July 26, Friday

Cool and windy brought the dawn. I put that in just for Rachel.

A GDMBR rider stopped as we were packing up and then continued on his way (Daryl). Rolling hills and seemingly empty country allowed us to see the road ahead for miles. Jamie and I chased some more cows, which after we passed served as a warning system for approaching cyclists (Daryl, then John, then Roger) long after we passed. We had to push up the climb for a while, it was so steep. Jamie refers to this as "stretching my legs".

Around a bend we startled a large herd of elk, which divided into 2 groups and bolted. Wow, they can cover a lot of ground quickly. We also saw our first all American coyote, the last being in Canada.
The last half of the day was rolling downhill. We rolled into Dell (off route) for groceries and to visit the Yesterday Calf-A, and I decided to seek medical attention that could not wait another week until a large town surfaced.

I asked restaurant patrons leaving if any were heading north to Dillon and a really nice couple from Calgary offered to take me with them. After I had accomplished my mission, the clinic's 19 year old receptionist offered to drive me the 50 miles back to Dell. She stopped home to pick up her 14 year old brother and off we went.

They were exceptionally kind and asked me all kinds of questions and we chatted about how fabulous Montana is, about technology and about cars. In Dell, I grabbed my bike and rode like the wind to Lima, literally, because I had a 15 MPH tailwind. I got there around 9pm.

In Lima, everyone had chipped in for a huge room, which meant warm showers, beds and a flush toilet.
Daryl and the 4 cyclists we met near Fleecer Ridge were at the same hotel; Kevin, Susan and Glenn. Two of our group member's odometers hit 1,000 today.

Stats:
Start odometer 1126
End 1177
Total 50
Max 33.3
Avg 12.1
Time 3:55

July 25, Thursday

It probably dropped to about 45 degrees last night, but my 15 degree bag, Ibex wool shirt, t shirt, shorts and pants kept me sweating, though sleeping.

We had first breakfast in camp, then ran off, first downhill (brrrr, too scantily clad), then uphill, then downhill, then hungry enough for a second breakfast 3 miles later. The Grasshopper Inn was a really nice place seemingly in the middle of nowhere. THEN we found out we could have camped out front and had margaritas and widow. If we had rented a room we could even have taken SHOWERS. All for 3 measly miles. Alas.

After breakfast we passed through a section of route shared with the Trans Am; it was pretty non-descript and neither Jamie nor I remembered it. A solo female headed west passed us and we should have stopped to chat, since soloists are sometimes a little lonely, but we forged ahead.

There was a lot of downhill early in the day, but it turned into a rolling flat, then a slight incline as the day wore on. Water is an issue in this section, since most of the creeks have dried up by this time of the year. You know the few which are running are contaminated by the hundreds of cattle ranging across their watersheds, but you dip and purify and cross your fingers.

Bannock State Park was closed due to flash flooding, but that was a little early for us to be stopping anyways.

We finally came to a rest where the road crossed Medicine Lodge Creek and took turns bathing in the very small shallow creek. A tiny rain storm came through while we pitched our tents. Though there was thunder and an incredible wind, hardly 20 drops of rain struck my tent. Jamie rescued my tent, which was hell bent on impaling itself on a barbed wire fence, taking my sleeping bag, pad and clothes with it.
Our fourth rehydrated meal (2 successful attempts) was quite good and we are discovering some ground rules. 1. Pasta can't stand around being rehydrated for long and may not work at all 2. Rice side dishes rehydrate in about 20 minutes.  The ones we have been using are made by Knorr. We will try some pasta between now and Big Spring, ID and make a final determination on getting rid of the stove by then.

Since there is no toilet, we used a rock slide for this purpose. We would lift a rock, make a deposit to nature, replace the rock and build a little cairn to mark the spot.

Our bear hangs were pretty weenie, since there were not really any trees. The guys just put their stuff on top of the river sign posts about 5 feet above the ground, while Jamie and I tried the bridge trick again, but the creek is only about 4 feet below the bridge. Since there is a lot of vegetation at either end of the bridge, we know the food will be safe because a.) Bears don't like splashing in the water, right? And b.) Bears don't like moving through itchy scratchy vegetation, right? and c.) the bikers are tastier and come in cute wrappers filled with down feathers.

Today we saw a moose and calf, fox, bluebird and some rust colored heron-type birds.

