Big Bird's Adventures

In my last post I only covered 6 days, so the title is a little misleading, however I will try to be a little more terse and cram in the rest of my time traveling with the lovely ladies Denise and Rebecca who invited me to join them on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route/Ride (GDMBR). I ended the last post where section 1 of the route ended in Helena, and this post will cover section 2 from Helena Montana, to Jackson Wyoming however, I will be departing this route before then and diverting to West Yellowstone where my next phase in this adventure will begin. For now though, it’s the Rocky Mountains of Montana, and miles to go before we rest.

June 28, Day 12 – Our goal today is a campground called The Merry Widow Mine in the town of Basin Montana that hosts RV as well as cyclists. The town of course hosts a single establishment that serves up 3 meals a day as well as hosting a separate bar section. Every town needs a bar. Getting there we had two options on the plate. The first was just to follow the main route, which included 2 main climbs, the second of which was supposed to be a doozey on the descent. The other option was a bypass route that also had a second climb, however it was a gentler climb as it paralleled the interstate. In Helena were on the Eastern side of the Continental Divide, and though the Merry Widow lies on the same side, we were going up to the divide again to ride along the edge of one of many basins in this part of the country. This is Basin and Range country where there are many pockets/basins that don’t drain anywhere except into the ground. On this day we were all in agreement to do option 2, so after packing up in the morning we rode into Helena, found a nice diner, ate a nice breakfast, and began the first climb which literally started right there in Helena. Once we got to the edge of town, the pavement switched to gravel, and we wouldn’t see pavement again until somewhere along our alternate route. It was a beautiful sunny day when we started, with no weather in the forecast other than sunny skies so we rode along in complete comfort throughout the day. As with all gravel roads, there isn’t much traffic so we climbed in relative peace and quiet with the occasional vehicle passing in either direction. I don’t remember too much about this part of the day other than we were on the lookout at some point for the left turn that would begin our alternate route. That left would drop us more elevation as we descended to the bigger valley where Interstate 15 had been placed. Where the interstate goes, so also goes the train tracks, and where the train tracks go is where the engineers found the easier grades to put the tracks. Though this was an alternate route, it wasn’t climb free. We were on frontage road for awhile and then we reached the end of the paved road. A gravel road took us over the saddle and down into the valley where Boulder Montana sat. We had made decent time on the morning pulling into Boulder around noonish. I don’t recall stopping for lunch, however we did stop for ice cream. We each got a double dip in a waffle cone. Have to eat those calories when you can :). From Boulder, our route, and I15 turned West going against the flow of The Boulder River. The valley at first was tight with us hugging a gravel cattle road and I15 taking most of the real estate, but eventually the valley opened up a little more and we found The Merry Widow Mine RV and campsite. It was early afternoon when we pulled in, finding the campground host easily. She explained to us where the cycling sites were and that we were welcome to walk up to the mine itself where we could collect healing waters from the mine. There were also spigots throughout camp that brought those healing waters down lower, but the mine was worth a visit. We found the cycling sites, I picked one site along the creek, and the girls took something a little higher up. After showering, I took the opportunity to rinse my shirt and the things I was sweating into in the creek and then found a sunny place to dry everything out. When the girls were done showering we were about to hike over to town when a gentleman with asian features came by in his truck and had a chat with us. He and his wife used to come out to this place a lot and then decided to buy the place. He might have been Korean, I can’t recall, but what he was trying to build was a Christian community. They had purchased places in town as well. We had a nice chat, he told us there was only one place in town to eat and we could get breakfast there in the morning as well. After he left us, we started our walk into town and got most of the way there when the owner drove up and offered us a lift for the last bit. He dropped us off, and gave us his wife’s number and told us to give her a call and she would come pick us up. After we ate, and while we were awaiting our ride’s arrival, we looked around town. The town wasn’t all that big, so you didn’t really have to wander far to see it all. It was a very old town with a lot of old buildings in various stages of decay. There were some other businesses, but I wouldn’t call them shops. It looked like a sleepy town where the troubles in the world simply sailed by unnoticed. There wasn’t even a gas station at the I15 exit, so I don’t imagine much traffic uses those on and off ramps. The Mrs picked us up and dropped us off back at the camp where we all turned in early to rest up for another day. Tomorrow we ride to Butte. Day 12 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

