Tuesday, June 14, 2022, Day 14: Stalled…Due to High Winds?
It’s going to be over 90 degrees here in Great Falls on Friday, but Tuesday morning when I hoped to leave town it was 46 degrees and the high today will just be 52. But that wasn’t a problem. The problem was the wind. It was gusting to 60 mph, consistently 40 mph, and I was afraid I’d get blown into traffic. Sheri was concerned for me as well, so we both decided to take a rest day and wait for calmer weather. We have a few days to spare for rest days, so maybe we’ll take one every two weeks. That doesn’t seem too decadent or too lazy.
We spent the day reading and writing and relaxing. Well, I relaxed. Sheri was a whirlwind of exercise: twice on the elliptical machine in the hotel gym, then weights and abs in our room. I just sat there eating and watching her. I was okay with it. I was resting from my 900+ miles of riding so far.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022, Day 15: Sailing Eastward
We awoke to steady rain, which wasn’t forecasted. We’ve found that the forecast changes hourly here and we check it often. It was due to stop by 7 a.m. and it did. After a large breakfast at the hotel, I hopped on the bike in cold (52 degrees), windy conditions. Puddles were all over the road as I navigated through town, going through the University of Providence, Great Falls Campus, and onto highway 87. I’ll be on this highway for days. Most of the time it has a generous shoulder, but there were a couple of sections that had me quite stressed. The combination of no shoulder, high, gusty winds, and occasional big trucks had me concentrating.
Speaking of traffic, I’m pleased to report that Montana drivers, so far, all seem to be very respectful of cyclists. The highway has a pronounced rumble strip down the center of the road and when a car or truck passes over it, it sounds like semi-engine braking. I’ve come to absolutely love that sound, for it means the upcoming vehicle is giving me a width berth. Frequently, I hear the rumble twice in quick succession and I know that the vehicle has entirely moved into the other, on-coming lane. I try to wave thanks as often as I can. The number of times where a car has come unnecessarily close to me is less than a handful.
The wind today was tremendous, though a lot less than yesterday. It was a consistent 30 mph, blowing almost directly east. Because it was overcast and in the low 50s, it was miserable for anything but riding east. If you rode east you felt like a superhero. Crosswinds were brutal whenever road or wind direction changed. Luckily, I didn’t have much of that. But it was so nasty to even stand outside next to the car. Such a strange experience. I rode many miles on the flats at 30+ mph. Up gradients at 25 mph. Great for my average speed but just nasty otherwise and it took a lot of concentration. Tomorrow should be our first 70+ degree day.
I did 100 easy miles to Lewistown (named after Merriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark) and we found a nice campsite at a mostly-RV campground. I took a shower while Sheri put up the tent with the help of her dumbbells to hold the tent down. Then we went into town to hang out for a bit. We went to 406 Coffee and got a latte. The only other patron in the place was Pastor Russell whose daughter was the barista. We chatted with him quite a bit. He moved out here from Tennessee and has three kids, two daughters (15 and 13) and a 17-old son who speaks in grunt. Of course, he’s a hunter. A bow hunter. We talked a bit about cattle ranching too and he said that in Tennessee you can support one head of cattle with one acre of land. In Montana, it is more like 10-20 acres per head of cattle. The reason? Water. Without water, you don’t grow enough grass to feed the cattle.
Pastor Russell recommend Big Springs to us and we headed out there (5 miles) to give it a look. All drinking water for the entire town comes from this spring south of town. It is one of the largest cold water springs in the world and the water is incredibly pure. It needs no treatment or filtration before being used as city tap water. Out there was also the Big Spring Hatchery and we fed huge trout from a feed dispenser.
We drove back to town, got shut down on a long wait at the most popular restaurant, and opted to just make sandwiches at the car. We then went to the throwback Judith Theater and saw “Top Gun: Maverick”, which was so good. Highly recommended.
Thursday, June 16, 2022, Day 16: Hills, Headwinds, and Heat
Today was payback day for yesterday. 9.5 hours today vs 5.5 yesterday. 13 mph average vs 23 mph. I’m beat, mentally and physically. But it had to be done. No town in between.