Stats:
Start odometer 1068
End 1126
Total 60 (I took my odometer off to get it calibrated right)
Max 41.5
Avg 11.5
Time 4:58

July 24, Wednesday

We tried to get out early and succeeded in leaving by 8:30, so we would hit Fleecer Ridge early.  And so we hit it, the 4 of us and the other 3 riders from the CG. Six of us had to push up at some point, but the woman from the other group made it all the way up. The directions read, "Begin riding/pushing up very steep ridge". This is the first time our directions have told us we were probably going to have to push. The descent was far worse. I'm surprised I didn't wear down a spot on my tires since I was braking to totally stop the wheels from rolling,  but the bike kept going anyways. The track was so loose and steep that it was difficult-to-impossible to even walk it, forcing me to push the bike through the sage and brush.  Thus is the GMBR. If you can't find joy and humor in it, it isn't for you.
After we remounted and were on our way down.

July 23, Tuesday

We ate a simple breakfast, then dilly-dallied at the Safeway and didn't get going until 10:30. Threading back through Butte to go south was easy. After about 10 miles we were back up in Forest Service land again and climbed up to the divide.

Very few vehicles passed us and one was a Forest Service vehicle and the driver actually totally stopped for each of us spread out over a mile, in order to not spew dust all over us. He even apologized for the dust he was kicking up, which was minimal. Much later a fire service vehicle came by and barely slowed.

At the pass were many horse trailers, which must have discharged their contents and were heading back down. They may be cowboys heading out to herd the cattle back down.

We ate lunch at a leisurely pace until we were told that spraying for the pine bark beetle was about to commence, so we moved on.

The road rolled through short grass and sage range lands, with cows watching our progress. At one point we smelled something awful and finally linked it to what we faintly could make out to be a dead cow in a copse of trees.

The road down was not very pleasant. Extensively washboarded and often comprised of sand, I braked to an almost constant speed of 10.5 MPH. A nice view of Fleecer Mountain was framed by the nearby lower hills. Route 15 was far below and the cars looked like cows on a ribbon of river.

Our last stretch was a 6 mile moderate climb to Beaver Dam CG. The CG was mostly closed due to beetle spraying (1 month ago? ), but is scheduled to reopen tomorrow. We purified the water just to be safe, since it was murky even after pumping for 5 minutes and it may not have been tested recently.  The only other CG user was a larger RV; they were using a mannequin leg to weigh down their tarp, but no one was home.

Dinner is being partially rehydrated with yesterday's leftover wine. 4 more cyclists came in around 9.

Stats:
Start odometer 980
End 1018
Total 36.1
Avg 8.5
Max 28.6
Time 4:13

July 22, Monday

We got the earliest start yet, around 9:00. The day started with a gradual climb developing into a steep climb over rocks, roots and small gullies. We pushed for about 3 miles uphill and 1 mile down. John rode all of it. He is a grizzly, right?

There was really nothing to complain about, though, for the scenery was fabulous and there was something great and challenging around each bend.

Two motorcyclists Jamie and I met last night who are following the GDMBR (except the no motorized vehicle parts) went this way this morning. They were not riding what I would call dirt bikes, but off-road motorcycles. Some of what they passed through is just remarkable for a motorcycle. I would have marked it as impassable.

The downhill dirt road improved and passed by many old and current mines. It also travelled parallel to Cascade Creek, true to its name.

When we got to Basin, MT Jamie and I left Roger and John eating at a cafe, while we went on.
The next 5 miles or so were dirt again, but then we followed Roger's advice and hopped on the highway. That was a rather boring 30 miles, bringing us into Butte for about a 50 mile total. The highway and route run side by side for much of that distance and the route eventually ends up on the highway anyways, so we didn't lose much.
Jamie and I cruised into Butte via interstate 90, apparently one of the few, if not the only northern route into town due to the huge strip mine on the northern boundary.
We stopped for groceries, then headed for the KOA, where we met up with Roger and John again.
Everyone took advantage of the cell phone service to call their respective peeps and I got a chance to shower. Jamie and I spent the evening talking to Mitch, from Dublin, who is touring by motorcycle. We shared a bottle of wine and a pint of Ben and Jerry's Jamie and I have bought, while John and Roger went to a pizza joint.

Stats:
Start odometer 928
End 980
Avg 9.2
Max 35.2
Total 50.11
Time 5:24

July 21, Sunday

We met up with Andy a GDMBR rider from Australia at the No Sweat Cafe, then parted ways. Andy is working his way towards Missoula, where he will pick up the Trans Am going east to avoid riding really remote sections of the GDMBR alone. He will rejoin that route near Colorado Springs.

The road we took today leads to a popular recreation area, with loads of vehicles going both directions.
Drivers tend to not slow down and so kick up huge amounts of dust. I don't think they are being deliberately obnoxious, just clueless that if they slowed to 5 MPH they would kick up almost none.
I saw a car with 2 little dogs hanging out the windows. The hood was pretty crumpled and bolted to the hood was a fire extinguisher.