June 29 Day 13 – We awoke early and packed up. It was getting hotter in the afternoons and we wanted to get most of our miles in before the real heat of the day set in. We rode into town, returning to the Silver Saddle for breakfast where we each devoured a healthy meal before setting out. The way out was back to the frontage road which continued to follow I15 for a few more miles before I15 turned South and we continued West and up into the mountains for the big climb of the day, again going high into the mountains and crossing the Continental Divide Trail before descending back down again and into Butte Montana. The advice on the trail was to be careful with you bike in Butte. There had been enough thefts to create lasting stories that get perpetuated on the trail, so if these are true, I don’t know the details. We weren’t planning on staying in Butte, but we were going to stop for lunch there. The only hiccup on the way into town was we didn’t descend off the mountain directly into town. There was a bump that we had to ascend first that took us up to a nice vista overlooking the city. We stopped there and chatted up someone who had just finished a morning trail ride and he did offer up his home to us if we wanted to cut our day short. We thanked him for his hospitality but declined and continued on our way. This descent went right into Northern Butte and kept descending until we made a left onto Park Street. You would think with a name like Butte, it would sit upon a geologic butte, but it didn’t appear to be that at all. Park Street was one hill after another and it was there we found a nice cafe to have lunch. They had vegan, but was not a cheap place to stop. I think the dude on the hill told us before we departed “The food is good there, but it’s a bit pricey”. Satiated we rode towards the East side where we picked up Shields Ave which took us South and to a grocery store where we could stop for some supplies. The Three Bears was good sized box store style grocery complex where the girls shopped while I watched the bikes (heeding the warnings whether they were valid or not), followed by my shopping spree. This is where I had to change my opinion of Montanans which I want to say wasn’t directed at them as people but as drivers. In any case, we left the grocery store and continued South, mostly aided by a tail wind, and losing elevation as we went when a guy in a pickup truck flagged us down. He asked us if any of us had a red and black purse-like item that we might have left back at the grocery. My stomach got that sudden dropping feeling as I reached around my jersey and felt for my pouch that contianed my id and credit cards. Not there. “Yes, that is mine!”. The nice gentleman told us he would drive back for it and catch us along the road, however I was too worked up to continue, so we found a place to sit and wait while the gentleman did indeed drive back and retrieve my pouch, returning it safely to me. Many many thanks. He warned us about Rt 2, which at that moment I wasn’t thinking about, but it was getting late, and it was hot, and though we were targeting a camp that was on the divide, we all knew that was too far to ride, so we found Thompson Park which was more of a day place, but we found an area hidden from the road where we could set up our tents and gave us access to water, a pit toilet and a picnic table. I filtered some water from the creek, and it was nice to stand in the creek letting the cool water run over our feet. We all ate something we had gotten from the grocery, and turned in early to rest for another day. Day 13 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

