Day 12: I love tailwinds

Today was an early start, John and I were a little concerned with potential rain so we woke up at 6:00. The first 25 miles flew by and that is how the day continued to feel. There were 22 mph winds out of the west - north west. Stopped for lunch at 10:30, 70 miles into the ride by this point. The destination town Havre is the biggest town I have been in since the start, population roughly 10,000. The total mileage today was 129 miles at 19.8 miles an hour average and 6:30 hours of actual riding time.

Miles biked Today: 129
Miles Biked Total: 912

Day 11: Into Glacier National Park, Over the Continental Divide

After a great nights sleep in a heated greenhouse I was all charged up for the Rocky Mountains and Glacier National park. The road that I wanted to take, road to the sun I heard was closed from Chris so I took an alternate Route through. About 15 miles in I took a pit stop for some pancakes at a little cafe and then continued on up into Glacier. The scenery was very beautiful and the road was awesome for road biking on. From West Glacier, Mariahs Pass was about 40 miles up. So Mariahs pass is actually the Continental Divide so I was pretty pumped when I reached this point. This was the second mountain range down. Once I reached the top there were very strong winds out of the west blowing straight east at 18 mph. So the downhill was very fast and very fun. I stopped in the town of East Glacier and then continued on to Cut Bank. In between East Glacier and Cut Bank is a town called Browning. I ran into John when I was coming out of the gas station heading to Cut Bank. The ride into Cutbank continued to be very fast, although the road was pretty crappy once we reached the actual town of Cut Bank

Miles biked Today: 118
Miles Biked total: 783

Day 10

I woke up early this morning and took off from Libby around 7:00 a.m and decided to take an alternate route that was not on my adventure cycling map. The route would take me straight across from Libby to Kalispell which was roughly 90 miles and then up to Columbia Falls. Taking this route which was strongly advised by locals in Libby saved me one day. There was some climbing but nothing that compared to the Cascades, the "hills" did not have names like the passes in the Cascades, so I wasn't too worried. I arrived into Columbia Falls around 6:00 in the evening. I biked through town and found a nice park with some shelters. I started unpacking and setting up my tent, and a guy approached me wondering about where I had come from. So we started chatting and he told me about a tour he did in the northwest from Buffalo New York, up to Maine and back down. The purpose of his trip was to go fly fishing from stream to stream. So Chris offered me his front yard if the police came and hassled me. Then he offered to let me sleep in his greenhouse in the backyard which had a couch in it. So like any smart touring bicyclist I took him up on this. While I was setting up over he asked me if I was hungry, and of course I was. So next thing I know there is a steak on the grill for me, potatoes, a big piece of watermelon and a glass of wine. Chris said that this was his way of giving back cause he knew how it was on a bicycle tour. Thanks allot Chris for your wonderful hospitality.

Miles biked today: 104

Miles biked total: 665

Day 9: On the Road Again, another new state

So I did leave Sandpoint, Idaho on Friday afternoon. I went out last night to this really fun bar in town and had a buffalo burger and some black and tans. I met some really cool people there, and eventually met up with Denise( I was staying at her house). I saw a great band play at the bar. They were playing the funk. Thank you so much Denise for your great hospitality. So like I said I took off on Friday afternoon. The derailleur hanger that was overnighted ended up coming in a little bit early and I was able to get on the road at 1:30 with only 92 miles between me and my destination. So to say the least I was in a bit of a hurry. The ride out of Sandpoint was very beautiful. Shortly into the ride I crossed into Mountain Standard time which was exciting to see that I had ridden into a new timezone. Shortly after that I entered into Montana. After reaching the border I still ended up having another 50 miles to bike to Libby, Montana. By the time I got to camp I was pretty tired, made some food and crashed hard.










Miles biked today: 92
Miles biked total: 561