We awoke this morning to hard rain that started at 2:00 AM and stopped 8:00 AM. Due to the rain, we got a late start and left at 9:30 AM. Paul made us a great breakfast of eggs and toast which helped us get going.
The riding in the first half of the day was easy. We rode on mostly smooth gravel and dirt roads, through mountain passes and into gorgeous green valleys full of horses and cattle. The riding was fast and easy allowing us to cover 120 miles in three hours.
We had a very nice lunch in Lincoln, MT and met four other riders who were doing the same route from south to North. We have also seen 21 cyclists to date along the route (much more than we thought we would see).
The second half of the day was much slower. We rode many miles of fire roads, but also got into some narrow trails and some very rocky single track. It was in this single track that Lance got a flat on the rear tire. It was already late in the day and took more than an hour to do the trail side fix. Once fixed it was 6:30 and we still had another 40 miles to go. We made good time through the remaining sections of the route and road an old rail bed for several miles. The railway included a short tunnel that we were excited to ride through. About 5 miles from camp, Lance got another flat tire, but was able to limp into camp at a very slow pace. We finished the day of riding at 8:30 PM.
Today's highlights included: Seeing deer, one of which almost ran over Lance, saw several rabbits running along the road, two flat tires, a great lunch in Lincoln, saw abandoned mines, traveled through a rail tunnel, saw very old log cabins (homesteads), and saw several horse and cattle ranches.
Total mileage for the day was 219 miles with a max elevation of 9,200 feet
Please scroll to the bottom for videos
The following are pictures from the day:
Rest stop
An old pump house
Very nice Montana Ranch
An old Mine. The box would have loaded ore onto wagons for transport
I was following your progress yesterday evening and saw that you had slowed down and I wondered when you would get into Butte With the flat tires it now makes sense. The pics are great! Have a great time and be safe. Mark
Grampa John's father had a hard rock gold mine in Lincoln. The family would spend summers in Lincoln mining - John helped with the mining, We camped there in Lincoln for a few days one year. Mom
I was following your progress yesterday evening and saw that you had slowed down and I wondered when you would get into Butte With the flat tires it now makes sense. The pics are great! Have a great time and be safe.
ReplyDeleteMark
Grampa John's father had a hard rock gold mine in Lincoln. The family would spend summers in Lincoln mining - John helped with the mining, We camped there in Lincoln for a few days one year. Mom
ReplyDeleteYour preparedness paid off. Tunnel looks extremely cool.
ReplyDelete