June 9, 2024
The Who, Where, What and Why
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The Who: Our friends, Rich and Amber, my better half, Jim, and me, Genny, are about to depart on another cycle tour adventure. We met each other via the Eagle Cycling Club, of which we are all members. Our first tour together was in June of 2022, when we meandered in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, visiting covered bridges. Last year the four of us explored the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.
The Where: We are heading north to Big Sky country-Montana! Jim and I have cycled in MT several times but Amber and Rich have not. June is rainy season in MT so we fully expect to get wet at times. But, as our friend Walter says, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only poor clothing choices.”
We will cross paths in Glacier NP with Kelly and Jacinto, with whom we have ridden several tours. Kelly's journal for this year can be found here.
Amber is also documenting this trip and her journal is here.
The What: This tour is self-supported but structured similarly to our Colorado Sojourn tour in that we will have a vehicle and will alternate driving. This will allow us to ride unloaded bikes and will build in rest days. Rich and Amber will drive to MT and we will use their truck. Jim and I will travel by Amtrak to Whitefish, MT. Since Amtrak still requires bikes to be boxed between Portland and Spokane, we are traveling through Seattle to avoid that leg and take advantage of “bike hand-off” to the baggage car. On the trip out, we will overnight one night in Portland to visit our friend, Bob H. On the return trip, we will spend a night in Seattle visiting our friend, Wendy, and her family.
We have some new gear this trip, the biggest being Jim’s new Specialized Creo 2 E-bike. It is brand new, acquired about four months ago to counter the heart rate dampening effect of prescription beta-blocker medication that Jim takes. This E-bike has revived Jim’s enjoyment of cycling and this will be his first tour using it. Another, more minor change, is that all four of us will be riding on tubeless tires. For Jim and I, this is a first so we’ll see how that goes.
The Why: We selected Montana this year for a few reasons. My step-family lives in Big Fork and my step-mom is in her 90's and I really want to see her (as well as my step sister and niece). This trip will give me two passes through Big Fork-first on day 4 as we pass through and then at the end of the trip when Jim and I will stay in MT an extra few days just to visit. Also, Amber and Rich have never ridden in MT so this should be a treat for them. And, we timed this trip in the hopes that we will be able to ride up Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park before it is opened to vehicles.
Every spring the park service allows bikes and pedestrians access to Going to the Sun Road up to where it is plowed and safe. Once it is fully plowed on both sides of Logan Pass, they open the road to cars. The dates of opening vary, depending on the snowpack. Once it is open to cars, the park restricts bicycles traffic during much of the day. I have driven up Going to the Sun and wouldn't really want to ride it with vehicles on it, so when we booked this trip, we knew we were taking a bit of a chance of not being able to ride it at all if, unluckily, the road was cleared of snow and opened early. So Jim researched previous opening dates and selected June 14th as the day most likely to have it substantially cleared but not yet open to vehicles. As it turns out, this year there is a very substantial snow pack and the road is not expected to be fully plowed for several more weeks. So our plan is to ride it as far up as we can but it looks unlikely that we will be able to go to the top of Logan Pass. If you look at the elevation graph on the map above, the upside-down "V" shape near the beginning is the up and back on Logan Pass.
Some of you may be wondering about the journal name? Yes, there is a story about that. Last winter, as we were formulating our plans for this trip, our friend and fellow cyberblazer, Kelly Iniguez, contacted me to let me know that a Going to the Sun cycle jersey was being given away by her friend, Janice Branhan. Kelly pointed me to her journal, Northwest Trails, where she has a stunning entry, Going to the Sun Road. In it is a pictoral description of riding up to the top of Logan Pass while the road was still closed to vehicle traffic. The entry is filled with gorgeous photos; the very last photo is of Janice in the jersey and she describes how it was given to her by her friend, Paula MacMann, when she heard Janice was heading to Glacier. So Janice also offered to pass the jersey on. I contacted her immediately and was tickled pink the day it arrived and was my exact size. And, of course, I hope to pass it on to another lucky "sister" once I am done with this trip.
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