Beautiful, Big Sky Country. Started in 47 degrees and hit 78 at one point on the ride. First day over 70 degrees. Endless rolling hills into a headwind. Felt like I did 10K vert. This state is huge.
129 miles today and I’m really beat. 9.5 hours start to finish, but with three breaks to meet Sheri. This way I had first breakfast in camp, then second breakfast, elevensies, and lunch with Sheri.
We camped in the town park for free. Sheri already had the tent set up. I sat down in one of our camp chairs and ate the three leftover slices of pizza for first dinner.
I finished my op-ed piece for the Dailly Camera in the corrugated-metal dive bar. And ate second dinner there. Sheri asked if she could have a cab and our bartender/waitress just look quizzically at her. Sheri then said she’d like a glass of wine and the waitress responded, “We just have a few different mini bottles. I’ll bring them over to you.” Sheri selected a Merlot from the 3-bottle, 4-ounce collection. I asked if the ham and cheese was grilled, and she said, “I just put it in the Microwave.” Actually, the sandwich was quite good, but as hungry as I was it probably didn’t matter much.
Then we worked on the final draft of my piece on homeless encampments. We didn’t get to bed until 9:30.
Friday, June 17, 2022, Day 17: Pure Hell
Yesterday’s headwinds were nothing, though I thought they were awful at the time. Today, I cramped early, after only 36 miles, though I was able to stretch them out on the bike.
I thought this day would be a cruise - half the distance of yesterday. Turned out to be one of the toughest, most miserable days on the bike I’ve ever done. It felt like I did a5 8-mile continuous hill. Haleakala on Maui is a 35-mile, 10k vert climb. I’ve done it five times. This was MUCH harder. 58 miles into a 30 mph headwind before the road turned and I got a 30mph crosswind, which felt like pure Heaven. Instead of 5-7 mph, I was doing 11 or 12 mph. If you’ve ever ridden in a 30 mph crosswind, you’ll understand the misery I was in. I took breaks, at one point, every 3 miles. I thought seriously of taking a ride into town and driving back tomorrow. I probably should have done that. I cramped in my quads, hamstrings, back, ankles, and feet despite downing 8 bottles of Gatorade and eating a ton. Haven’t cramped like this since the Pikes Peak Marathon. When I rode with that 30 mph tailwind I said that I couldn’t imagine riding towards it. Well, now I can and I’ve seen hell. I’ll never go back. Met a guy yesterday, riding west, who took two days off because of the winds. Smarter than me. I’m not done paying for this. I’m probably going to be cramping all night. I have a foot cramp now if fact. Yeowch!
After 56 miles, I crested yet another hill, and before me was just downhill and flat. It was the first time all day that I wasn’t looking at another hill. What a glorious sight. I started to think I’d make it into town. Three miles later, I turned to the north and then just had crosswinds into town, which felt easy. The road here had a huge shoulder. The shoulder was so wide the reflective posts that normally mark the edge of the road were in the middle of the median. Semi-delirious, looking at my phone, I hit one of these posts! Just barely. I looked up just in time to mostly avoid it but struck it with my upper left arm and drew some blood. It could have been much worse.
I went to the RV park and it was deserted and desolate. I checked my phone and Sheri was at a motel just a quarter-mile away. Thank goodness we were in a motel, as I had a rough afternoon ahead of me.
I thought I was semi-okay when I arrived in town, but as soon as I got off the bike I cramped my calf. I was dripping in sweat and had to shower. Sheri found us a cheap motel and I cramped my hamstring so bad stepping into the tub that I thought I might fall. I screamed in pain. I showered as quickly as I could for fear of cramping again and possibly falling over. Once showered, I lay on the bed for the next four hours, cramping every muscle in my legs. I even cramped a neck muscle and my back. Sheri attended to me with drinks, food, and massage, and would help push my foot back to release my cramps. It was extremely unpleasant.
Saturday, June 18, 2022, Day 18:
When I envisioned this trip, I imagined day after day of sunny, calm, 70-degree paradise. How delusional is that? I did bring lots of warm clothing and rain gear, and I’ve used it a lot, but I still haven’t seen a day that hit 70 degrees and stayed below 80.
