Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Ride Day 107
Today I rode from Butte to Missoula but I got a 15 mile boost from a guy in a pickup truck so I only rode 105 miles. It was a beautiful day to ride after a cold frosty start. The air was clear so I could see all the mountains surrounding me and the colors of the fields and everything were brilliant. The ride was physically tough but I still enjoyed it. I was planning on stopping at about 90 miles but when I stopped a guy in a truck asked it I needed a lift. I told him I didn't need one but that I would take one. He was from Wisconsin delivering a trailer here in Montana and was just driving up to see an uncle near Glacier and he had some time to kill. We chatted and had a good time talking about Wisconsin and my bike ride and his trailer company that he is retired from but still does deliveries like this because he likes to get around. When he dropped me off I decided to just ride the last fifteen miles to Missoula instead of camping somewhere. Glad I did because my friends Jeff and Shalene were having a BBQ that night and I got there just in time to score a few calories to help feed my deficit. I enjoyed talking to the group at the bbq and I ate like a pig. The next morning they all went gem hunting on a drive down to Dillon or something like that and I reluctantly headed back East on I-90. I have given up on going to Glacier Nat Park because they changed their minds and will not have any more hiker biker days on the road but instead will allow cars on the entire road by the 21 of June. I just do not want to fight traffic on the narrow roads there. I was really looking forward to a peaceful ride where I could just ride and enjoy the beautiful scenery but with heavy traffic and no shoulders that is not possible so now it is a dream on my bucket list. Instead I am taking I-90 to I-94 East. I plan on riding hard and basically just bypassing North Dakota as much as I can. Then I will cut up to Fargo ND to cross Minnesota and over to Wisconsin I think. My plans are kind of winging it a bit at this point.
No pics because the wifi here is too slow.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Ride Day 106
Today I rode from Bozeman to a bit past Butte Mt 95 miles and 4700' of climbing. The day started out freezing cold. It was 36 when I left the Sunrise campground in Bozeman and it went up to 90 before I got to Butte. I rode almost all day at over a mile high and climbed to 6393' at the highest. I was riding on Interstate 90 all day. That was not so bad for me because they were redoing the road and redirected all the cars to the far side of the split road so I had the shoulder on the right side all to myself with no close traffic for a good chunk of the ride. There was fresh snow up on all the high peaks today from last night's cold snap. That made the mountains look good. I also saw a beaver working on his dam but when he saw me he hightailed it out of there. There were some eagles and other birds around but no big mammals except of course lots of deer early in the morning. Lots of dead ones along the road making a bad smell too often. I enjoyed the ride even though it was kind of strenuous on my tired old body with all the climbing involved and the base elevation of about a mile high. The air is noticeably thicker down at 5000' than it is at up over 7000' where I have been for the last 10 days or so. When I arrived in Butte I looked for a place to stay but the campgrounds all two of them were about $45 each so I skipped on those sites. I tried to ask the KOA campground why lots of KOAs have hiker biker discounts to between 5 and 15 bucks a night but this one did not offer it and the woman got all huffy with me like I was a cheap ass bum. All I need is 42sq ft of space, no electricity, no water, no mini golf and no anything else except some peace and quiet so I can get some rest for the night. I ended up in an RV park outside of Butte for 18 bucks that is really fully adequate for me with a shower, wifi and electricity to charge my junk up. I only need electricity about every thee days to charge my stuff and I can charge in most cafes while I drink my daily coffee so I do not need it at my campsite. Tomorrow I will try to make it to Missoula and should be able to unless the wind starts blowing hard again. I think 40 or 50 miles is my best hope for mileage in the high headwinds so I hope they give me a break tomorrow. Here are a few pics including the elusive beaver, some of the Bitterroot Mountains and the rock formation that inspired the Great divide trophy which is given to the winner of the big football game between the two Montana schools. There is also a pic of the continental divide pass I went over at 6393' with a pic of my Garmin showing 159' less than that at the same spot. I have never calibrated it but still that is a big difference. My Garmin 800 Edge has not been my favorite GPS because it is hard to figure out how to use it since it has no instruction book unless you print it out which I can not do. It also is just not intuitive in how it works. Garmin needs to hire someone from Apple to get with the program of making things easier to use. It also craps out once in a while and I can not figure out why. It is just basically irritating to me but I still use it and post the maps when it actually works correctly that is. Some people tell me they love looking over the stats from my rides. I never look at them myself.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Ride Day 105
Today I rode from Gardiner MT to Bozeman MT 77 miles and 2100' of climbing. I got a late start because It rained all night long and my tent was wet so I waited for it to dry before I packed it up. I was still on the road by 7:30. The ride was gentle rolling hills with various types of scenery from rocky craggy bluffs to lush green valleys and snow capped mountains standing at over 12,000' off in the distance. The valleys had lots of horses and some cattle or dairy herds here and there. There were lots of fancy ranches and Bed and Breakfast places along the road and hunting and fishing lodges. The Yellowstone River ran right next to the road for the first 50 miles. People were rafting down it and they sounded like they were having a good time even though I never saw any major rapids. The best part of the morning ride was the tailwind that pushed me along. I was hardly working to go 22mph. There was very little traffic and what there was came in pods of five or six vehicles at a time but the shoulder was good for most of the way so no problems there. I was spending a lot of time looking around admiring the mountains and things. I could have taken a lot of pics but I already have too many pics I think so I am taking fewer now. I stopped in Livingston for some lunch. While eating a woman sitting near me started asking me about my ride and also told me about her rides and her fly fishing habit. She was fun to talk to and gave me a break for a bit because if I wasn't talking to her I would have gobbled my food and left quickly. Then I left for Bozeman 28 miles away on interstate 90. I left Livingston and entered the freeway. I immediately knew my afternoon was going to be hell. My tailwind had turned into a headwind now. At first it was only blowing at 8-15mph but even that slows me down big time. But it quickly picked up intensity until it was blowing gusts at me of thirty mph. It was exhausting work to pedal into this high wind. I thought about my bad day back in Texas where I pedaled all day and only made it 31 miles because of strong headwinds. I kept going and had to go over Bozeman Pass which is not even that high at 5700' or so. I looked down at my speedometer and I was only moving 3.2 mph. I tried to speed up but I just could not get any speed up. I had to rest a few times before I made the pass and then I thought I was going to have a downhill coast to make up for lost time but the wind was blowing even harder on the other side of the pass and thundershowers hit me at the same time. I pedaled hard and hit 8 and sometimes 9 mph on the downhill. It took me about 4 hours to get to Bozeman only 28 miles. I was exhausted when I arrived and stopped at a service station and ate a hot dog and gatorade which I almost never eat or drink these items. Then I went to a campground about a mile up the road and setup camp, took a long hot shower, did laundry and my internet then next I am going to sleep to the sounds of rain. Good night.
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