June 30 Day 14 – Today we head to the town of Wise River on the Wise River reaching an elevation over 7300′ as we cross back into the Western Drainage of the continent. From our camp we had some options on today’s route. The GDMBR proper was North of us, we had passed the turnoff when we decided to seek out a camp site in Thompson Park, so we could have just ridden back along 2 and we would be good to go. Another option had presented itself though. There was a rail trail just to our West called Old Milwauke Road and there was a single track hiking path leading out of our parking area that would take us there. I have to admit that I just assumed we would intersect it and head North till we were back on the route, however I must have had a significant wax buildup in my ears when Denise and Rebecca mused that we would turn South and follow the trail until it intersected a different road that would then take us back to the GDMBR. In any case it was onto the single track we went. This started out fairly flatish, however it quickly got pretty technical, rooty and steep and we walked a fair amount of it up to the rail trail. We were deposited onto the trail right on the Southside of one of two tunnels. Clueless me to our overall plan, I turned on the video, and headed into the tunnel where I nearly crashed when I could barely see where I was going. I managed to stop and put my foot down, retrieving my headlamp and lighting a way forward until I came out the other side. The girls did not follow. I read some info on the building of this train line, and how it was an opportunity for the early electric diesel engines back in the day when I heard to girls should through the tunnel to come back. So back I went, and that is when I found we were going the other direction. This was a very nice rail trail, and it had another tunnel along the way, though not as long as the first one. On the other side we emerged on the edge of a gorge, and a very long viaduct across that had two wide planks the entire length for horses to walk on. Their hooves really bite into wood, so the planks provide protection to the main planking of the deck. Way down in the gorge we could see our road, maybe 200 vertical feet below us, down an impossibly steep grade. We wouldn’t be turning right here. Rather than retreat, we proceeded across, and entertained for a moment, trying to walk the bikes down the well worn and steep as fuck trail, but we all saw the folly in that so we continued South on the rail trail until it intersected 2, where we joined it high in a saddle and then rode a nice 2 mile descent to a left turn that was our route back to the GDMBR, climbing gently up and under the viaduct we had crossed earlier. Soon we were high up, crossing the Continental Divide again, and well on our way to Wise River. There wasn’t much in the way of services along our route today, so we subsisted on foods purchased the day before. Montana is certainly big sky country, but it is also towns smaller than a fucking titmouse devoid of any kind of life giving sustenance. Fortunately the guidebook warned us, and we provisioned smartly. We finally arrived at the Big Hole River, we still had another 20 miles to go and it was getting rather warm. As we rode along I kept thinking how nice it would be to stop the bikes and walk down to the river just to wade in and splash my face with some cold water. It was that hot and there were a number of people involved in some kind of water activity, kayak, stand up paddle board, fishing. There was a bar coming up called The Dewey Bar that I wasn’t planning on stopping at until I arrived and spotted one of the girl’s bikes leaned up against a post, so I stopped and went inside. It was cooler, and that was an instant relief, and there sat Denise at the bar with a coke and a bag of chips. We didn’t have much further to go, so I ordered a beer and some chips as well as a glass of water and we enjoyed a mild break to our day. Back on our bikes it didn’t take long to cover the remaining 8 miles to the town of Wise River. Our guide said that the community center was open to cyclists and on the door was a nice invitation to enter where we found Rebecca as well as further instructions concerning what was available to us and asking a donation. They had showers, a kitchen with 2 fridges, the one on the right containing food left by others for cyclists. There were cots for us to use or we could just setup on the floor. Across the street was a general store with limited hours, and up the street was a bar. That was pretty much the town of Wise River. Pretty sure there was a Sporting outfitter there as well, as the Big Hole River looks like one of those trout streams that fisherpeople from all over the country flock to. We cleaned up, rinsed our things in the sink, nasty water rinsed out, and then hung everything outdoors to dry before walking up the street to the H Bar J Saloon and Cafe where we treated ourselves to some Montana IPAs and pizza. Upon returning to the CC we found that another cyclist, Joe from Colorado, had arrived and was unloading his things. My first observation was he carried a collapsible stick that supported his bike. It was called a click-stand and it folded into 3 easy to pack pieces, weighed close to nothing and seemed to support his bike quite nicely. Our bikes were supported by the walls, however we were very careful to make sure that we didn’t mar the walls when we did that. A very nice stand. Joe was riding the entire GDMBR and was putting in long days. He covered the distance here from Butte without using the Alternate which means he did two big climbs on the day. That of course implies that we followed the alternate route which avoided a second climb on the day. I think we made that call on route as our morning detour used up some matches and by the time we got to the decision point it was getting pretty hot. Grant would be our next day’s destination.