I saw a Pronghorn antelope on my ride today. That was cool.
Just as I entered Glendive, my directions took me over a very rough railroad crossing. At the last second, I noticed that it was really bad and tried to bumpy hop over most of it. My back tire didn’t make it and immediately flatted. I had a hole in the tire and I patched it after some confusion, having never used plugs before, but couldn’t get the tire to seat with CO2 or my fancy new pump. I’d find out later that I had destroyed my tire by damaging the sidewall. Bummer. Tires are expensive. I’d be on the road bike tomorrow.
Sheri came and picked me up, which was the plan anyway, as the campground was five miles off my route and up a steep hill with lots of gravel. We camped at Makoshika State Park — the biggest state park in Montana, where lots of dinosaur fossils have been found.
I felt fine riding once the headwinds stopped, but as soon as I got off the bike today, I was completely wasted. From what? I thought. I didn’t ride very far. Just 50 miles. But I knew I was a long way from recovering from the previous day’s disaster. I wasn’t out of it yet. Plus, I was sweaty. Unfortunately, our campground didn’t have any showers. Or running water. I rested on my pad for two hours, eating and drinking, and afterward, I could barely do a half-mile hike with Sheri.
It was really hot, in the upper 80’s. While Sheri got in some more miles I read in the car with the air conditioning on. It was so nice. At 6:30 p.m. when I started to cook dinner, it was still 84 degrees. And the sun was still 2.5 hours away from setting.
After dinner we read until the light was too dim and retired to the tent.
Sunday, June 19, 2022, Day 19:
We slept with the fly off the tent for the first time last night, as the slight breeze made things a bit cooler. It helped a lot but it was quite light out at 4:45 a.m. so I got up. It was still 68 degrees but would get cooler before I started riding.
I read my book and drank a cup of coffee. When Sheri stirred at 5:30, I made her a cup. When I brought it to her, she said, “Happy Father's Day!” I didn’t even know it. I usually like spending Father’s Day with my boys or at least one boy. Last year, also with me not knowing the day, Derek says to me, “So, what are we climbing on Sunday?” It took me a moment, but then I knew that was his gift to me — a day of climbing with him. You can’t top that. Today wasn’t going to be with my boys, but I was thinking about them all day.
Sheri packed up most of the camp while I did nothing besides eat breakfast. I offered to handle it while she did her run/hike, but it was so embedded in her routine that she just did it. Sheri tried to run 5+ miles back down to the visitor center from our camp, but the trails here are not that well defined and it petered out. She backtracked to an alternative and got in six miles.
I was waiting and ready to go at the visitor center. Because of my fatigue yesterday, our plan was to just see how things went and possibly make today a very short day. Short, like 35 miles or even less. I took off on the bike and Sheri headed to the grocery store for food and more ice. Stocking the cooler with ice is a never-ending chore that Sheri was on top of…all the time.
Sheri met me after I’d ridden 25 miles. I wasn't expecting to see her at this location, but she knew I’d be here, as I had to get on I-94 here. She had a fresh donut waiting for me. Actually, two, but I only had one, saving the other for Beach, North Dakota. We figured we’d stop there for a really short day.
On our map, Beach was listed as having a population of about 1000 people. And it appeared pretty dead, with no open businesses in the town center (but a few at the highway exit). Sheri didn’t like the look of the motel (she had a good eye for this), so we decided to go further, to Medora, even though the population listed for this town was only 187. Little did we know that Medora is THE tourist town in the entire state of North Dakota. Now that might not be saying that much compared to Yosemite or Times Square, but we’d find out that it was a pretty big deal in this state.
Sheri got into town and was shocked by how many people were there. Just parking in town wasn’t trivial (though not that bad). I’d heard this was a cool place from a cyclist I met while waiting for Sheri to finish her run to the visitor center that morning. He was right. There is a really cool 150-mile mountain bike trail that goes through here. It’s called the Mah` Dah Hey (or something like that). It sounds pretty awesome. Non-technical, smooth, fast, rolling single track. There is a bike shop in this town that caters to rentals for this trail and I was able to get my tire fixed there while we had a great lunch at the Boots Tavern.
