gtragitt

I have been checking this thread anxiously awaiting the report and photos. I surely wish I could ride in Montana. Your stats are quite respectable.

rideon7

Well done, Don! Ride on!

billydonn

Thanks guys. Today we rode from Missoula up the Bitterroot River Valley which drains in to the Columbia. Tomorrow we cross the continental divide into the Big Hole Valley, which drains in to the Missouri. Over the Divide we'll go through the town of Wisdom and on to the very little town of Jackson, which has hot springs.

According to our ride leader Tony, Wisdom is the "mosquito epicenter" of the U.S. But we are lucky because it has been cold lately and the bugs are just waking up. It got really hot this afternoon with a LOT of radiant energy and most us were glad to be finished (about 1:30 PM I think it was).

Fortunately, we should be finished climbing over the Divide (Chief Joseph Pass) by about 11:00 AM tomorrow before it heats up too much. It is a pretty big climb and easily the hardest part of the week. After going up about 3k feet we only go down about 1k feet, so we will be staying at higher elevation for awhile and Tony says it will probably not get as hot. Hope he is right.

FYI...I mapped tomorrow's ride: https://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/88379143

My little cabin at the "Traveler's Rest" is really cool... good AC, cable TV, frig, wireless internet... all the amenities. Five deer just bounded into the wooded creek across the road. I'm working on some video that I'll have to post when I get home.

I feel okay about my ride stats. I could have done better but I've got to do it for five more days so... you hold back. Using some stuff called Recoverite, and I think it works well... my legs feel almost fresh tonight. Tomorrow in Jackson, our group of 88 will triple the population of the town. May not have internet access from there, so be patient. I'll be back.

billydonn

Hey Brad,
Someone asked about bears in our ride meeting tonight. Our ride leader said no worries, but mentioned your ride and said it goes through really, really prime bear habitat. He seemed emphatic about it. I would guess the bugs will be awake by then too, so rain might be a good thing! You are in for some good fun for sure!
Don

BluesDawg

Nice reports and pics so far. Does everyone stay in motels on this ride?

billydonn

Thanks. It is 80 percent camping. We are in some very remote places some nights where there are few motel rooms. Tonight in Jackson we tripled the towns population.

jppe

Beautiful country. Gives me some great ideas on what I'm going to do after I stop working.........

rideon7

Guess I'm going to have to grin and bear it!

Yours was also a good reminder about taking bug dope.

rideon7

Wisdom has also been called "the place that time forgot." Beautiful, pristine, remote country! I was there once in early January (long story what I was doing there then), and it was below zero at mid-day. About the coldest place I'd ever been. Tough people to live there year-round.

billydonn

I'm in a bar in Wisdom MT right now and can confirm that it does not appear to be sophisticated and urbane. F in HOT out there. Most riders are sagging in from here.

billydonn

The Mtn today was made for you. Eight miles, 8-9 percent, absolutely unrelenting.

BikeWNC

I fished the Big Hole River in a snow squall on fine Aug. day. Lovely place.

billydonn

After climbing Chief Joseph Pass the BH Valley was a flipping inferno this afternoon with 30 mph headwinds to boot. This was hands down my hardest ride ever.

Will catch up on pics tomorrow night if I live. No reliable wifi here.

jppe

On second thought maybe I'll just work a few more years!

CrankyFranky

Sounds like a great trip so far. Nothing like an occasional inferno to make it interesting. At least you don't have to haul your gear. More please!

billydonn

Having met you once and knowing your penchant for epic rides, I'm surprised. (I know you are probably kidding). From what I have seen you would be easily among the fittest, strongest riders in these groups. Maybe even the best. Some rides might be too easy for you... others would certainly be a sufficient challenge. The interesting thing about this event is Montana itself and it's landscape and culture as well as the other people that come to ride. A bike can take you to to a completely different world in just a few hours out here. In some ways it is really not about the bike riding at all.

billydonn

Well, I am way behind in my reporting and I'll try my best to catch up a little tonight. After a 76 mile ride today I'm in a nice resort in Fairmont Hot Springs, MT.

Yesterday- Day 2

76 miles scheduled... I completed 58 and sagged in the last 18. I felt completely fine about it. It was the hardest day I've ever spent on a bike. After a slow climb up the Bitterroot Valley we finally hit Chief Joseph Pass. It was not exactly clear when the "official" climb up the Pass began but once it did it was 7 to 9 miles at between 8 and 9 percent grade with NO change whatsoever... absolutely unrelenting.... not a single step... nothing. The first few miles were the hardest and had no switchbacks so you could see what was ahead. The upper stretches had switchbacks which helped psychologically. The road had a shoulder but there was moderate high speed traffic to think about. I stopped four times on the way up and make no apologies. (About 1/3 of the way up there was a water stop at a cutout and a lot of people gave up there.) The ride leader estimated that only about 60-65% of the group got to the top without riding in the sag wagon. This climb took a lot of time and we were into the afternoon with high heat and broiling sun to deal with.... just 30 miles of the ride was completed at the top.

