June 17, 2024
To Babb, MT
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Today was a type two fun sort of day. Except I’m not sure fun was in the equation today. Survival? Yes.
I had a friend text me this morning, saying to watch out for polar bears instead of grizzly bears. What a funny lady!
Even Jacinto was looking at every weather app last night, trying to gauge our chances today. We looked at the Weather Channel’s radar map. It was dismal. As Jim would say, “We made our decision based on the best information we had at the time”.
We have two bad weather days coming up and one rest day to use, unless we borrowed one from ahead. This is the downside of making lodging reservations in advance. It would be nice to make them as we go, but in this very touristy area, I’m afraid there are too many towns completely booked in advance. East Glacier was a good place for a layover. We could have stayed there. But, the end decision was to continue on.
Our best chances were to ride early in the morning. Cold is better than cold and wet. We had two routes to choose from. One hugged the mountains, and went to a 6,000 foot elevation. The other swung out on the plains at Browning, with a high elevation of 5,400. We both ended up taking the longer, low elevation route.
I was out the door first, in spitting rain. Jacinto said later that he would have stayed in East Glacier, if I had said anything. I was focused on getting through the day as dry as possible. Then it could snow on Tuesday!
I had 12 miles of spitting rain to Browning. I never did get very wet. There was a rumble strip the whole way, but also a wide shoulder, and light traffic. The road riding conditions were vastly improved over the past several days.
Of course I got slightly lost in Browning. I took the turn that said ST Mary’s/Babb - because I”m going to Babb. Thankfully Bertha was watching out for me. Perhaps 89 did go to Babb, but it wasn’t the road I wanted. Around I went. I noted the big casino. $259. a night for a room there. It looked fancy. I remember a small 50’s style motel in Babb. I did not see it today. Which doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. As I was making my lefthand turn onto the correct road, I heard hooting and hollering, several young men saying how cool my bike is. I rang my bell and waved at them, but I couldn’t see them readily, and didn’t stop.
It seemed I had no more than taken the turn and the downhill to Cut Bank Creek when it started raining seriously. Darn. I was hoping to pedal the entire day in a light mist. I took mental inventory of how I was dressed and how I needed to change that for heavier rain. As I climbed away from the creek, the rain quit. Hurray!
Every mile I rode without rain was a happy mile. I have seldom watched my computer with such interest. Every additional mile was a mile in the bank.
I tried to tell myself to look around. For the first time in two weeks, we were out of the mountains and onto the plains. I saw rolling grasslands in all directions. There were few buildings, I could imagine this land way before the settlers arrived, with native people riding their paint horses across the prairie.
The mile markers started conveniently at Browning. I watched them tick upward. I had three big climbs today. The first one really killed me. It wasn’t that steep. I didn’t have what it took. This was bad. I stopped and ate a Perpetuem tablet, and had several swigs of electrolyte drink. I hadn’t been feeling tired, but my legs didn’t have the extra push for the climb. I’m not sure how many times I stopped. I was really doubting myself at this point. It was raining slightly at the top. Just to add to my misery. The downhill was far too short, and it went right into another climb. This one wasn’t as difficult, but I still had to stop along the way and eat another tablet. Again, it was raining at the top.
Traffic continued to be light, with many pickup trucks. I was reduced to the point of examining them for bicycle hauling potential. I felt reasonably confident if we got in a real situation out here, we could get a ride to town. I still hadn’t seen Jacinto. He said he had a passenger in an older red truck throw something at him. The truck had pulled into the opposite lane, politely. It seemed odd that they threw something. I did not have that experience. Thankfully.
I got to less than 20 miles to town. Then less than 15. That felt good. The final climb was long and shallow. I was able to climb it without stopping. I could see I was most likely riding into the storm. Three border patrol vehicles passed me at different points. As I crested the last climb at mile marker 24, I could see one of the Border Patrols parked at the curve. This was the high point of my day, at over 5,000 feet elevation. It started to rain, which quickly turned to sleet/snow. the top of the climb was extended, and the snow continued. There had been a little wind today, but not near what the area is known for. That was something. Imagine being out here in the 35 degree weather, with rain AND a headwind!
