Start: 8:00AM
Finish: 3:30 PM
Saddle Time: 6:00
Ascent: 1,411 feet
Descent: 1,560 feet
Miles: 67 miles
Total Miles: 1,300
Highlight: Talking to other cyclists I met along the way.
Lowlight: Riding the worst stretch of road I’ve encountered since the start of the trip.
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.
Hard to say much positive about today other than it eventually ended and I bought a 4-pack of beer. That’s not totally true, I did have some good conversations with other cyclists I met along the way. Just after leaving my motel I saw the cyclists from Glens Falls I met last night at the museum sitting outside their hotel across the street drinking coffee. They waved to me so I rode over to say hello again. We talked for along while about our tours. They gave me a heads up as to what was in store for me on the road ahead, really bad road conditions including a construction site with dirt roads and one lane traffic. I had heard this from other cyclists and locals. They talked about how much they liked the camping in the Michigan upper peninsula, one of the alternate routes I could take. Makes me think I need to get back to camping once I can find real campgrounds that are not just dirt lots for RV’s which is all I’ve seen around here.
Did you hear about the cyclist killed by a bear in Montana? Apparently she had food in her tent because where are you going to tie up your food if there are no trees? I’ve wondered about that.
I eventually started riding and about 10 miles down the road saw a strange object on the horizon. It looked to be moving but was on the side of the road. I couldn’t figure it out. As it got closer I figured it must be a bicycle but looked like it had a cooler strapped to the front, reminded me of motorcycles and scooters you see in Southeast Asia with all sorts of things strapped to the back. What was he doing all the way out here with a cooler? At about 100 yards away I realized it was an incumbent bike with a while wind shield. We stopped and talked for a while. He started from his home in Massachusetts in early June and has been making decent time because of all the tailwind recently which makes sense with of all my headwind. This weather pattern is not normal for this time of year. We surmised the extreme weather in the northwest is effecting regional weather patterns in area.
Before leaving I packed up an extra couple liters of water since there’s nothing between here and Circle 67 miles away other than a rest stop, don’t want to risk it not being open for some reason. The ride started out fine, the usual pleasant Montana morning, cool and quiet. Winds were predicted to be strong but mostly out of the north while my ride is mostly east so it shouldn’t be too bad. The road seemed fairly new with reasonable shoulders but that ended after about 15 miles when the shoulders disappeared. The road was likely very old where they just paved over an old dirt road that went up and over the rolling hills without trying to modulate the terrain. The short but steep ascents are tiring but also dangerous with lots of blind spots. Of course Montana keeps the same stupid speed limit regardless of how dangerous the road.
Just as I approached the construction site the geography changed dramatically into a very badlands like terrain with washed out shale with some nice colors. It didn’t last long but was a nice change from the prairie. The construction site had packed dirt roads which were easy to ride on and the one way traffic slowed everyone down. Well after the site I still benefited from the one lane traffic for many more miles since cars came in spurts with long periods of nothing in between. The problem this side of the construction site were tandem gravel trucks, lots of them. Seemed like a regular cadence of every few minutes, similar to the logging trucks I experienced back in Washington. These trucks are hauling, literally and figuratively. They were likely moving at the truck speed limit of 65mph and didn’t slow for anything, many barely gave me enough space. When they approach you get hit with wall of wind, so much I have to put my head down and brace and also keep an eye in my mirror. If a car is coming the other way I need to pull over which is difficult on a road without a shoulder and a steep bank on the edge. This terrible riding went on for a good 30-40 miles, worse riding of the trip.
After the construction site I made it to the rest area, a nice building with bathrooms and cold water. I ate a sandwich I bought last night at supermarket for second breakfast, kept cold overnight in my motel fridge. I’m liking this for quick meal. I’ll look for sandwiches in future markets, if I’m staying in a motel
Eventually the truck traffic let up dramatically, maybe I was far enough away or maybe late enough in the day. The road was new so in good condition but made a turn to the north into the headwind slowing my progress to about 10mph for the last 15 miles.
I made it to the motel a good hour later than I expected. It was a tiring day both physically and mentally I’m getting closer to the flat plains of North Dakota, looking forward to fewer hills. Circle is another tiny town with one motel, a couple restaurants and a bar. Super quiet. I should comment on the food. Keep in mind I’m traveling through small towns in Montana with the only exception being Great Falls several days ago. These towns have populations in the hundreds to single digit thousands. There are no restaurants, well there are but typically its the local bar or in the case of Circle a family restaurant next door to the bar. The only food you can find are burgers, steak, and fried chicken, or some variety of that. I’ve had good, cheap burgers and some good steaks but I would really like something else. Even the salads are just iceberg lettuce, so crunchy water.
Tomorrow is a short 50 mile day to Glendive, my last night in Montana.
