July 3rd – Harve to Malta, MT
July 3rd Statistics –Havre to Malta, MT:
- Today’s Biking Distance – 90.5 miles
- Today’s Average Speed – 14.5 mph
- Today Ascent – 695 feet
- Today Descent – 940 feet
- Today’s Ending Elevation – 2,473 feet
- Total Trip Biking Days – 14
- Total Trip Biking Distance – 1,055.7 miles
- Total Trip Average Biking Distance/Day – 75.4 miles
- Total Trip Ascent – 42,726 feet
If you remember the Broadway show “Paint Your Wagon”, you may recall the song “They Call The Wind Maria”. Today Maria showed me her good and bad sides. We started today with the bad side – a 15 mph headwind for the first 3 hours of the ride. My speed was kept below 10 mph even though it was flat and I had been riding at 18 mph two days ago. At about 11 am Maria decided to change her generosity. Over 60 minutes Maria changed from a 15 mph headwind to a 15-25 mph tailwind with gusts even higher. My speed increased to the 20-28 mph on the same flat roads. On occasion the wind came from the side and I was riding at a slant to compensate. I arrived at Malta at 2:45 pm, well before I expected for today’s 90 mile ride.
The weather cooperated as well with the thunderstorms not making an appearance as had been forecasted as a 30% possibility. The other benefit of Maria in both directions was the cooling effect – a benefit since it was sunny and hot most of the day.
The scenery today was much the same as the rides since East Glacier – rolling hills, farms and fields. New today – trees (see photos).
Mile 20: Long, straight roads paralleling railroad tracks with 12″ to 24″ shoulders and trees beginning to appear on the landscape – Just about describes the entire ride today.
Mile 42: More long and straight roads paralleling railroad tracks with 12″ to 24″ shoulders and trees in the landscape. This particular train (not moving) was 1.2 miles long.
Mile 55: Biking on a country road in the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation – didn’t see a car for 15 miles.
Mile 58: Robert biking on Route 6 in the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.
Mile 85: Historical Marker – Montana’s most famous train robbery (Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and Deaf Charlie).
Maltana Motel – Tonight’s lodging.
Interior of Maltana Motel – Typical of our lodging at small motels/inn.
July 2nd – Havre, MT (Post and Photos)
Today was our second rest day of the trip. It started by giving appropriate attention to my most important partner on this adventure – my bicycle. I rode to the local bike store to have it checked our which was very timely as I had one of to handlebar stem bolts missing and my front crank was tight (it took two complete rotations to tighten it all the way). I also bought a spare tire as insurance as I am the only person so far not to have a flat tire (the roads so far have been brutal on our tires). In Minot (our next rest day in five days after three century rides), I plan on replacing my tires.
Afterwards, Jim and Doug graciously gave me a lesson on bike maintenance – cleaning and oiling my chain and gears. Thank you Jim and Doug.
By 10 am we were ready to see the sights of Havre, MT. We started with the “Beneath The Streets Of Havre & Havre Railroad Museum”. While waiting for the underground tour, we walked though the Railroad Museum (which also served as a large waiting room for the tour). It included a vary eclectic collection of model railroad cars, old newspaper articles about the railroad (the most important part of Havre’s history and founding) and railroad accidents, railroad posters/photographs, and railroading equipment.
Harve downtown burned in 1904. Local merchants reopened their business by operating from their basements and opening an underground mall by connecting the basements while a local brick factory (for the replacing the old wood structures) was built. It expanded greatly over the years and included at times auto repair shops, bakeries, chinese laundries, opium dens, barber shops, taverns, dental office, apothecary, meat processing center and markets (all of which we saw during our 1 hours tour of the underground – see today’s photos) just to name a few. They also built overhead sky lights on the side walks/streets to provide natural lighting during the day.
The next stop was the Havre “Buffalo Jump” – a natural terrain element that buffalo were driven to so they could fall over the cliff and be killed. The Havre buffalo jump was discovered in 1961 and excavated over the next 20 years. Its 2,000 year use by three different native peoples was documented by the excavation.