I did the math and I realised that I was going to be leaving the girls in a couple of days and heading off to West Yellowstone and I would need a place to stay there and it was going to be the fourth of July while I was there. I called around and finally found a place, though I would have to switch rooms. Since I was planning on taking a zero day (no mileage) I searched for a masseuse that I might get a massage while I was there. I got a number for one, and texted her my details and what I was doing and she agreed to take me on the fourth in the afternoon. I also needed bike maintenance so that would all work out. I would call the shop on the 3rd to see that my part had arrived on time (See the Helena section for details). Day 14 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

July 1 Day 15 – We all arose about the same time of day, I think Joe was moving first and we all just felt we should get an early start as well. This would be another of those days where there just wasn’t much in the way of services, so we would hit the store across the street and stock up for the day before heading off to Grant. I don’t recall why I was taking longer than the girls, but after Joe took off, the girls followed and when I was ready I rode across the street to the general store as well. Whatever I was doing took a fair amount of time as the girls were gone. I did some shopping and picked up the items I felt I would need for the next couple of days, signed the book the shop keeper kept of all the cyclists who pass through Wise River, and was off. The route turned right to head South along the Wise River onto something called a “Scenic Byway”. They were not kidding. This was one of those epic days on the bike that basically amounted to a giant climb spread out over 29 miles where as elevation is gained I moved from lower valley to higher valley, to an even higher valley. Each transition was through a narrowing in the terrain, the river getting narrower and narrower as I moved into higher and higher elevations. I say “I” here because I was behind the girls, not really knowing how far ahead they were, but only that as I was riding, I hadn’t yet spied them ahead. I did catch and pass Joe at some point. He might cover a lot of mileage in a day, but he doesn’t do it very fast, at least not while gaining elevation. Soon I was in an upper meadow, and then as I was climbing into yet an even higher meadow I spotted Rebecca. When I caught up she told me that Denise had pulled off at a hidden store along the way. I never saw the store, and so rode right past. We weren’t far from the tippy top when I caught up, and soon we were at the top where we found a NOBO resting. This would be another of those ascents where the SOBOs have it much easier than the NOBOs, and he was just chilling, so we dropped our bikes and chilled as well while we waited on Denise. The dude handed me a package of picked edemamme which tasted great on this hot day. I took notice of the packaging for future reference.

With Denise we set off for our long descent back into the heat. It was much cooler up in the pass, but it was in the high 80’s down in the next valley. We hung a left into Brannick Valley State Park which took us through more ranch country. I haven’t mentioned it in awhile, but I realise that one of the reasons I fell behind the girls as it warmed up was due to some issues I was having on the road. Not equipment related, but more issues of comfort. I mentioned hot foot already in one of my posts, and at this point in my trip I had to stop at least 2 or 3 times along the road to take my shoes off and let my feet relax for at least 10 minutes. The other issue that developed was a little more sensitive. With the rising temperature I had switched from my bib knickers to my bib shorts, and I made a slight miscalculation when I purchased these in that I should have gotten the XL instead of the XXL. The grippers that try to keep the shorts tight on the thighs weren’t doing their job well enough, and the shorts kept scrunching up into my junk, and if you have ever ridden a bike you will know that this can cause issues. It didn’t take long but over the course of a couple of days, I developed a saddle sore in that tainty area of soft flesh. As long as the fabric isn’t scrunched up in there it is okay to ride, and one thing I do along the route is to pull the edge of each leg to stretch out the fabric and make the overall ride more comfortable. Well, that just wouldn’t last long with these shorts, and it started to occur to me that I wouldn’t be able to use these shorts much longer if I was going to complete this trip.

