No one came in to check their postal box during the night or at least I never heard them. I don't think I budged for three hours, dead to the world kinda sleep.
 |
| If a bikepacker's Montana Hilton is a campground pit toilet, this was a Montana Fairmont!! |
It was starting to get light, but it was still overcast and sprinkling. It was a brisk damp morning and I decided it would be a good day for a hot coffee. I packed up and made my way over to the mercantile as the store was being opened for the day. Another rider, Clint, soon followed suit. A quick breakfast and all stocked up for the 35 or so miles to the Montana High Country Lodge and I was ready to roll on. I had big ambitions for the day.
 |
| Entering another National Forest: Beaverhead - Deerlodge. |
Initially I found a comfortable riding position, but after a few miles I couldn't quite sit still. The PRID helped a little bit, but by now I realized I had a serious issue. I've never dealt with saddle sores before, at least nothing more than a mild irritation. Without going into too much detail, my right side was now about 4x5" of irritated area with two very distinct pressure points. It was beginning to feel like a callus or perhaps a giant cyst. My left side was mostly small isolated irritations. I was surprised I could find a comfortable position to ride in at all, but I was managing.
 |
| Not sure what was going on here, but lots of yard decorations. |
Clint soon caught up to me and zoomed on by. No way I could match his pace, it didn't take long for him to disappear from view. The paved road wasn't steep, a nice gradual climb through the forested valley next to the Wise River. I passed by a series of USFS campgrounds that would've been fine for the previous night, but I'm glad I stopped when I did.
 |
| Wise River. |
 |
| Roadside waterfall. |
 |
| Still gloomy, but the rain held off. |
I began to see a steady stream of road cyclists heading the opposite direction. Each time they waved as we exchanged 'Good Mornings'. A few knew what I was up to and gave me words of encouragement and thumbs up.
The easy grade finally gave way to a switchbacked climb out of the valley. This was about the time the wheels came off. My legs were dead. I had nothing. Here we go again, a rideable paved climb and I'm reduced to walking. I ended up pushing my bike for 3 miles. Ugh. It was so demoralizing not being able to muster the strength to ride, but by now I couldn't sit longer than a minute or so. I figured it may have been due to my 3 hour sleep on the Post Office floor, I'm sure that didn't help, but I wasn't really sleepy. I did notice that while walking the roadies offered much less encouragement!! Ha! I guess I needed to be riding. There were so many of them, at first I thought it was just a local shop ride or something. I then figured it must be some kind of event, not necessarily a race, but maybe a charity ride or the like.
The grade finally relented and I was able to get back on the horse for a bit.
 |
| Maverick Mountain Ski Resort. |
 |
| I had time to stop and read the info plaque. |
I had one more section of road hike-a-bike remaining before the crest. I noticed my GPS was reading almost 825 miles ridden, my longest ride to date was the
2016 AZTR750 at 832 miles (lots of off-route riding for resupply on that one!). As down in the dumps as I was feeling, it perked me up a bit knowing I was about to cross that threshold.
 |
| Perfectly placed at the top of the climb!! |
I stopped for the sign photo and decided right there that I'd be taking a 1/2 day and would spend the night at the lodge. I was in desperate need of a reset, both in body and mind at this point. I knew my daily mileage would take a hit, but hoped the recovery would propel me into a series of big days since I could now see the end of Montana coming into view, figuratively. The best part of that sign wasn't in print, it was 3.5
downhill miles!!
The top of the downhill was steep and fast, 25-30mph stuff. I saw the turnoff for Elkhorn Hot Springs and while that sounded enticing, I needed to get to the Lodge.
 |
| As the downhill mellowed, the views opened up. |
 |
| Welcome to the Grasshopper Valley. |
 |
| That's a lot of happy cows. |
 |
| But it's way up there!! Drat. |
Right after my sign photo I saw a rider coming down from the lodge, it was Eric Morton. We've been friends online for a bit and it was nice to finally meet him in person. He was one of a few riders attempting the
Triple Crown Challenge of bikepacking: Completing the
AZTR750,
Tour Divide &
Colorado Trail Race all in one season from the Grand Depart of each. Macho. He was hoping to make a big push to Lima some 100 miles away.
As Eric took off Clint came down from the lodge, not surprised he had been there long enough to resupply before I caught up.
 |
| All quiet when I arrived at 2p. |
I went inside and didn't see anyone at first, but instantly took notice of the huge views both inside and out. This place looked amazing!! Karen soon greeted me and asked what I needed. She said she could either cook up some breakfast or lunch fare, I opted for a large breakfast plate. I inquired about staying the night and booked a room.
 |
| A very cool tradition they started. I signed my name and looked for friends on the list. |
 |
| This didn't last long. |
 |
| My room for the night. |
It took a little while for me to unwind and realize that I was actually staying put for a while. I rounded up all my crusty bike clothes and handed them off to be washed. The lodge provides robes so you can get everything all tidy for the next leg of the journey. Talk about service!! Next up was a much needed shower, first one since the night before the start in Banff!! At least it had been relatively cool the past few days, I wasn't as ripe as you may think or perhaps I no longer noticed.
 |
| Loft area next to my room. |
 |
| It's quite the spread. |
 |
| I found a nice place to relax. |
Other riders began to show up, some I hadn't seen in a few days. Justin, Mikki, Larry, Joey, Bill, Mark and Hal!! Hal told me about his prior night up on Fleecer ridge, he woke to find 2" of fresh snow on his tent and sub-freezing temps!! I listened and was thankful I had found the warm Post Office floor!! There was another couple at the lodge, a guy touring segments while his wife would drive to the day's destination. Not a bad way to do it. The Belgian tourer, Jorgen, even stopped by for a bit. Last time I saw him was before Butte. He was trying to track down Sam for the evening.
 |
| Getting acquainted with Montana wildlife. |
 |
| It was quite the collection. |
 |
| I didn't mind the short climb up to the lodge with views like this. |
Russ Kipp, the owner, had returned from his day out on the lake. He said he must've passed me this morning a described his truck, yep, I saw it. We got to talking about the road cyclists, come to find out it was an annual ride called
RATPOD and the lodge was the breakfast stop for the riders on the route. He said there was over a hundred cyclists at the lodge that morning. Crazy.
Here are the past white boards dating back to 2014. The winner gets their photo, taken at the lodge, posted on top for all future riders to see!! Spoiler alert!! Congrats to fellow Arizonan, Chris Seistrup for putting together a most stellar ride this year. Can't wait to see the 2019 board all filled out with your picture on top!!
 |
| 2018: Lewis Ciddor |
 |
| 2017: Brian Lucido |
 |
| 2016: Mike Hall (RIP, Mike. His time of 13:22:51 still stands as the fastest time) |
 |
| 2015: Josh Kato |
 |
| 2014: Jefe Branham |
 |
| For once, Hal had to catch up to me, but he was getting a big jump on me now. I told him I may not see him for a few days!! |
 |
| One final visitor for the evening. |
Both Hal and Justin took off into the early evening. I wasn't sure I'd catch up to Justin though. Everyone else had a room for the night and we all convened for a lasagna dinner. We then put in our orders for breakfast and any to-go sandwiches we wanted. I could get used to this!!
I noticed my lower legs had swelled, fat ankles and sausages for calves. I got them elevated while I checked in with K back home. Before heading off to bed I made sure all my electronics were topped off, new application of PRID with fresh bandages and as much as I could pack on the bike done so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning.
Stats: 38.16 miles & 2,492' gained.
Route:
No comments:
Post a Comment