Park Lake Recreation Area is a small lake popular for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and swimming. We swam off the canoe launch with big polliwogs swimming at our feet.

Our dinner of tortellini and rice was prepared using the soak-only method and was perfectly acceptable. John made a beautiful fire and we watched the bats and mule deer in the evening.

Stats:
Start odometer 902
End 928
Total 21.79
Avg 6.4
Max 31.7
Time 3:22

July 20, Saturday (Rest Day)

Got up at 6:45 and did laundry. We all walked up to the No Sweat Cafe for breakfast.  It was a little like Sweetness 7 in Buffalo, NY. Later Roger and I went separately to the bike shop to check on the status of our bikes. I got sidetracked by their street market, where I bought two things because the merchant promised to ship them home for me. Roger and I bumped into each other and continued on to the bike shop and found John already there and Jamie showed up moments later. Jamie's and my bike were not ready, so we returned to the Base Camp store. Roger rehydrates his food in a plastic container during the day to reduce cooking time and Jamie and I are thinking of following his lead, but go extreme and ditch our stove. We also bought a used Sawyer filter from an employee; there were none in stock.

Our bikes were ready, so we used them to take a run to Real Foods. It was like a large Lexington Coop, with some fabulous options like bulk black bean soup mix, ginger chews and tortellini. We put bulk unscented lotion (difficult to come by) in a Go Toob, and we found another bike shop where I got a new heavily patterned jersey. The yellow Jersey is highly visible, but so is any dirt and isn't coming clean.

Dinner was at the Quarry and included margaritas.

Stats:
None.

July 19, Friday

Jamie and I woke up and ate breakfast at a leisurely pace and then read for a while until John and Roger were ready to roll. There was a lot of mining activity along the route today, both old and new.
Jamie's tire was cut up by something on the road. I suspect a piece of metal rather than a rock, since we were traveling slowly uphill.

I pushed 3x today. Two of those were not solely grade-related, but also due to the additional presence of larger rocks, loose gravel or old gullies made by water running down the road.

We missed the turn for Priests Pass and went considerably out of our way, joining route 12 into Helena near the beginning of McDonald Pass. This led to a long, long shadeless and hot ascent on ashphalt at about 5.4 MPH. I would have preferred the mapped route, but the silver lining was a 7 mile downhill at 8% grade in places on which I achieved 50 MPH. Speed vs the thrill of a gravel descent... really, the gravel is actually fun, but so is 50 MPH.

Jamie only reached 48. She laughed and said she didn't want to do 50 because her tire kept losing air and a crash at 48 is far less dangerous than a crash at 50.

Coming into Helena, we stopped at a mini mart and found Roger and John. The Budget Inn and showers were the next stop and then the bike shop. They looked it over, but will keep it overnight and ride it in the morning to see if the take-up pulleys need cleaning or adjustment.

Next was the outfitter store Base Camp. A very nice, high-end gear store, we checked there for many items, all of which they had, though maybe not the exact make or model we wanted. I wanted a collapsable cup, but decided on an alluminum pint cup instead. Weighing in at only 1 ounce more, it will fit well into my handlebar bag and help me organize small stuff that keeps falling to the bottom.
For dinner we went to Karmadillas for Mexican food, the Blackfoot Brewery (they can't sell food), then to the Big Dipper for ice cream.

Stats :
Start odometer
End 902
Total 41.03
Max 50.3
Avg 9.8
Time 4:08

July 18, Thursday

After a restaurant breakfast (Roger got the biggest pancakes ever: 10") we headed down the road. John and Roger had gotten to the first turn off, but I asked if they had peeked down the road a little further, because the road located at the correct mileage mark looked like a driveway. Even several miles down that road I was still in disbelief; the road looked brand-new and was incredibly soft with humis.
 
Jamie had told someone where we were going and the woman had told her you had to be crazy to go over Stemple Pass on a bike, but looking at the map later, we noted that the route directions indicated that you should go up Stemple Pass if you wanted an EASIER route.

Beetle infestations have caused massive tracts of forest for die and the road we took led through a large clear cut of those trees.

The softness of the road and its grade made me get off and push 5x over a 4.4 mile stretch. Above us at the divide crossing was a fire tower and we saw someone in a car with a mountain bike on a rack going up.

A little ways down was a spring, which was being forced by gravity into a pipe and out into a huge fiberglass bathtub.

A small amount of excess water ran across the road; I started sliding sideways and downhill.  When the bike stopped suddenly, I was catapulted over the handlebars, but I got my feet under me and gave myself a perfect ten for style and landing. I must have been sleepy or inattentive, because that was one of the several small incidents over the day. 1/5 of the way down a long downhill I realized my front suspension fork was still locked for climbing and later still I hit a large pothole dead-on and thought my rear wheel had come off. What had actually happened was that the pannier's bottom hook had popped out, the pannier had swung out and then slammed back into the rear rack on its return flight.