Riding through Brannick State Park, I couldn’t take the hot foot any longer and pulled off, letting the girls ride off ahead. There was no shade, no grass, no place to hide from the sun, but I had to get my shoes off. I unstrapped my bear cannister to use as a seat, and took my shoes off and sat there for 10 minutes until I felt like I could continue. When I was ready to go, I found my bike had been swarmed by hundreds of bees that were all trying to get at the sweat moisture that soaked into my bar tape. I could hear them while I was sitting there, but none of them bothered me directly. Delicately I picked up my bike trying not to disturb them, and eventually mounted and got started. As I rode along they peeled off and all was good. As I got nearer to Grant, I crested a hill and saw the dust cloud the girls had kicked up far ahead, and off to the right the buildings that must be Grant. I rolled in a short time after them and we found the Horse Praire Stage Stop, Restaurant, Bar and Lodge, listed as a resource, however they wouldn’t open until 5 PM. There was a note wrapped in clear wrap and thumbtacked to the door that contained information if you were a cyclist. Call a certain number, and our needs would be tended to. We called, and Kelsey came over to check us in. The girls each got a room, and I took a tent site outside, and we were allowed to hang out inside for the rest of the afternoon. There was a fridge with cyclists foods in it, all honor system, so we hung out and relaxed. A shower was welcome relief however I hadn’t paid attention to the details, and these it turned out were important as there was only 1 working shower in the whole establishment. By working I mean one that had hot water, and after standing in the shower for 5 minutes waiting on hot water and knowing that Denise did not say anything about taking a cold shower, got out, dressed again, and got instructions that the shower was upstairs. I still didn’t get it quite right as there was another shower on the second floor that didn’t have hot water however I did finally find the shower that did. Crikey! Refreshed and dressed, we hung out on the back porch until the bar opened up and then went in get some grub and a few beers. The next day would be my last day riding with Denise and Rebecca :(. Day 15 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

July 2, Day 16 – There were breakfast sandwiches we could microwave in the cyclist fridge, but I was down to my last $4 and ate what I could including the pop tarts I still had with me. Would it be enough? We would have to wait and see. We had coffee drinks, and then we set out for Lima Montana. A question on my mind as we rode that day was were we riding to Lima that sounds like Leema as in the capital of Peru, or to the town that rhymes with the bean. We wouldn’t find that out until we got there, but it is the bean. This was another big climb day, where the top was split into two parts. The initial top, and then another uptick before the route appeared to descend all the way to I15. On the climb up, the route was another one of those routes that moves up through ever shrinking higher valleys. In some cases the route moved back and forth across the valley as we climbed. On this side of the pass, the wind wasn’t a hindrance and we climbed all morning. Once we made the first summit it was getting to be late morning, and when we reached the second summit we spent some time resting, me, an opportunity to get ahead of the hot foot with my shoes off. Ahead lay many miles of downhill, however the wind was from the South on this side of the pass, and while it was generally downhill there were still plenty of places where the route gained elevation. We stayed together as much as possible, my overall mass made it easier for me to ride into the wind than for Denise and Rebecca who did the best they could. I would get ahead, and then await their arrival as we moved along the descent. We had an uptick were we entered a chute that would take us down to I15, and the wind concentrated in there to make for a very difficult push even with the downhill. I waited at a pinch point and when the girls came through Denise expressed her frustrations with the wind by extending her middle finger, all captured on my phone. If we thought that wind was bad, we had no idea what awaited us when we finally reached the I15 frontage road. There we turned South and headed directly into it with a slight false flat climb all the way to Lima. I arrived first and hit the general store for a soda and an ice cream bar. When the girls rolled in 10 minutes later, Rebecca bought a six pack of beers, and we sat in gazebo that gave us some shade to consume them before heading over to the RV park. There were some NOBOs at the general store and they were happy to hear that the wind would carry them well the rest of the day. There were some USFS camp sites on the climb that they were headed for.

When we checked in, Denise decided to get a room because there were no showers available to the tent sites. Rebecca and I both took a tent site, and Denise shared her shower with us. There was also a laundry service available that we took advantage of. Our RV site was just off the exit/entrance ramp for I15. There was rest area there as well as a full truck stop, so unlike Basin, there was a reason to exit I15 here, and I wouldn’t find out the full extend of this until I turned in for the night. Until then we had two options for food, the better of the two options to walk a few blocks to The Peat Steakhouse and Saloon, an old saloon in what must have been the center of town in its heyday. We found a few other cyclists there including a father/son pair in which they were riding to Colorado and this was the son’s first real bike trip ever. He was loving it and we started following each other on Strava the evening. There was another SOBO, Rocky from Park City Utah that we chatted up as well. We all ordered our food inside, and took it outside onto the porch where it was comfortable offering up views to the East. This was my final meal with Denise and Rebecca and we discussed the plans for the next day. Since I had nearly 100 miles to cover the next day, I told them I was going to get an early start, so I would see them in the morning, but it was likely that would be it. Rocky suggested that they all try to hold my wheel since it sounded like I was going to generate a good draft to follow. I told them they would be welcome to try :). Finished, we all walked back to our respective accomodations where we found our laundry all done and waiting for us. We turned in and that was that. Day 16 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

