June 28, 2005
Craig, Mt-Helena, MT: Rain, rain, go away.
Today was a bit nippy. I wore long sleeves.I rode alone this morning. It was very quiet riding through the narrow canyon. We had been warned about a long, narrow bridge with no shoulders. Our instructions were to wait until a break in the traffic and ride fast. You guessed it. There had been very little traffic all morning and as soon as I was in the center of the bridge I had a double tanker semi coming up from behind at the same time a vehicle was approaching from the other direction. The tanker laid on his horn, but I had nowhere to go and held my skinny little line as far over as I could get. That was more excitement than I needed.
The day's ride so far had been flat to gradually uphill. Soon the grade increased to a mid-granny gear climb about four miles long. I was pleasantly sweaty in the cool air. Smoker John caught up with me and complimented me on my bright orange Alert shirt. He said it was visible from miles away in the rear. That was good to know. As I crested the climb, I stopped to watch a wall of black clouds approaching Helena. It was quite a sight, the clouds were moving fast enough to make it seem movie like. I took a photo, but couldn't really get the scope of the vastness of the plains with the storm descending. I knew there was no way I would outrun the storm. I had seven more miles to town.I put on all of my rain gear before starting the descent.
At first riding in the rain was fun. I had fenders but even then my speed was enough that I was getting quite a bit of muck kicked back. Then the rain came down heavier and heavier. Our route joined the Interstate and the increased traffic threw lots on water on me. I was cold, but I didn't want to get my things wet digging in the bag for another layer of clothes.
It seemed I would never arrive at the KOA. I thought if I stopped for some hot food that would help me warm up. Within sight of the campground I stopped at a BBQ place and had a $12. plate of BBQ. The irony was that I was so busy telling the men at the neighboring table about our trip, that my food was cold by the time I ate it. The waitress had several fans set strategically around the room. I asked if the one closest to me could be moved or turned off. The waitress seemed surprised. My idea of warming up failed. Now my body wasn't generating any heat and I was cold and wet. My rain gear wasn't up to this downpour. My still cold fingers fumbled with my bicycle lock while water from the roof ran down the back of my neck. Are we having fun yet?
Several riders had passed me while I was in the restaurant. We lucked out at the KOA and were assigned a camping area with a pavilion to set our tents under. That must be a standard KOA thing as we saw a similar structure later in the trip. It was nice to not have to worry about getting the tent wet while setting it up.
I took a long very hot shower and put on my thick wool socks and cold weather clothes. Ah! Most everyone did laundry. Not that we had too much dirty, but what we had was very wet and probably wouldn't dry out for the next day.
The cooks for the evening, Recumbent John and Jerry had to ride 3-4 miles into town for groceries. What a sad day to be the cook, having to ride 8 miles in the rain for food. We all appreciated it, though. The mileage had been short, but the gully washer brought it's own challenges.
While the cooks were preparing dinner I hung out with Smoker John and Oregon John. Oregon John was on our trip because his wife told him he was too old to be gone for more than three weeks on a solo trip. He was a very experienced solo tourist. Oregon John's aprees riding habit was to smoke a cigar while relaxing. Smoker John lit up a cigarette. Pretty soon the back of my throat started to hurt. Oh, no! I hope I wasn't getting a cold with this damp weather. Hopefully it was just being surrounded with smoke. I hurried back to my tent for some asprin. Luckily the next morning I felt fine.
I had cell phone reception in Helena and called home with my first trip report. Jacinto was happy to hear that things were going well for me so far. I had managed to haul my trailer up the long hill and felt just fine.
We were hoping for better weather in the morning. This KOA served a pancake breakfast for $4. per person. We agreed as a group that would be breakfast. I didn't get my desired early start because breakfast wasn't served that early.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 39 miles (63 km)
Total: 89 miles (143 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |