7/2-A Most Excellent Day!

Today was the first day back on the Brooks saddle. I did stop once to adjust it when I realized my knees were brushing up against my feed bags. But, otherwise, it was great! At the end of 53 miles, my butt felt like it had been feeling at 20 miles on the other saddle. 

I had a little funny routing thing as I was leaving the KOA. Turns out, I could have just gone out the back of the campground right to the trail. Instead, I did a circuitous route. 

There’s where I was camping. 

The trail

I was on this trail until it ended at a park, then it was road to an alley. When Garmin says left on Alley, you never quite know what that’s going to be. In this case, it was actually an alley!

I hope people didn’t mind I was cruising by the back of their houses. 

I worked my way to a short stint on MT 2. The guy at the bike shop yesterday told me to be very careful on Hwy 2. A cyclist had been killed there, being hit by a side mirror. It was just 1.1 miles, and I survived to tell the tale. Turning off the hwy onto gravel, it was a 14% grade going up toward Sagebrush Flats. Brooks or not, I was pushing. This was the middle of a 5.4 mile climb. Near Sagebrush Flats a woman in a pickup yelled that she was impressed with what I was doing, and that she liked my red “crocs” (they are Berkies, but whatever).

At the parking area, it took me a moment to figure out that the route went on some singletrack. I rode it until it went straight up. 

Fortunately, it wasn’t too long

At the top of that bit of hike-a-bike, I came to the Milwaukee Trail. Ahhh, this is the “railroad grade” the bike shop guy had been talking about. It was wonderful!

The old Milwaukee railway

Way down there is where I got off hwy 2

Through rock walls

I came to the first of three tunnels. The bike shop guy suggested I walk through the tunnel because there could be ice. 

The sign even says so. 

There wasn’t, and even with my little 300 lumen headlight, I rode it no problem. The second tunnel had more rock in it, but I just went slow.

I could see a long bridge. Sure enough, I got to ride across it. 

It was important to stay on the wood path

 The third tunnel, well, you couldn’t go through that one, so I had to hike the trail up and around the tunnel. 

Quite steep actually

One final push to the road

The road was the summit of Pipestone Pass and crossing the Continental Divide!

The only sign close to a summit sign

From there I had several miles of downhill on the hwy, then turned off for even more downhill miles on a gravel/dirt road. There were a couple of shorter climbs too, but they weren’t bad (and my butt was feeling good!).

At the top of one, I rested Wanda against some mailboxes so I could eat a snack. Of course, who should happen along…the rural mail carrier. I moved Wanda. 

The scenery on this road was very nice. 

Snow covered mountains

Check out this long downhill!!!

Down down down into the valley! The wide open valley!

I said to myself, now I just need a herd of antelope to make it a veritable home on the range! 

Ta da!

This was such an enjoyable ride! I was a little sad when the road went back to pavement. As I was riding along, I saw a couple walking their dogs. I stopped and said, “Isn’t this just an amazing day?” They agreed. They were Charlotte and David. We had a nice chat, then I continued on my way. 

I stopped awhile later in the shade at another mailbox. Yep, the rural mail carrier came there. It was a different one. I told her how she was the second one I’d seen today. She said there were three of them out today. 

I was at the start of another shortish climb. I happened to look at the climb pro, and it said it was 42/42. That means for the remainder of this route segment, there are no more climbs that initiate the climb pro. 

This segment doesn’t end until Columbus, MT!

I arrived at my only services for the day, the Cardwell RV park and convenience store. I got a hot dog and a soda. I was still feeling great, but I was hungry. Plus, I only had 7 more miles to go to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. The guy at the store said it was a beautiful 7 miles. He was right. 

You can see where I-90 goes. Not me!

I got to go through this canyon

The rock was pretty cool

A cave!

I arrived at the state park at 3:00. Unfortunately, the cave tours were all sold out for the day. That’s okay, I’ve been in several caves. Plus, it would have been a 3 mile steep climb to get to where the tours started. 

I’m on a H/B site in the campground. There’s even another cyclist here! His name is Brian, and he is from near Toronto. He started in Banff on the Great Divide, but he only had two weeks before he has to fly home. He will fly out of Bozeman on the 4th. We’ve had a great afternoon. Unfortunately, coming back down the road from the cave tour, he crashed. He got several scrapes, but didn’t hit his head. Bike has a few issues, but it rideable. He just has to make it one more day. We are going to ride together tomorrow.

Today, was just a variety of scenery, and the first day I felt really strong on the bike. It’s amazing how your butt rules everything! Tomorrow is Bozeman. Not sure if I’m going to camp, or hotel it…