July 3, Day 17 – The final day of Phase 2. The day I bid farewell to Denise and Rebecca. A sad day in those respects, but a good day in the respect that I turn from a generally South route to a generally East route. As it so happens the GDMBR is mostly East at this point in the route, and when it turns South again, I will simply continue straight into West Yellowstone. The girls were heading for a point about 60 miles into the day, however my day was closer to 100 miles, so to cover that kind of mileage I was going to need as much of the day as I could get, so I was up early and at the little coffee kiosk getting coffee and a couple of sandwiches for the road. When the girls arrived for their breakfast I was ready to hit the trail. We hugged, got a couple of selfies and we bade each other safe travels and I took off. It was a cool morning, and there appeared to be some weather in the skies ahead of us. To get to West Yellowstone was not going to be an easy day. A look at the route profile showed two climbs on docket and a profile that if it were cut out of steel could saw through wood. Generally though there was an initial climb to get out of the valley into a higher valley, and then after some many many miles the route rose to a higher plateau where there was a giant lake/reservoir. From there it rose up and over a pass and down into another valley, this time in Idaho. From there I hit a left that would take me off the GDMBR and around Henry’s Lake where I would join up with SR 87 which I could take down to good ol US Route 20 which, after climbing another pass would take me back into Montana and into West Yellowstone. With the cooler temps I went back to my bib knickers and found to my surprise that my ride was better with them. Because they stretched over my knees and down to my calfs, they kept the fabric stretched more tightly and these didn’t scrunch up as much and irritate my saddle sore as much. That sore appeared to be here to stay, and though I didn’t yet have any anti-biotic treatment for it yet, I did find it was more comfortable to contain using the knickers. I didn’t know it yet, but I would never wear the other shorts again on this trip.

The first part of this day rose to a valley containing a giant reservoir, the Lima, where I saw varied wildlife including Pelicans, Elk, a coyote, and some antelope. I had seen this much wildlife in almost any adventure I had ever been on. It wasn’t raining, but the air was thick with moisture and I rode with my rain jacket on for both the protection as well as the extra warmth. I even rode with fingered gloves. I was making good time, my feet felt fine, and my legs felt good when I crossed a cattle guard and ahead of me about 300 yards I saw moving towards me, a wall of cattle, fence to fence. Realizing quickly that there was no other option I retreated back over the cattle guard and waited for them to arrive. There were 5 or 6 horse mounted cowboys, 3 in the front, 3 in the rear moving the cattle forward. They didn’t move fast and there appeared to be a couple hundred head being moved. The road was maybe 20′ wide with a buffer on each side of another 10′ and the cattle were spread fence to fence all the way back. Eventually they reached the cattle guard, which the mature cattle all avoided and took turns moving through the choke point opening which was only about 12′ wide. The young cattle all gathered at the guard and looked at it seemingly without knowledge and decided to proceed. Most of them stepped through the grate and found solid footing only about 8-10″ below the guard and were able to make it across safely. Some were a little more anxious and first tried to leap across. Of those that leaped, all but one still made it across, however one was not so fortunate and hurt itself. How badly, I can’t really judge, but it was very much favoring that one leg when it climbed out on the other side. I don’t think it was broken, but it did seem hurt but it did find it’s mom and the cowboys didn’t seem overly concerned.

