Argh, I had a long post and it just deleted itself, so let's try this again.
Today has been a pretty good day, but Montana definitely decided to test my preparedness on day one with several challenges.
First the raw numbers: 52 miles, only about 15 on gravel, 4:38 on bike (which is a lot by road touring standards for only 52 miles) and a little over 6 hours total. Something like 2,500 feet of climb.
The day started great! Tim drove me from Whitefish about an hour north to Eureka where we had breakfast in a nice diner, and then he drove me another ten miles north to the Canadian border to drop me off. After some minor brake adjustments and what-not, I was riding by 9:45.
I made my first wrong turn about 8ish miles into the ride, and was a bit concerned when Eureka wasn't where it was supposed to be - mileage-wise. Luckily I had pre-downloaded all the route maps onto Gaia GPS on my phone and was able to figure out the problem pretty quick. Navigation Snafu Preparation Test: Passed!
Once I got to Eureka 8 miles late, I took a short break and then took off up Whitefish Divide. The first bit was paved and the last bit very rocky dirt. The bike held up great on it. I met a local road cyclist riding the paved part, and local-ish bike packers riding from the border to Helena on my route for about 5 days. I think those are petty long miles, since they rode 30 miles longer than I did today (or so they planned, but the aren't here, so they probably did.)
The climb was a beautiful remote super rocky dirt road through narrow valleys following a river way below. Avalanche scars broke up the trees with meadows, and I sang songs to the bears in hopes they are music lovers, especially after cresting the hill and going much faster down the dirt.
I was going to write the lyrics but I forgot them already. Wait for it, they'll be back.
After cresting the divide one of the many thunderstorms that head been echoing through the valleys finally caught me, but my rain gear was freshly waterproofed and packed so I could grab it fast, so it really wasn't any worse than riding to work in Oregon - but way more fun. Rain Preparation: Passed
I got to my high elevation campground about 5 miles later while it was still storming.
It's a primitive empty campground right on a river with toilets, bear boxes, and fire pits. It's really nice! It, however, is still raining - I only got a 30 minute break or so from it, so I've spent a lot of time under the bathroom awning. I did make a fire in the rain hoping it'd scare the rain away, but that didn't work. Someone left dry wood in one of the bear boxes though!
The last test is bugs. Holy shit the bugs are bad. I've been wearing a bug net on my head most of the time since being here. It's very annoying, but effective. Bug spray helps, but when they hover just around our head you can't help but breath them in. Mosquito Preparation: Passed, but I don't like it.
Tomorrow I ride 60 miles back to Whitefish and over another pass. I'm hoping the rain holds off for a bit. I'm pretty soggy!
I'm writing this without service so I'll upload the photos later. Cheers!