After picking up the bike and hemming and hawing a bit, we checked into the expensive, but really nice Amercinn hotel. It had everything we wanted: free breakfast, laundry, workout room, wifi, etc. Sheri would use the workout room the next morning and rate it excellent. Why? First, it was freezing (good for working out). Second, it had a big TV and she easily found her morning show with Savannah and Hoda. Third, it had an awesome elliptical machine.
After relaxing, we took a drive into Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It’s so green here still and it was beautiful. We were told that we’d see lots of wildlife. Mostly just saw some prairie dogs. If you’re from the east these critters might be exotic. Being from Boulder, seeing a prairie dog is like seeing a squirrel.
Monday, June 20, 2022, Day 20:
After another massive hotel breakfast, which I started before Sheri started her workout session and finished after she rejoined me and then left for the room, I finally hoisted my leg (with some help from Sheri) over my bike. I started pedaling in cool temperatures just before 8:30 a.m.
I headed south out of town on a paved, winding road that climbed steeply for a bit and then rolled a bit, before turning to dirt. I rode through semi-badlands. I mean, not full-on badlands, but certainly not good lands. Whatever that means. It was beautiful and surprisingly verdant. I noticed an oil pumper off in the distance and realized that I was riding through an oil field, but not like any I’d seen before.
The road turned back to pavement after ten miles or so and I zigged north and then zagged east onto Old Highway 10, which I’d ridden on a lot already. This is a great road to ride. I get passed by a vehicle about once a mile. I was surprised to see Sheri by the side of the road before I got to Belfield. It’s always such a lift to meet up with her, though I was going great and just enjoying the great riding. I think I’ve dug myself out of the massive dehydration hole that I put myself into on Day 17. I didn’t stop for long and we agreed to meet in Dickinson, at 42 miles into the day.
Riding there went smooth and we headed to Jaycee Park for lunch. We were pleased to discover shaded picnic tables there. While we ate sandwiches and downed a cold Coke, we watched a foursome play frisbee golf. What a curious sport. They noticed us watching and I waved and they waved back. The tallest guy asked about my bike and when I told him what I was doing, he had to interrupt his game and come shake my hand. We chatted for quite a bit, mostly about frisbee golf. He and his wife were on an RV trip around the west.
After lunch, we planned to head to Richardton, where there was a campground and also a motel. We were expecting some serious rain tonight and thinking that we should be in a motel. Once we got there, we were not impressed. The town is nearly a ghost town, with one dumpy motel and no businesses open. Plus, most of their few streets were closed for repairs. They closed all their streets? Why not just one at a time? A group of four tweens was loudly dropping f-bombs and even the n-word, probably because they hoped to get a reaction out of someone. We moved on, 13 miles to the next town: Hebron. This was a GREAT decision and I finished with 80 miles.
Sheri found us a nice motel (only one in town) called the Brick City Motel. Apparently, brick production was big in Hebron at one time. It was a simple motel and we were the only ones checked in. Our room was huge. We could have hosted a pilates class if we did pilates…or knew what pilates was.
The only place in town that served food was the Pizza Pantry, which was open from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and was highly rated. We walked the half-mile to the shop and ate at the one table outside, on the sidewalk. We didn’t see more than a handful of people downtown. The ladies in the Pantry were super nice and the food was good and quick. Before we could finish eating, though, the skies, as forecasted, grew very dark and the wind picked up. A big pickup truck pulled in and out got a young man, Cade, and his daughter Ella. The young guy looked like Casey from the show Yellowstone. We said hello and chatted a bit before they went inside to order food. Soon the rain hit and we dashed inside as well. We mentioned that we’d walked to dinner and Cade immediately offered to drive us back to our motel. Small town America, in our experience so far, is incredibly nice.
The rain pounded for hours and we felt so good about staying in a motel. We watched the Avalanche get crushed in game three by the Lightning (they still lead the series 2-1) and then went to sleep. It was a great day all around for us.
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