While I was waiting, Denise and Rocky arrived and we chatted some more while we waited. The cattle were almost through when they rode up. Rocky again queried me about following, and I told him he was welcome to try and hold my wheel if he wanted to. As soon as we got the okay from the cowboys, we took off again, I could see Rebecca coming up behind us as well. The road that the cattle had just traipsed on was all dug up from their hooves, and of course there were piles here and there of avoidable manure. WIth the moisture it wasn’t quite muddy, but it was sticky and I found that I could hear chunks of dirt being drawn up by my tires and building up on the underside of my fenders. At some point later in the day I had to stop and adjust my fenders for more clearance, but at the moment I was making progress. I looked back over my shoulder and Rocky didn’t even try to hold my wheel, and I saw them falling further and further behind me as I pushed on. Miles to go before I rest. The valley I was in was huuuuuge. It was long and it was wide and the route crossed from one side to the other as it moved end to end. At one point looking back I couldn’t spot anyone any longer and the sun finally broke through warming enough to remove the rain jacket. I rode the rest of the day in sunlight, though it remained fairly cool. I passed Lower and Upper Red Rock Lake as well as the girl’s destination, and was soon on the East side of Upper Red Rock Lake and climbing up to Red Rock Pass. It was all high desert scrub ranch land as I continued to ride. I was now into mile 70 and still had 30 miles to ride and my legs were telling me that the push I made earlier was going to cost me later when I needed a little more. From the pass it was a nice descent into Idaho where I could see Henry’s Lake up ahead so I knew my left turn was coming up. It was uneventful however I did have to climb a bit at first to get over a hill, and then my ride to SR 87 was mostly losing elevation as I passed lake house after lake house, none of them looking all that inviting. In today’s climate of conservative fear I am reluctant to knock on anyone’s door to ask for water, so I nursed my supplies and continued to ride. Once on 87 I got 3 bars of phone service and called the bike shop to see if my part came in and how late they would be open. To my surprise and disappointment they didn’t have a clue what I was talking about, and there was nothing there with my name on it. I then called Keenan back in Helena, and explained, and he sent me the order number, as well as a number for Lynsky. It was July 3rd, and no one answered. I got on their web site and left a message about my predicament along with my email address, and continued on. Though SR 87 didn’t have much of a shoulder, the traffic wasn’t that heavy either, and soon I made it to 20 where I found a gas station and pulled into get some liquids and take a break as well as to rest my feet. I still had a pass to climb through, so I needed the break.

Refreshed, I threw my leg over the top tube and pushed off. At least 20 had a nice shoulder so it didn’t feel too unsafe, however the vehicle flow was fairly heavy and loaded with oversized vehicles. That means RVs either of the self propelled type or the towed kind, and we all know that the drivers of these vehicles are not licensed professionals, but simple everyday people many of whom don’t bother to think “Hmmm, how would I want drivers to treat me if I was riding a bicycle?”. I don’t remember any one vehicle in particular, however the ascent included an extra lane for slower vehicles, and while some were slow, many were not and could have moved over an extra lane and chose not to. This shouldn’t imply that professional CDL drivers are any more courtious however at least they know how to handle their vehicle and how much room they need. I finally reached the pass and passed back into Montana, and started the descent. I still had some miles to go, and the descent wasn’t that long as the plateau that West Yellowstone sits on is still pretty high. Though my time in Montana had been decent quiet roads, 20 was not quiet, and the shoulder that was wide in Idaho was not so wide in Montana, and so those RV vehicles were making me more and more nervous as I rode along. Once I got past the various KOA campgrounds, many of those vehicles pulled off the road, however the traffic was still heavy and fast and I wanted to get off this road. I spied a route on my map that appeared to be gravel though when I got to it, it seemed like someone wanted to make sure noone used it as small trees were cut down every 20′ that fell across the old path. After lifting my bike over a few of these I turned back towards the road where I would have gotten back onto the small shoulder except there was a trail along side that was ridable. Looked like the kind of trail that atvs used, so I rode that. It wasn’t great but it was better than dealing with the nudniks on the road. Eventually I rode into the west end of West Yellowstone and found my hotel, The Historic Madison Hotel and Hostel downtown. It was an old school hotel with a combined shop and lounge area on the first floor. My first night I had a room, and my second night I would be in the hostel area. I settled in, cleaned up, and then went out in search of food, settling on a place that wasn’t great, but didn’t suck either. The Three Bear Lodge had a nice bar where I could sit and write my journal and enjoy a nice evening. I got a seat at the bar, and was entertained while I wrote as others came and went, I overhearing enough of their plans for the coming days. All on vacation of some sort. I confirmed with my masseuse that I was in town and we affirmed a 2PM appointment the next day. A zero day. A day in which my bike wouldn’t move and wouldn’t be touched except maybe the effort I put in to wash all the cattle mud off the bike and from beneath the fenders. I walked everywhere until it was time to ride again. Day 17 Strava, Instagram, Relive.cc

