Start: 10:25

Finish: 3:28

Saddle time: 3:16

Ascent:  732 feet

Descent:  338 feet

Miles: 42.2

Total Miles: 552.4

Highlight:  A portion of the ride paralleled highway 200, likely on the old road.  Scenic and no traffic.

Lowlight: Camped in a grassy field leaving me all congested.

Cyclemeter: Follow this link to see the data I’m collecting with the cyclemeter app. You can see gps information, speed, elevation, distance, cadence and heart rate. Better viewed on a computer where it’s easier to play around with the graphs.

I really wish I made it into town earlier last night, would like to have explored more.  I did walk around a bit but it was hot in the sun.  I’m getting increasingly concerned with the heatwave about to descend on this area. I’m getting close to Glacier NP with lots of people and likely little opportunity for hotel stays.  I need to spend time figuring this out.

Today is Friday and I’m a bit worried the campgrounds further down the road will be full by the time I get there.  I’m starting to learn that many RV parks allow cyclists and bikers to just roll up and grab a patch of ground without occupying an RV site.  From what I’ve seen at USFS sites there really isn’t much in the way of overflow space so I’m not sure what would happen if I show up and the campground is full, don’t want to find out today.

There’s not much between here and Libby, MT which is about 95 miles away, too much for me to do in one day at this point.  The Amber Bear Inn  is about 45 miles away, a little shorter than I would like but I would assure a place to stay.  I called and all the rooms were booked but I could camp out back for $20 with access to their bathroom (no shower), will have to do.

Since it was a short day I took my time getting moving, made use of the (actual) high speed internet in my relatively expensive hotel and left about 10:30.  The ride was mostly along Lake Pend Oreille which is huge.  Headed out of town on a bike path then on to highway 200 which I would follow off and on most of the way.  The road was busy with lots of car and truck traffic along with a bunch of RV’s, maybe heading to Glacier.  Like I said, it is a Friday. Glad I made reservations.

Eventually the route went off 200 on what I imagine was the old road through the area, sitting further up the hillside I had nice views of the lake and highway below.  There was no traffic, awesome riding

I made it into the town of Clark Fork, ID around 1:00 or so and stopped at the local store for a gatorade and hushpuppy, as usual you take what you can get when riding. There was a restaurant across the street but I prefer to eat quick and light so I can make time and not let my muscles cool down and stiffen up. 

For some reason I know the town of Clark Fork, a little nothing of a town with a population of about 500 sitting on the banks of the Clark Fork river flowing into the eastern end of Lake Pend Oreille.  I looked it up on wikipedia while eating my hushpuppy.  It was named after William Clark of Lewis and Clark and was an important trading town back in the fur trapper days but that’s all I could gather.  Maybe it’s mentioned in old westerns, or something.

The route veered off 200 for the rest of the ride on a nice country road across the river from 200.  Apparently that stretch of 200 while scenic is very dangerous for cyclists.  With narrow roads and steep cliffs a number of cyclists were killed before the bike route was moved off that section of road to across the river.  The road crosses the Montana line but there was no sign.  It became apparent when the road conditions changed from chip seal to new asphalt. As the inn owner later told me the state dug up the old road about 10 years ago with the intent of replacing it but didn’t get around to it for nearly a decade, glad it’s paved as I roll through.

I made it to the inn about 3:30. The inn sits on 400 acres really in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing out here.  There was a sign pointing down a dusty dirt road which gave me thoughts of The Deliverance.  Where was this leading?  The inn also has a casino which really was just a room off the side with some slot machines.  Curious, I asked about the casino. The owner explained that Montana allows casinos on non Indian lands but the state takes a big cut, 97% of proceeds.  The rental company for the slots takes half of the rest leaving the inn owners with 1.5%.  I may have my numbers wrong but that’s about what he said.  The state takes a huge cut.  I’m writing this a couple days in the future and I’ve been seeing “casinos” everywhere.

The owners are a very nice and friendly couple, both coming from former IT related careers before building the inn.  The wife greeted to me and said jokingly “we have sprinklers going if you want to cool off”.  They water the lawn out front fed from a stream, for the elk. I later said “I know you are joking about the sprinkler but seriously I would like to cool down and clean up. Is there a hose around I can use?”.  She looked at me strangely and said “like an outdoor shower?”.  I said “yes, I’m really hot and sweaty”. She said they have natural spring out back in the woods if I would like to use that.  While walking my bike over to a patch of grass where I would camp I hear one of the guests yell out “hey John! Want to use my shower?”. I gladly said yes, so nice.

After my shower the husband comes up to me and says “how do you feel about bears?”.  I said, “fine with me if they stay away”. He said “good because we have them around here but they typically stay close to the edge of the field.”.  I asked “black or grizzly?”.  He said “Yes”.  Should be an interesting night.  I don’t have actual bear spray but when I got out here I bought one of those small personal protection pepper sprays, for animals and rednecks.  Hope it’s enough for bear if it comes to that.

The wife asked me about breakfast.  I said I want to head out early.  She said she’s used to making 6:00am breakfasts for cyclists so I took her up on the offer, no need to cook oatmeal before I leave.  

Started setting up my tent in a field under a pine tree between piles of elk droppings and started to feel myself getting congested, figured it must be grass pollen since the grass was high.  I took a Claritin from my first aide kit.

Had a nice, big roast pork dinner from the restaurant, a couple beers and was ready for bed but it doesn’t get dark here until about 11:00.

I kept hearing this noise like some kind of call, sounded like a peacock but coming from many directions.  Feeling a little east coast stupid I embarrassingly asked (the husband of the woman who let me take a shower) what’s that noise.  He said peacocks, the owner has a bunch of peacocks.  Later that night I had one roosting in the pine tree above my tent, kept calling until about 11:30pm. With an open carry law I saw lots of people carrying sidearms.  Wish I had one about now.