July 11, 2021
Day 67: Cut Bank, MT to St. Mary, MT
Uphill, Against The Wind, With A Wisdom Tooth Infection; Child's Play
(EDITING NOTE; I finally got good wifi and uploaded the video at the end)
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Climbing Today; 3,111 ft Climbing to Date; 99,551 ft
BLUF; today was challenging at times, but I got through it. The tooth infection wasn't a direct problem (the riding gave me enough to think about without dwelling on any soreness/pain issues), but it was an indirect problem in that I didn't have the energy I should have had after 2 rest days. But I got up early, ate, got rolling and made it through the ride, which is something that even yesterday I wasn't sure I could do.
I was glad to be leaving Cut Bank, it isn't exactly the sort of place where one wants to spend 2 rest days.
A Blackfeet Nation police officer passed me going the other way on Highway 2 and I waved at him. Then he turned around and headed back towards me - I glanced at my speed and I was well under the 65 mph limit. He pulled in behind me and used the loudspeaker to ask me to stop. I turned around and rolled up to his window and we had a nice chat. He asked why I didn't ride on the shoulder all the time - so that's why he stopped me. I explained that there was loose gravel and debris including glass on the shoulder, and that I used my rear view mirror and moved to the shoulder whenever a vehicle was approaching, and then I moved back onto the roadway when it was clear. He understood my explanation and seemed to be fine with it, but he suggested that it may be safer if I was always on the shoulder. I instinctively wanted to tell him that a bicycle was a vehicle and that I had a right to the road, but I held back - the fellow was being nice and polite, and the fact was that I was not exactly in the U.S. where I understand my rights, I was in a subset of the U.S. that is the Blackfeet Nation and I'm not certain of my "rights" here. Besides, it didn't matter; once he left I continued my riding as usual.
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It's impossible for us today to grasp the challenges faced by the Lewis and Clark expedition. The landscape and weather can be very difficult for a cyclist to traverse, and today we are rolling on smooth paved surfaces and we have lots of food and beverage stops along the way. Maybe some day I will ride the ACA Lewis and Clark route to have a greater appreciation of their expedition, but I have already had small glimpses of it where it is coincidental with the Transam and Northern Tier routes.
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The wind was hard on me today, especially so before noon. In the pre-dawn hours it was already gusting and I needed to wear my silk balaclava to keep my face warm. As the day warmed up the wind was still present and forced my forward speed to be about 7-8 mph while I was putting out the effort to have been moving at 10-12 mph. Once I reached the foothills of the Rocky Mountains I got some relief from the wind, but then I was dealing with the climbs and was slowed to about a 4 mph average. So it wasn't a super hard day, but it was a hard day nonetheless.
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I am glad to be out of the High Plains. They are beautiful and rugged, but totally unpredictable for a cyclist. The weather forecast is often wrong with regards to the wind strength and direction. An unexpected headwind or strong side-wind gusts can totally ruin a cyclists's day. I stand in awe of the power of the North Dakota and Montana winds.
Tomorrow we ride Going-to-the-Sun road to cross the continental divide at Logan's Pass. The climb up will not be easy, but it will be very scenic. Once on top, it's a downhill run for us to Lake McDonald where we will camp at Sprague Creek. The following day we will be camping at Whitefish Lake State Park. I don't expect to have wifi access until the day following that, so the journal update may be minimal if it happens at all.
I have a very long video today, but the motel wifi is too weak to upload it - I've been trying for an hour and it still shows 0% uploaded - and that's after I moved to a spot outside the office seeking a stronger signal. Maybe the next time we have wifi I can catch things up - maybe. In the meantime, I need to clean up and get things ready for an early departure tomorrow - we intend to get ahead of the normal tourist crowd on the climb to Logan's Pass. Good night all...
(NOTE regarding the following video; it seems that for some reason the image stabilization wasn't working on the GoPro - so this video will seem "shaky" as compared to most of the others in this journal - sorry about that, don't know why it happened)
Today's ride: 65 miles (105 km)
Total: 3,430 miles (5,520 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 11 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
3 years ago
Tailwinds to you tomorrow. Eat a good breakfast.
Jacinto says that there is a movie named Cut Bank. The opening scene is a couple stopping by the side of the road to photo some sunflowers and accidentally photograph a murder . . . from there you can decide if it's your kind of movie.
3 years ago
I’ll check out that movie when I get off the tour. Cut Bank seems like the sort of place where wild things could happen, and there’s a lot of open reservation land to bury bodies!
Bud
3 years ago
3 years ago
It may be safer for us camping in the wild than to be outside your house at night! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Bud
3 years ago
3 years ago