July 4, Day 18 – I am going to count this as part of phase II since I wasn’t yet heading anywhere on the bike. The day was all about rest, so no riding though I did want to take my bike over to the bike shop just to have it checked out. The name of the shop was Freeheel and Wheel and inside I found that all the people inside were qualified mechanics. This was pointed out to me when I used a male pronoun (a couple of times 😦 ) when referring to the work. I made my apologies and they took my bike in to give it a thorough going over. As it turned out, it didn’t need much of anything. The made some adjustments, lubed the chain, and I got away with a low maintenance fee. However I did purchase a Patagonia short-sleaved button down, and a pair of swim shorts. I was heading into warmer/hotter elevations in the weeks ahead, and the need for something other than my T-shirts seemed a good investment. Both were light in weight and comfortable. From there I walked my bike back to my hotel and locked it up and then went to checkout the NPS visitor center there in town. I was killing time sure, but might as well see what they had to offer up. I got to talk to a ranger and confirmed with him that in nearly 45 years, nothing has really changed. Though people are on vacation, they still drive like they are going to work and “no” there haven’t been any road improvements like adding a bike lane in each direction, so other than the variablity of the shoulder width, I would have to be careful when I entered the park and all the way across until I exited on the East side. The ranger sympathised with me and wished me well.

My masseuse was Irena from Romania. She come to the US back in the early 90’s as did a lot of Romanians, escaping a hopeless local economy that had no-to-few prospects. Surprisingly her first town she settled in was Eatontown NJ working at the White Castle just up the street from where I live now. She trained to become a masseuse and moved out West, settling in West Yellowstone some 10 years back. She was very good. I asked for a full body Swedish massage the full 90 minutes. One of those experiences where you wish time dilation would have worked in your favor, but 90 minutes passed, and it was time to move on. I paid up and gave her a nice tip. Back at my hotel the owner said there would be an open barbeque in the parking lot after the parade so I put off having dinner and simply went back to the Three Bears for a coupld of beers before taking in the parade. It was a fairly big deal, where I think communities came in from around a 50 mile radius to participate. It went on for nearly 90 minutes before everyone broke up and went about their business. There were fireworks on the calendar as well, however still being fairly North in Latitude, it wouldn’t be dark enough for them until close to 11 PM, and that was just not going to work for me as I had a big day planned for the 5th. The barbeque hadn’t even been setup before the parade so they still had to do that afterwards, and it was many hours before they were finally serving up food. I sat at a table with some other guests, surprisingly all from Japan. A young couple on their honeymoon, and an old mature widower who was out seeing the world. We chatted and when I was done, I excused myself and retired for the evening. I needed my beauty rest. Day 18 Instagram

This ends phase 2 of my adventure. I think at this point in my adventure I had about 900 miles in the legs already, and managing almost 100 miles to get into West Yellowstone at least gave me hope that I would succeed in phase 3 where I needed to cover almost 1300 miles in 14 days. That is 85-90 miles a day with no zero days. That is a tall order indeed. On the plus side, I only had a few main obstables in the way: Yellowstone (2 passes), Big Horn Mountains, The Black Hills, and a lot of open space. Most of this would be on pavement, so at least I would be moving a little faster, maybe able to average 1-2 mph faster. I might even need to make some adjustments along the way. There were two alternate routes on the plate. One making the ride shorter, and another longer. My guess was the shorter alternate would be yes, while the other would be no. That was what lay ahead for me.

Tagged: adventure, Bicycle Touring, Bike About 2025, Bike Packing, Bikepacking, biking, Cycling, Cycling Suffering, GDMBR, Travel