Bicycling 4,174 Miles Across the United States

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July 5th – Glasgow to Wolf Point, MT

July 5th Statistics – Glasgow to Wolf Point, MT:

  • Today’s Biking Distance – 53.5 miles
  • Today’s Average Speed – 9.2 mph
  • Today Ascent – 703 feet
  • Today Descent – 846 feet
  • Today’s Ending Elevation – 2,034 feet
  • Total Trip Biking Days – 16
  • Total Trip Biking Distance – 1,179.2 miles
  • Total Trip Average Biking Distance/Day – 73.7 miles
  • Total Trip Ascent – 44,566 feet

Every day presents a new experience.  Even though today’s distance (53.5 miles) was flat and the second shortest of the trip so far, in everyone’s opinion, it was the most difficult day of riding we have experienced.  The 15-20 mph headwinds started the moment we got on the bikes this morning and never relented. In fact, it increased by the end of the day.

My speed for today was a snail’s pace of 9.2 mph.  One rider calculated  that based upon his speed today, the ride was equivalent to a 10,000 feet climb.  One of our better riders stated he has never ridden so slow in his entire history.  The fortunate thing is that it was a relative short day – tomorrow’s ride is over 100 miles.

The forecast tomorrow is for headwinds, but much lower – 5 to 10 mph.  I am going to start my ride by 7 am to maximize my chance of riding the entire distance.  The ride from Wolf Point to Williston is also the beginning of traffic and truck proliferation due to the oil boom in Williston.  We are all going to be flexible regarding the ride tomorrow based upon winds, road conditions/shoulders (lost of construction we have been told), traffic, truck behavior, weather, etc..  We have identified four different points for pick up by the van should it become unsafe or impossible to reach our hotel in Williston by 6 pm (we also lose an hour tomorrow as we enter Central Time in North Dakota).

A note about scenery today – there were two major changes from the past week – 1) The parallel railroad tracks moved from the left side of the road to the right side of the road and 2) I can’t think of #2.

Mile 31: Looking behind me on Route 1 on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Route 1 was straight for 20 miles with only one intersection.

Mile 31: Looking ahead on Route 1 on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

Mile 51: Roadside Memorial example – One of the saddest parts of transversing Montana was the proliferation of crosses to grieve the individuals who died in auto accidents at a location. I saw 3, 4, and 5 crosses together and at one site, 9 crosses.

Mile 53: Historical Marker – Wolf Point.

Posted by  |  July 5, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | 2 Comments

July 4th – Malta to Glasgow, MT

July 4th Statistics – Malta to Glasgow, MT:

  • Today’s Biking Distance – 70.0 miles
  • Today’s Average Speed – 18.5 mph
  • Today Ascent – 1,137 feet
  • Today Descent – 1,279 feet
  • Today’s Ending Elevation – 2,162 feet
  • Total Trip Biking Days – 15
  • Total Trip Biking Distance – 1,125.7 miles
  • Total Trip Average Biking Distance/Day – 75.0 miles
  • Total Trip Ascent – 43,863 feet

Today I broke another personal record – 70 miles at a blistering speed (at least for me) of 18.5 mph.  Thank you Maria (see yesterday’s post).  The weather conditions were perfect – sunny, temperature in the mid 70s, strong breeze keeping me cool.  Even the road conditions (average) did not slow me down.  Hard to imagine, but it seemed like a 1/2 day ride even though it was 70 miles.

Many of the photos from the last two days represent what I saw today as well.  However, at one hilltop I had an unobstructed view to the horizon in every direction – not a single man-made structure (excluding the road) in sight.  The notable item besides the beauty was a train in the far distance traveling east.

Lots of flat tires today (4) – 14 for the group since we began.  Robert and Jim have had 4 flat tires each.  As of today, I am the sole rider who has not had a flat tire – I hope I did not jinx myself by the acknowledgement.

Ted and Kristin – Today I stopped by Hinsdale (population 446) Montana (not Illinois) to watch the local 4th of July festival and parade (the city’s biggest event of the year).  It drew people from the entire county and brought back memories of small town life.

An interesting point about traveling on Route 2 over the last three days – I have been to numerous Montana cities named after famous cities/sites:  Kremlin, Malta, Harlem, Zurich, Dunkirk, Devon, Chester, Joplin, Inverness, Glasgow, Oswego.

Mile 5: Historical Marker – Cattle Brands

Mile 8 – Looking East (note road shoulder and rumble strips – a frustration when the rest of the road shoulder is in bad condition due to debris, cracks, or narrowness).

Mile 8 – Looking west behind me.

Mile 10: Historical Market – Sleeping Buffalo Rock. This photo is not out of focus, it was swinging widely in the wind. No matter how hard I tried I could not photograph the rock from a perspective that showed a sleeping buffalo.

Mile 10: Historical Marker – Cree Crossing swinging in the wind.

Mile 52 – Road ahead (with Jim in the distance).

Mile 65: Historical Marker – Buffalo Country.

Mile 71: End of a long and fast ride.

Posted by  |  July 4, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | 1 Comment

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.

 

Posted by  |  July 3, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | Leave a comment

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

Posted by  |  July 2, 2012 | Categories: Today's Photographs | 6 Comments

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).

Posted by  |  July 1, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | Leave a comment

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.

Posted by  |  July 1, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | 2 Comments

June 30th Photos

Monument at Entrance to Glacier National Park in East Glacier, MT (with young boy seeking shade).

Breakfast at Glacier Village Restaurant in East Glacier, MT.

Mile 0 – Map of East Glacier Park, MT

Mile 5 – View of Rocky Mountains after leaving East Glacier.