I have developed a new theme song for my descents; I am the MOST conservative downhiller. It is the Ride of the Valkyries sung in chicken clucks.  I will try to post a video.

We rode down through some arid grasslands against a moderate headwind, then headed off the pavement again to wild camp. The property along the road is mostly private,  but Jamie and I found a section were you could access the creek to skinny dip, wash our clothes and purify water.

While pitching our tents and making dinner a truck drove up and a man and a woman stopped to talk. They spoke a lot about the real joys of living in Montana, the wildlife, and their excursions.
Jamie only made about 8 attempts to get the bear hang rope up and then proceeded to raise my bag hoist by another 4 feet or so. That is one of the nicest hangs I have participated in and was an exemplar in my book: 10 ft up and 3 ft from the trunk.

Stats:
Start odometer 830
End 860
Total 29.23
Max 30
Avg 8.3
Time 3:30

July 17, Wednesday

We took our time leaving our campsite because John said he and Roger were going to make themselves a huge breakfast. Neither Jamie nor I lost much sleep,  despite having to periodically relocate our pads as we slowly slid downhill in our respective tents.

We all set off back the 2 miles to the route, all downhill this time, only to begin the 6 mile climb to a pretty uninspiring pass. There were a couple of overlooks to see the valley from which we came. Then came rolling grasslands with sparse trees.

We chased a small herd of cows down the road, but never rejoined with Roger and John.  Apparently they left a big arrow made of large branches with a post card sized note attached in the middle of the road, but we never saw it.  Personally, I think they made that part up so they could skinny dip.

We spent a lot of our time in the library updating our blogs. Again I left a $5 donation, well worth the time on the computer. John texted us to tell us that some locals were buying them drinks and food at a bar, so we went to join them and had a nice conversation with 3 ATVers who had passed us in the way into town.

We set up camp in the pavilion in the town park as it began to rain. Jamie and I went back into town for Mike's hard lemonade and peanut M&Ms, which ended up being dinner.

Stats:
Start odometer 802
End 830
Total 27.38
Avg 7.9
Max 25.7
Time 3:11

July 16, Tuesday

I woke up Jamie and Tricia by rustling around in our tent cabin at 6:30.  I had to get up at about 1am because sleeping on a cot without an air mattress in a down bag provides no insulation.  I quietly filled my air mattress and slept very soundly, unlike Jamie, who apparently froze all night.  Tricia did much better, since she was on the floor on her matterss.  John and Roger apparently suffered similar issues.
We ate a big breakfast at Pop's (okay, not huge) and said goodbye to Tricia. The support van for the fully supported AC ride passed us going back towards the pass from yesterday and offered to serve us lunch at the top, but we had come from that direction; Jamie and I decided it would take something fabulous to get us to climb back up it.  We also saw 2 more cyclists; they were from Germany with red Ortleib panniers.  I told Jamie she should go with them, since her panniers matched theirs.
About 10 miles out something Tricia said came back to me; she was surprised and dissappointed by the small number of trees in Montana.  We thought it odd at the time, because we were mostly travelling in what Dwight would call a "tunnel of trees".  In addition, we had spoken to a home owner who mentioned that even though he lived between/ in close proximity to the Mission and Swan mountains, he could see neither range except when passing through a clear cut.  At the 10 mile mark or so though, the trees were drastically reduced and the sage cropped up.  30 miles of this with the sweetest town sandwiched in there: Ovando.  Nice people running the merchantile/inn, where we met 2 retirees cycling various routes from Florida to Portland, OR.  They asked loads of questions about forming a group and the GDMBR in general. The proprietors (and some older folks with ATVs) looked at all the bear shots on our cameras and concurred the bear we'd see was a grizzly. There was a grizzly skin on the store wall.

No one but Roger was paying attention to the routing distances and we almost missed our turn off—it was unmarked, gravel and looked just like one of the ranch driveways.  10 miles or so through open ranch lands with a 15 mph headwind took us back into the forest.  A 2 mile moderate climb brought us to Big Nelson CG on Cooper's lake with 6 sites.  Though it is mostly private land, it is lightly developed and peaceful.  We had to split up into 2 groups and even then there were not really spaces for 4 tents.  The people in the site next to us, Jeff and Pam from the Mt. Hood area, offered to store our food in their truck overnight, so we wouldn't have to hang it.
Jamie and I swam in the lake and ate tortellini with green peppers and instant pesto sauce.  Not bad.

Stats:
start ODO- 753
end-802
max-31
avg- 9.8
total- 47.29
time- 4.36