So yesterday my garmin died and recorded only 45 1/2 miles of my trip. I think I went more like 60 or 62. Garmin feeds my recorded journey to Strava and as everyone knows if it’s not on Strava it didn’t happen. Or maybe I’ll change that when I get home and manually add the mileage. By then it probably won’t matter.

My plan for today was to put in another 50 miles or so however, Sally, the hostess at Aunt Sally‘s Pedal Stop,  pointed out that I would soon have to climb the  Lost Trail Pass  followed by the Chief Joseph Pass. Both of these will be coming up within the next 40 miles. After hearing about the seriousness of the upcoming clime, I did some research into the ACA literature regarding said passes. I also checked the weather and found today was to rain most of the day. Upon my request, Sally agreed to allow me to stay one more day. 

Sometimes I don’t know which is harder, being out on the road climbing 7200 feet on Chief Joseph pass or sitting around, watching it rain and waiting for time to pass.  Seems passed of most kinds can be tough.  I did take advantage of a brief lull in the storms and rains that came through today and rode down to a local convenient store for some food. The establishment had a set up that looked very similar to Subway restaurants though this was strictly a local deal. There was an older woman that apparently was training and a supervisor over seeing. They made sandwiches in a similar way as subway does with meats and breads at one end of a counter and fixings at the other. The thing was there was some sort of restaurant apparatus separating the two. As the trainee made salad I had ordered the supervisor began making my sub sandwich. She was working on the meat fixings when I asked for lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and onions.  She looked at me quite scornfully and said those are at the other end and in a nasty fashion. I said pardon me and walked to the other end where the trainee would complete the construction of my sub. The Supervisor was also a bit nasty with the trainee. I feel sorry for the older woman. She probably needed the job, and appeared to be nervous and anxious to get things right. It’s not fair to be at a certain age having accomplished many of life’s difficult challenges only to be treated as a child who knows nothing. 

The rains and storms are supposed to stop tomorrow morning and return again in the evening. So my plan is to ride as far as Sula, Montana, which is only 38 or 40 miles away and spend the night at either a private campground or a designated federal campground. Both are about the same cost. The private campground has showers and hot water. The federal campground only has drinking water and vault toilet. However, the second is 7 or 8 miles further down the road and closer to the climb I will face the following day. I will see how it goes. If all goes well, the following day, I will drag my sore behind up two passes to an elevation of approximately 7200 feet. If I make it that far, I hope to have a very long very fast very exciting downhill all the way to the town of Wisdom, Montana where the American Legion is said to have a nice camp just for cyclists. The distance will only be about 40 miles again however, I think the seriousness of the clime will make up for the short distance. According to the ACA Maps, I’ll have some relatively flat terrain for a number of miles after that and hope to make up the time I’ve lost sitting around, waiting for the rain to stop.

Actually, Aunt Sally’s Pedal Stop is quite nice and although I am alone, it has been one of the nicer places I’ve stayed so far. I am grateful for her taking me in even though she stopped doing this for ACA riders sometime ago. I hope she reconsiders this decision.

Wish me luck on my upcoming crossing of the Great Divide!