Mile 12 – Approaching Browning, MT.

Mile 15 – View leaving Browning, MT.

Mile 18 on Route 2 – Typical view of Plains after leaving East Glacier.

Mile 25 – Camp Disappointment (Lewis & Clark Expedition).

Mile 25 – Looking back at the road traveled and the Rocky Mountains.

Mile 30 – One of the many trains each day that travel the same paths we do.

Mile 30 – One of the many trains each day that travel the same paths we do.

Mile 45 – Approaching Cut Bank, MT.

Mile 60 – The Plains between Cut Bank and Shelby, MT.

Posted by  |  June 30, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | Leave a comment

June 30th – East Glacier to Shelby, MT

Mile 5 looking West to East Glacier, MT and the Rockies.

Mile 5 – Looking East to the Montana Plains.

June 30th Statistics – East Glacier to Shelby, MT:

  • Today’s Biking Distance – 69.0 miles
  • Today’s Average Speed – 16.7 mph
  • Today Ascent – 1,202 feet
  • Today Descent – 2,636 feet
  • Today’s Ending Elevation – 3,336 feet
  • Total Trip Biking Days – 12
  • Total Trip Biking Distance – 859.7 miles
  • Total Trip Average Biking Distance/Day – 71.6 miles
  • Total Trip Ascent – 40,524 feet

Finally a prefect day:  All day sunshine, temperature mid 60s in the morning to low 80’s in the afternoon, beautiful, but different Montana scenery, moderate to low traffic, and wide unbroken shoulders (with some pebbles and rocks).

Another new record for the trip besides hours of sunshine – My fastest speed of the trip (in fact, ever for distance), 16.7 mph for almost 70 miles.  While I would like to claim it was my conditioning, it was greatly assisted by tailwinds and a 1,500 feet elevation drop over the 70 miles.

To my frustration I had to catch a ride in a vehicle for 2 miles today.  Route 2 was under construction with one passable lane for several miles and cars are led through the construction by a pilot vehicle.  Typically, we have been allowed to skip the pilot driver and proceed through the construction.  Today, I was stopped at the beginning of the construction and told that a grizzly bear and her cub were grazing near the construction area and that I would not be allowed to bike through for our own safety.  The pilot vehicle (pickup truck) put my bike in the back and drove me the two miles.  Unfortunately, the bear and her cub were gone by the time we reached the area.

The change in scenery was dramatic today as we passed the Rockies and entered the Plains (see todays photos when posted).  At mile 30 I passed acres and 100s of power windmills scattered over the Plains.  Most of the area I biked today is in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

Tomorrow will be the longest ride of the trip so far and our first century ride, about 111 miles.  We are meeting for breakfast at 6:30 am and hope to be on the road by 7:30 am.  Unfortunately the weather report is for rain in the PM as we approach Harve, MT (our second rest day).

Posted by  |  June 30, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | Leave a comment

June 29th Photos

Mile 5 – Local tourist attraction outside Coumbia Falls, MT.

Mile 23 – John and Susan biking on Route 2 beginning the climb to the Continental Divide at Marias Pass.

Mile 25 – View on Route 2 while climbing to Marias Pass over the Rockies.

Mile 42 – View from Essex, MT on John and Susan riding Route 2 to Marias Pass and the Continental Divide.

Mile 42 – Historic Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, MT (see June 29th post) where I had lunch on the climb to Marias Pass and Continental Divide.

Mile 42 – View downstream of Middle Fork of the Flathead River near Essex, MT.

Mile 42 – View Upstream of Middle Fork of the Flathead River near Essex, MT.

Mile 44 – Entering Glacier National Park beginning 17 mile continuous climb to Marias Pass and Continental Divide at 5,216 feet.

Mile 47 – View of Middle Fork of the Flathead River from Route 2.

Mile 48 – Another view from Route 2 of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River in Glacier National Park.

Mile 53 – Marias Pass only 6 miles further.

Diane and Nate Hart at Marias Pass/Continental Divide, 5,216 feet.

Mile 59 – Map of Marias Pass/Continental Divide.

Mile 65 – Looking towards East Glacier as I descend from Marias Pass on Route 2.

Mountain Pine Inn, East Glacier, Mt – Lodging night 13.

 

Posted by  |  June 30, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | 4 Comments

June 28th Photos

June 28 – Eureka to Columbia Falls, MT

Ksanka Inn, Gas Station, Convenience Store, and Subway – Lodging in Eureka, MT.

4 Corners Restaurant & Casino (15 slot machines) in Eureka, MT – A great breakfast (and dinner the night before).

Mile 9 – View along Old Highway/Tobacco Road.

Mile 12 – Scene along Meadow Creek Road near Fortine, MT.

Mile 17 – Route 93 between Forline & Stryker, MT (before it became dangerous).

Mile 19 – Dale awaiting us with nourishment and a chair.

Mile 21 – Passing Dickey Lake.

Mile 22 – Dickey Lake behind me.

Mile 43 – Finally, relief from Route 93 on Farm to Market Road leading to…….

Mile 50 – Another view from “Farm to Market Road”.

Mile 55 – Twin Bridges Road

Mile 60 – Whitefish, MT, beautiful setting, stylish downtown, well-maintained homes (some Victorian) surround city center. Most importunity, no more riding on Route 93.

Mile 63 – Edgewood Road outside Whitefish, MT.

Mile 66 – Tamarack Lane near Columbia Falls, MT.

Glacier Inn Motel – Lodging Night 12

Posted by  |  June 30, 2012 | Categories: Photograph of the Day | Leave a comment