Virginia City was not too hard except for the heat which made me get too hot so I had to take a couple breaks just to cool down not because I was tired or winded or anything. I still made it to the summit without much effort. The downhill was fun but I kept my speed down to 30 mph except a couple times when I was looking around and it went a little over. The view of the Valley from up on high was great and I wish I had the camera to capture it unfortunately for me I only have my little pocket camera. Ennis is a spread out town. I stopped for a juicy cheeseburger and a piece of cheesecake then headed to the RV park to camp even though there are thundershowers predicted tonight. I have been riding now 100 days which kind of shocks me a bit. I started this riding on a whim but love it so much I may never stop. Such is the life of a wandering bum...
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Ride Day 99
Today I rode from Hamilton to Wisdon Montana, 74 miles and 4500' of climbing in cool overcast to partly cloudy conditions that threatened rain all day but never let loose. Last night I stayed with a family in Hamilton and really enjoyed my stay. They served pizza for dinner which was good since I need calories. We talked a lot about biking and life in general then I camped in the back yard although I could have slept inside I wanted to camp. In the morning they offered me breakfast but I just had a cup of good coffee and hit the road. The ride was not too hard starting out mostly flat while climbing 1000' without a hill. Then came the big grade to 7241' Chief Joseph Pass. That grade was gentle, long and slow. I was surrounded with snowy mountain tops and big black clouds were threatening me but I just spun along not worrying about the weather or anything else. I was going slow so I was looking for wildlife by the side of the road but other than eagles and hawks and songbirds there were no big game animals to be seen for me. Lots of beaver dams along the creek/river that ran along part of the road but beavers are nocturnal so I did not see any. Just near the end of the ride I had an antelope run right at me as I was riding along. It stopped short of ramming me on my bike and then ran along beside me and just in front of me for a long ways before it turned around and ran away. I don't know what that was all about. I think it had a fawn and was trying to get me to chase her or something like that. Then I started to see some other birds that I do not know the name of that had a yellow head, black body and some white colors on the wings. The males were showing off for the girls and it was very entertaining to watch them jump around and shake their feathers and tails while chirping loudly. I looked the birds up and they were called yellow headed blackbirds. Next I saw some sandhill cranes that were also very noisy. I watched them for a bit then went on my way to Wisdom where I had a good juicy burger and a couple of brewery beers to wash it down. Now I am off to do some free camping tonight. Spent too much on dinner to pay to camp. More later...
Monday, June 3, 2013
Ride days 96 97 and 98
My rides for days 96 and 97 were just short connector rides to keep my Garmin map complete. They were really days off as far as I am concerned. But today was day 98 and I rode from Missoula to Hamilton Montana 48 miles and only a few hundred feet of hills. The weather was light showers rolling through so I took a couple of breaks at the casino Hay Loft in Lolo Montana to wait out a couple of heavier showers. I had a cheeseburger while I waited. I had no problems riding cause I just paced myself with an easy slow pace only intending to go about 50 miles when I left Missoula because I got a late start. There was a bike path for most of the way today that was right next to the highway. The only advantage the path gave was that there was no broken glass or any shredded tires on it to blow my tires. Otherwise the roadway had a good shoulder for most of the way making the path a bit redundant. They need to make the paths in places where they are needed, that are dangerous or something.
My time off in Missoula was very good for me. I ate and ate and ate. Then I ate some more. I am concerned about the amount of weight I have lost already so I will probably start having shorter rides and more rest days to let my body catch up to my calorie burn. I do not want to weigh in at 120 pounds at the end of this ride. Jeff and Shalene were great hosts. Shalene took me to a Clay Studios woodfired kiln firing that was entertaining for me. There were lots of nice people there and the kiln was huge. They burned 8 cords of wood in it over a weeks time to fire almost 3000 pieces of clay art. There must have been about 50 clay artists there from all over the area. Watching them stoke the fire and the obvious excitement all the artists had was also good to see. I took a few pics but they aren't that great. I also went to Adventure Cycling Association to visit and buy some more maps. I hung out there for a couple of hours looking at their pics and reading some of their materials. The rest of the time in Missoula I pretty much hung out at coffee shops and breweries. There are five breweries in Missoula and I was going to hit them all but I only made it to three of them. I did notice while sitting in the coffee shops watching the people walk by that there was a lot more females than males on the streets and I mean a lot more. I talked to a few of them and they all complained that there aren't enough men around in Missoula. I felt real sorry for them so maybe I will move here some day just to try to help out a bit. more later...
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