The final sightseeing tour was the H. Earl Clack Museum which had an eclectic collection consisting of items such as dinosaurs (skulls and a 75 million year old dinosaur egg nest), native indian artifacts and history, western military outposts and life, and prominent local cowboys and cowgirls.
Here are my photo of the day – enjoy.
Havre Railroad Meseum.
Havre Underground Brothel.
Havre Underground Apothecary.
Harvre Underground Barbershop.
Havre Buffalo Jump Site – Each building is a different excavation.
Havre Buffalo Jump History.
Havre Buffalo Jump Excavation.
Buffalo jaw used as tool to process killed buffalo.
Doug successfully using an ancient indian “Atlatl” to “throw” a four foot dart (in the center of the photo with a red tail) at a buffalo. Note: I am revising this caption to make it clear that Doug is aiming at a buffalo replica.
H. Earl Clack Museum – A Stygimoloch Skull (see next photo)
H. Earl Clack Museum – Stygimoloch Description
H. Earl Clack Museum – Lambeosaurus Skull
H. Earl Clack Museum – Barb Wire Collection
July 1st Photos
See yesterdays photos from mile 12 and you will see just about all I say today. Here are some unique sights:
Mile 6: Historical Market – “The Oily Boid Gets The Woim”.
Mile 10: Historical Marker – “The Baker Massacre”.
Mile 15: Historical Marker – “The Sweet Grass Hills”.
Mile 65: Rudyard, MT
Mile 85: Kremlin, USA (Beware of Rattlesnakes/House In Background For Sale).
July 1st – Shelby to Havre, MT
What I Saw From Mile 0 to Mile 100 Today
July 1st Statistics – Shelby to Havre, MT:
- Today’s Biking Distance – 105.5 miles
- Today’s Average Speed – 16.9 mph
- Today Ascent – 1,507 feet
- Today Descent – 2,431 feet
- Today’s Ending Elevation – 2,473 feet
- Total Trip Biking Days – 13
- Total Trip Biking Distance – 965.2 miles
- Total Trip Average Biking Distance/Day – 74.2 miles
- Total Trip Ascent – 42,031 feet
What a ride – the longest and fastest ride I have ever accomplished, 105.5 miles at 16.9 mph (again thanks to a great tailwind and a net 900 feet elevation drop). We got an early start with breakfast at 6:30 am and departure before 7:30 am because in addition to the century ride, the weather forecast was for 30% chance of thunderstorms beginning around noon.
If we see lightning nearby during the ride on the prairie, we don’t have much of an alterative to stopping and hunkering down in the grass as we may be the tallest target around. Fortunately, the storm clouds (but not the overcast) remained behind me for the entire ride and I made good time arriving about 2:30 pm. My only stop was at 65 miles so I could buy two Red Bulls to serve as my lunch.
Shortly after lunch I had a personal encounter with a deer that jump in front of me – missing a collision by a matter of a few feet. I thought I left this kind of problem at home in Willistown, PA. Lots of what I believe are Prairie Dogs crossing the road in front of me but no collisions yet. At the city of Kremlin, MT (see today’s photos), a gentleman stopped in his Lincoln to tell me that there were rattlesnakes around and to watch out for them – they had killed a dozen this week in town. Sure enough, while I didn’t see any live ones (I was now paying more attention when I stopped), over the next 20 miles I noticed the remains of 4 rattlesnakes on the road.
Not much traffic (3 cars passed me in the first hour) and wide shoulder (however, rough pavement often made it bumpy). Other than a sore neck and shoulders, I am feeling pretty good.
For a perspective on the scenery, see the last 5 photos from yesterday – it didn’t change. I do be posting a few new photos later today.
Tomorrow will be our second rest day as we remain in Harve, MT, before doing some more century rides next week.
Steve Prichard's 2012 Cross Country Bike Tour 