I was having trouble seeing the top of the climb. I thought it was fog. Jacinto laughed at me and said it was white out snow. Whatever it was, I was happy to have my tail lights going. I always ride with two, in case one goes out. Finally, finally, I hit the downhill. Seven miles to town. It was steep. I let the bike get up to 25 mph. That was enough on the wet roads, with my cold, wet hands. Jacinto said his brakes were really fading on the downhill, and he was thinking of my disc brakes.
Babb was the last reservation I made. They didn’t open for the season until May 15th. While I was looking for alternates, I found a place outside of town that was hostel style. Duck Lake was the name. I sure did look at the turn as I passed. Maybe another mile down the road from there was an espresso cafe. I thought about that also. No - three more miles and I could get into my room, get out of these clothes, and have a hot shower. I rode the brakes down the last big hill. It was a T intersection. I hoped I didn’t have to go left. I didn’t have another climb in me. No, I remember, we go right. I could see the buildings of town. At this point the snow and turned to rain, as I made the 1,000 foot descent into town. I was soaked. I had a pair over overmitts that I should have left more accessible. It was far too late now to be putting them on. The snow had caked up on the right side of my body, blown by the wind. It melted off in the rain by town. Jacinto said he was going to take a photo of the snow gathering on his panniers, but his fingers were too numb to get his phone out and use it.
I pulled up to Thronson’s General Store, and parked the bike on the porch. I couldn’t get my fingers to work well enough to undo the buckle on my pannier. I went in, hoping I could register anyway. We got through most of the process. Some life was coming back into my fingers. I was finally able to open the pannier and get my ziplock bag wallet out. Don’t you have a plastic bag for a wallet?
I was happy to see that our room is spacious. There is plenty of room for the bikes and to walk around. The bath is all new. There’s a sign not to turn the heater up past 75 degrees or it will turn completely off. It sure doesn’t feel that warm in here to me. I have my soft jacket on, and I’m under the blankets. I’m not too warm.
Jacinto arrived while I was in the shower. We agreed it was strange he never caught me. Jacinto said I must have been hauling ass. There has never been a day that I was less hauling ass style. But, he left only a half hour after me and I beat him to town.
We both showered in a hurry. We have wet clothes hanging everywhere. We walked across the street to the cafe, which closes at 2 PM. The first thing we got was two tall glasses of ice water. We didn’t touch that, and asked for hot beverages instead. I was shaking from the cold, even with a shower, and change of clothes. Finally I quit shaking.
We are back in the room. The food is good here, the room is nice, but there’s no wifi in the room. We have to go to the store. There is a TV, but it has only one station. Something in black and white. There is a DVD player. Jacinto is gone to the store right now to see what movies they might have. He has movies downloaded on his iPad, but they won’t play. He had that problem in Spain also. You would think the movies are already downloaded, we could watch them no matter what country we are in. Jacinto is fast to point out we are in the USA for ten more miles, but, he still can’t watch what’s on his iPad. He says this is going to be a dismal layover. I told him there was no way I wanted to ride in the weather again tomorrow. The forecast says Wednesday is a high of 63 and sunny. We have a big climbing day, and cross the border into Canada. We are headed to Waterton. We’ve been there decades ago, on an organized ride. Jacinto has very fond memories of Waterton, because we ate at an all you can eat Chinese buffet. Decades ago! I think it is long gone, but you can’t beat good memories, and Jacinto wanted to visit Waterton again.
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https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/alaska2015/day-16-cantwell-to-marys-mckinley-view-lodge-49d/#25830_16-03_the_igloo
5 months ago
Today's ride: 49 miles (79 km)
Total: 592 miles (953 km)
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