Moving on from the top, my core temp was getting high and I stopped after about 15 miles to cool my hotfoot in a little river by the road. It helped. Dropping into the Big Hole Valley is like entering rural Arizona in the summertime and when we hit the little town of Wisdom at 58 miles, my friend Larry and I headed for one of the two town bars and told the ride leader to add us to the sag list. Three or four sag vehicles were busy rescuing riders all up and down the road. The decision to stop was made easy since the last 18 miles were going to be into a 30 mph headwind with no shelter from the sun and through a mosquito infested area. Some people who did that part of the ride paid a big price in dehydration and sun exposure. Nobody said it was fun.

Strava Data for Day 2 (don't laugh)- https://app.strava.com/rides/11815024

Day 2 Selected Pictures:



Today- Day 3
Yesterday's ride took a lot out of me but somehow I found some energy and finished today's 76 mile ride in remarkably good shape. We were in strong wind, dodging weather disaster all day... but fortunately it did not rain and the wind was mostly quartering or from behind. A lot of people got cold but I lucked out and chose today's riding clothing correctly. On a steep downhill run I flatted due to hot rims (I think) but luckily it was the rear and a scary moment did not turn out badly. I have this on video and it should be fun to watch later. For the last 5 miles we dealt with a really scary howling wind (50 mph or more I would guess) from the side and then from in front. People were getting blown all over the road and I heard that some fell. A center pivot irrigation sprayer way off the road gave us a cold shower as we went by. For once it was good to weigh 200 pounds. Pics are not yet processed but they and the video should be good. Tomorrow I'll have wifi, so maybe then. For now, here's a sample photo taken at the top of the Continental Divide just before the descent where I flatted:


And here's the Strava data:

https://app.strava.com/rides/11815016

It's a beautiful clear night and the stars and a half moon are shining brightly in the big sky of Montana. It's around 45 degrees I would estimate. It is good to be alive.

gtragitt

I didn't have any difficulty with Ride the Rockies, but jppe and buelito shamed me! They are really strong!

jppe

Great stuff! Sounds like a real adventure!

berner

Great trip report billydonn. Beautiful, mouthwatering scenery. I've been using Hammer Recoverite with good results also and at my age I need all the help I can get.

billydonn

Well CM2012 is now in the books and I'm safely back in Missoula, where it all began just six days ago. I have been without Wifi since my last post, but have tons of pics and video that I will get to in due time. Tomorrow we leave Missoula for Los Angeles where I hope to ride Glendora Mountain Road on the 4th of July when it is closed to cars. But I digress...

Day 4 Summary

This seemingly easy 41 mile ride (with optional 30 mile sidetrip) was very hard on everyone due to a consistent headwind and about 2000 feet of climbing for the first 35 miles. I don't know of anyone who did the optional part of the ride. The scenery was gorgeous and the day included lunch at a place called Georgetown Lake. From there, after the most extreme descent of the week (see Strava), we finished in the very picturesque little mountain semi-resort town of Phillipsburg, MT. I have some nice video of the day (coming later) but for now here are some sample pics:


And here is the day four Strava data: https://app.strava.com/activities/12045510

Days 5 and 6

And the end of day four is where it all went bad for me.... my ride was over and I spent two days in the SAG vehicles. I came down with a very painful hemorroid inflammation and went to the Granite County Medical Center where Loren and another male nurse did a nice job of keeping me alive. They were great guys and got me the drugs I needed to avoid certain death I'm sure. Aside from the pain (Level 9, I'm estimating) I also missed out on two of the better days or riding... about 125 miles total. The good side was that I got to take a lot of pictures from a different perspective than you would get while riding a bike. I joined Will in the baggage truck the first day...lots of great pics there, and rode with ride director Tony today to finish up. I will work on those pics and show them in my next post.

Aside from experiencing the magic of Montana, one of the great things of the week was riding along with Larry from Lake Havasu, who was on this trip last year. We enjoyed each other's company a lot and I got to jokingly call him my "domestique" because he carried my rain jacket on his bike and stopped to help when I flatted twice. We're having dinner in Missoula tonight and I'm sure we will keep in touch. Larry rode the SAG train today because of a saddle sore that finally got the best of him. My sincere apologies to "Old Reliable" for enduring the indignity of riding with other bikes on the SAG vehicles. I will try to do better ole boy.

More to come... especially day five pics and videos for the entire ride. There is lots of good stuff there. I will be traveling for a couple days to get to Los Angeles but, like the Terminator, I'll be back.

jppe

Thanks for all the pictures and ride reports! Really sorry to hear about the issue and especially it interrupting such a great ride.

gtragitt

Thanks for the photos from one of my favorite states. Sorry for the painful encounter.

Dudelsack 

The above photos were deleted. Were you all riding naked?

billydonn

I think I have almost all my photos of the Cycle Montana trip posted on Photobucket now. Since I was unable to ride, the day five photos were taken around camp and from the cab of the baggage truck en route to the very remote little burg of Ovando, Montana. It would have been better to ride of course, but I got some nice photos on day five.




Day One Photos

Day Two Photos

Day Three Photos

Day Four Photos

Day Five Photos

Day Six Photos in progress

Videos will take some time but there's good stuff to work with.